Sage Kotsenburg’s Happy Place: Brighton Resort, Utah
Everyone has a happy place. A patch of land, sea, or mountain where everything makes sense. A geographical and emotional pin, where the past, present, and future can connect easily or meaningfully. For iconic snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg that place is Brighton Resort, Utah.
“I love that there’s no real town, so it’s a journey to get up here,” Sage Kotsenburg said. “You gather at the mouth of the Big Cottonwood Canyon, carpool up, grab your squad, turn the tunes up and it feels like you are part of a unit.”
It’s early morning, in early January 2023 and Sage was talking from the parking lot of Brighton Resort, Utah. The back of his truck is a blaze of yellow, filled with kit from his just-dropped Db x Sage Kotsensburg Collection. It is yet again about to be put through another phase of serious testing. The tunes blaring of his truck just about drown out the excited froth of his mates prepping for a powder day. 
“You wake up and you know it’s a Brighton Day. It has a little feel, or ring to it like no other, and this season has been awesome,” said snowboarding's first Olympic Slopestyle Gold Medallist, Natural Selection Tour Champion, and general snowboard icon.
Kotsenburg had already made the 45-minute drive from his hometown of Park City to Brighton a dozen times this winter. It’s his go-to riding and filming destination when he’s not doing trips overseas or competing at the Natural Selection.
“Look around the lot and you can smell the strong whiff of the 1990s and early 2000s snowboarding culture,” he said. “Everyone gets up early on storm days. They are grilling in the lot, drinking coffee, each with their rituals getting ready for the lifts to