14 MAR 2022 Brighton, UT Snowboarder photo sequence

[jimk]

Resort or Ski Area

Brighton, UT

Date

Mar 14, 2022

Snow Conditions

1. Powder

I had a really nice day skiing at Brighton yesterday. The snow was great, about one foot of fresh in previous 24 hrs. A local friend showed me some off-the-groom areas. While we were skiing one called the Rock Garden some talented snowboarders dropped in and were ripping it up. Here are four photos, believe they are all of the same guy, he came from upper left ridgeline.




My friend, "nothing to see here, keep moving along."

 

[Tonyr]

Do you a have preference between Brighton or Solitude? I've heard that the tree skiing is a little better over at Brighton but there is not as much lodging over there. It looks like it's pretty easy crossing between both resorts.

 

[jimk]

I only have less than 10 days at each so my opinion is still forming. I guess I like Brighton a little better. It has very little (almost none) slopeside lodging, whereas Soli has a small village of condos. There is a supply of houses and other random lodging options in BCC, but not a ton of it is slopeside. I have IKON base and yes, in regular winter snow conditions, it's very easy to transit between the two ski areas via cat tracks from regular trails. Seven days ago I skied both on one day and had never done that before. It was really fun in an exploratory way. Might do it again this thursday.

 

[Tonyr]

Thanks for the insight, we were going to stay all 7 nights next year in Alta or Snowbird but I'm thinking about breaking off 3 days and staying in Solitude to mix things up instead. As much as I like Alta Snowbird it seems like Brighton & Solitude are worth a try.

 

[amf]

Do you a have preference between Brighton or Solitude? I've heard that the tree skiing is a little better over at Brighton but there is not as much lodging over there. It looks like it's pretty easy crossing between both resorts.

Not to butt in, but I skied Brighton this season and REALLY liked it, especially when you get in the trees. Definitely better than Solitude. I was there in February, and despite a severe lack of fresh snow the trees were still holding great powder.

 

[Tonyr]

Good to hear, the tree skiing at Brighton looks great.

 

[Naturalsnow]

Our family skied at Brighton this past February. We had heard good things, but were a bit underwhelmed. The lifts in the center have a rather modest pitch, so even though there are some steep drops here and there, we kept ending up in flat areas. If I were to go back, I would focus on the lifts at the far skier's left (Great Western) and far skier's right (Milly), both of which had more fun terrain.

 

[jimk]

So I've been a Snowbird season pass holder for several years and have a bias toward that resort. I suppose the big difference I find between Snowbird and Alta/Solitude/Brighton is that Snowbird has more terrain with a longer continuous vertical. The others ski in smaller chunks of vertical, however, those small chunks are very tasty.

To the OPs point, yes I think branching off from LCC and adding a few days in BCC to a Utah ski vacation is a fine idea.

Misc. photos on subject areas.
Millicent area of Brighton:




Great Western, skiing through a small grove of aspen trees

The Great Western chair and trails are the snowy open area in the center background of this photo

Good day in the trees at Brighton


Solitude photos
Getting ready to enter Honeycomb Canyon


This photo of a telemarker buddy was taken near the summit of Solitude, that's Great Western liftline at Brighton in background, some of the trails of the two ski areas are adjacent to each other so it's easy to visit both in a day when conditions allow.

Beautiful Headwall Forest at Solitude



Summit Chair liftline at Solitude (Soli has some serious steep/cliffy areas and that doesn't even include bodacious fantasy ridge above Honeycomb Canyon):

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice pics! Brighton is very underrated. Love the night skiing!

 

[Tonyr]

Looks fantastic!