Not my style to be so late in posting a report, but here's one from Brighton during the low-tide conditions that I encountered during my recent five-day stay. Of course, low-tide is a relative term as they had already received 95 inches of snow and everything was more or less covered. The groomers were borderline superlative and similar to Solitude, you could have a great time in the offpiste as long as it had been tracked up a bit.
That said, several days of blazing sun and no precip had taken a toll on certain aspects, specifically the more south-facing terrain off the Great Western chair, which was thin in spots. Untracked was tough going for the most part unless you stayed north-facing that was 100% in the shade. Offpiste on the Milli rock pile was being attempted only by those willing to risk core shots.
At one point, I decided to roll the dice on one of those tempting Great Western lines and venture down Wrangler, which was in beautiful shape for the first several hundred verts below the Elk Ridge traverse, but when you got further down, to the steep pitch just above the mid-mountain saddle, there were major holes in the coverage or had gone through a thaw/refreeze. I had no choice but to boot it down, at which point I ran into a fellow NJer (who lives only 15 miles from my house) in the same predicament.
Below the Great Western lift, Mount Timpanogos in the distance:
Elk Park Ridge:
Golden Needle:
Mountain host and amazing boarder Joel Boomgarden gave me a nice overview of Brighton's terrain, which sometimes feels like a big East-Coast mountain (twisting rolling cut trails through dense trees -- one could argue the most enjoyable groomers in the Cottonwoods) and other times like classic Wasatch Front (on the Millicent and Great Western chairs). Joel has ridden hundreds of days at Brighton since moving to SLC from Minnesota in 1997 with only seven days (!) at other mountains in the region.
Given the wall-to-wall trip report coverage that Alta gets on the FTO western forum, you'd sometimes think Little Cottonwood is the only game in town, so it was interesting to hear from someone who has completely different preferences in a home ski area. Obviously, he couldn't patronize Alta even if he wanted to, both because of the boarder ban and the fact that it's not a snowboard-friendly mountain.
Joel on Pioneer:
Sunshine:
A shout-out to Molly Green's, a really comfortable place which serves the best calzone I've had anywhere in years:
That said, several days of blazing sun and no precip had taken a toll on certain aspects, specifically the more south-facing terrain off the Great Western chair, which was thin in spots. Untracked was tough going for the most part unless you stayed north-facing that was 100% in the shade. Offpiste on the Milli rock pile was being attempted only by those willing to risk core shots.
At one point, I decided to roll the dice on one of those tempting Great Western lines and venture down Wrangler, which was in beautiful shape for the first several hundred verts below the Elk Ridge traverse, but when you got further down, to the steep pitch just above the mid-mountain saddle, there were major holes in the coverage or had gone through a thaw/refreeze. I had no choice but to boot it down, at which point I ran into a fellow NJer (who lives only 15 miles from my house) in the same predicament.
Below the Great Western lift, Mount Timpanogos in the distance:
Elk Park Ridge:
Golden Needle:
Mountain host and amazing boarder Joel Boomgarden gave me a nice overview of Brighton's terrain, which sometimes feels like a big East-Coast mountain (twisting rolling cut trails through dense trees -- one could argue the most enjoyable groomers in the Cottonwoods) and other times like classic Wasatch Front (on the Millicent and Great Western chairs). Joel has ridden hundreds of days at Brighton since moving to SLC from Minnesota in 1997 with only seven days (!) at other mountains in the region.
Given the wall-to-wall trip report coverage that Alta gets on the FTO western forum, you'd sometimes think Little Cottonwood is the only game in town, so it was interesting to hear from someone who has completely different preferences in a home ski area. Obviously, he couldn't patronize Alta even if he wanted to, both because of the boarder ban and the fact that it's not a snowboard-friendly mountain.
Joel on Pioneer:
Sunshine:
A shout-out to Molly Green's, a really comfortable place which serves the best calzone I've had anywhere in years: