abc
Well-known member
Not skiing the slush of the Cats or the ice of Gore leaves me with a bit of spare time to catch up on my trip report of the 2nd half of my trip out west last month.
As part of the MAX line up, Brighton and Solitude make for a decent pair for a week long trip. Quick flight to SLC and cheap lodging in the city. Ski bus or inexpensive rental car gets one up the hill easily.
In the shadow of Alta/Bird, these two are often overlooked by most except a small minority. But with the MAX pass, those who know were quick to reacquaint themselves to these hidden gems.
I've been to Solitude a couple times in the past few years. So I made a point of checking out Brighton on this trip. It did not disappoint.
Day 1: Thursday, Rain/sleet. Only the hard core eastern visitors need apply.
My schedule was such this was my travel day -- coming back from Big Sky. It's a 6+ hr drive, which I broke up into 2 segments, with a stop at some random place to crash for the night along the way. This allowed me to ski till lift closing at Big Sky without missing much skiing during my travel day. An early start would have easily got me to the Big Cottonwood canyons not much after first chair.
But the forecast called for rain in the base of both Brighton and Solitude in the morning anyway. The upper mountain MAY be below freezing point latter part of the day. So, there's no hurry in the morning. Who wants to ski in the rain at Utah anyway?
Brighton has a higher base and top lifts. So I decided this would be a Brighton day, if I ski.
Driving up the Big Cottonwood Canyon, it was pissing down rain. As I pulled into Brighton's parking lot, the rain turned into snow flakes!
Wow!
But that's more an illusion. The snow flake only lasted about 5 minutes. It turned back into rain drops as I finished gathering up my crap from the car and started walking towards the lodge.
Making conversation, I asked the woman at the ticket office how's the condition. She took me seriously and went to ask her colleagues who had been up the mountain recently. The advice was "go high". More specifically, she suggest Snake River chair would be the highest that day (Great Western was not running that day). Well, that's what I had in mind anyway. Good to have a confirmation.
In the lodge, there were some very wet people coming in, changing back into street wear, leaving...hmmm...
After changing into my more eastern oriented, battle hardened water proof ski wear, I marched towards the exit of the lodge. I saw a lone mechanic working on skis in the shop right by the door, I smile and made eye contact. He waved, "enjoy your day".
Well, I had one more important question, might as well ask this friendly fella. "which is the better lift to get me to the upper mountain the fastest?" "Don't bother with the Mejestic, go around it and take Crest Express, you'll be up 3 minutes shorter". "Wow, Thanks!" 3 minutes is a long time NOT sitting in the rain. So I skated around the Majestic lift and hopped onto the Crest Express.
Rain was still pissing down. It looked extra slushy. But I had more days on my pass than I have days in Salt Lake. So I was going to "test" the condition up top. There's not much to lose even if I quit after 1 run, if condition were that bad.
Top of Crest was a mixed of very wet snow and something resembling rain drop. No reason to linger on. Just head towards the Snake River Express and hope to get higher.
Once on the Snake River chair, the snow became more well defined flakes. Still very wet though. And the worst was it immediately melts the moment it hits my clothes. Because *I* was above freezing temperature! So it's just like it was rain drops as far as my staying dry goes. Though the difference on the ground makes up for it. The flakes lands on cold snow on the ground and stay snow!
The make a long story short, the skiing was actually quite good. There were very few people skiing. So it's ski on right away every time. Empty runs too.
But there's no way to keep ALL the water out no matter how good my hi-tech gears are. Somehow, I got wet, then got cold. It took about 2 hours (one hour for water to somehow find their way inside to reach my skin, I was wearing some fancy technical base layer which wicks moisture away from the skin, that worked the 2nd hour, till every layer were soaking wet, my core start to feel the chill).
Since it was my travel day, I had EVERY piece of clothing in the car with me. So I made the executive decision to go down to the bottom to change into my 2nd set of clothing, inside out. That felt good to have dry base layer next to my now warmed up skin.
Back out to the Crest Express. The gate wouldn't open. What the f*ck? It was later in the afternoon and very few people were still skiing. The liftie simply opened the gate for me. That's the kind of place Brighton is. Thank you, all the friendly helpful folks who work there.
I have clothing to stay dry for another 2 hours. But 4 o'clock came, the upper mountain lifts are now closed. I had to ski down to the one and only lift that will continue to spin (Brighton has night skiing during the week). Then I heard the news. They're cancelling night skiing that day. Not because it's raining, mind you. But because it was starting to get rather windy. No wonder I was cold earlier, it's the wind. Wet and wind don't mix well.
So, I out last the lift on a rainy day! Haha!!
(Most of the folks on the mountain that day were out of town visitors, who probably already paid for the lift tickets, and having nothing else better to do anyway. Further, for us easterners, rain and sleet is just another day on the mountain. The more jaded locals all stayed home. )
Forecast was for the precipitation to turn to all snow. The cold wind was a clear indication of the falling temperature. So I wasn’t too heartbroken by the cancellation of night skiing: whatever fallen after 4 will be there the next morning!
As part of the MAX line up, Brighton and Solitude make for a decent pair for a week long trip. Quick flight to SLC and cheap lodging in the city. Ski bus or inexpensive rental car gets one up the hill easily.
In the shadow of Alta/Bird, these two are often overlooked by most except a small minority. But with the MAX pass, those who know were quick to reacquaint themselves to these hidden gems.
I've been to Solitude a couple times in the past few years. So I made a point of checking out Brighton on this trip. It did not disappoint.
Day 1: Thursday, Rain/sleet. Only the hard core eastern visitors need apply.
My schedule was such this was my travel day -- coming back from Big Sky. It's a 6+ hr drive, which I broke up into 2 segments, with a stop at some random place to crash for the night along the way. This allowed me to ski till lift closing at Big Sky without missing much skiing during my travel day. An early start would have easily got me to the Big Cottonwood canyons not much after first chair.
But the forecast called for rain in the base of both Brighton and Solitude in the morning anyway. The upper mountain MAY be below freezing point latter part of the day. So, there's no hurry in the morning. Who wants to ski in the rain at Utah anyway?
Brighton has a higher base and top lifts. So I decided this would be a Brighton day, if I ski.
Driving up the Big Cottonwood Canyon, it was pissing down rain. As I pulled into Brighton's parking lot, the rain turned into snow flakes!
Wow!But that's more an illusion. The snow flake only lasted about 5 minutes. It turned back into rain drops as I finished gathering up my crap from the car and started walking towards the lodge.
Making conversation, I asked the woman at the ticket office how's the condition. She took me seriously and went to ask her colleagues who had been up the mountain recently. The advice was "go high". More specifically, she suggest Snake River chair would be the highest that day (Great Western was not running that day). Well, that's what I had in mind anyway. Good to have a confirmation.
In the lodge, there were some very wet people coming in, changing back into street wear, leaving...hmmm...
After changing into my more eastern oriented, battle hardened water proof ski wear, I marched towards the exit of the lodge. I saw a lone mechanic working on skis in the shop right by the door, I smile and made eye contact. He waved, "enjoy your day".
Well, I had one more important question, might as well ask this friendly fella. "which is the better lift to get me to the upper mountain the fastest?" "Don't bother with the Mejestic, go around it and take Crest Express, you'll be up 3 minutes shorter". "Wow, Thanks!" 3 minutes is a long time NOT sitting in the rain. So I skated around the Majestic lift and hopped onto the Crest Express.
Rain was still pissing down. It looked extra slushy. But I had more days on my pass than I have days in Salt Lake. So I was going to "test" the condition up top. There's not much to lose even if I quit after 1 run, if condition were that bad.
Top of Crest was a mixed of very wet snow and something resembling rain drop. No reason to linger on. Just head towards the Snake River Express and hope to get higher.
Once on the Snake River chair, the snow became more well defined flakes. Still very wet though. And the worst was it immediately melts the moment it hits my clothes. Because *I* was above freezing temperature! So it's just like it was rain drops as far as my staying dry goes. Though the difference on the ground makes up for it. The flakes lands on cold snow on the ground and stay snow!
The make a long story short, the skiing was actually quite good. There were very few people skiing. So it's ski on right away every time. Empty runs too.
But there's no way to keep ALL the water out no matter how good my hi-tech gears are. Somehow, I got wet, then got cold. It took about 2 hours (one hour for water to somehow find their way inside to reach my skin, I was wearing some fancy technical base layer which wicks moisture away from the skin, that worked the 2nd hour, till every layer were soaking wet, my core start to feel the chill).
Since it was my travel day, I had EVERY piece of clothing in the car with me. So I made the executive decision to go down to the bottom to change into my 2nd set of clothing, inside out. That felt good to have dry base layer next to my now warmed up skin.
Back out to the Crest Express. The gate wouldn't open.
What the f*ck? It was later in the afternoon and very few people were still skiing. The liftie simply opened the gate for me. That's the kind of place Brighton is. Thank you, all the friendly helpful folks who work there. I have clothing to stay dry for another 2 hours. But 4 o'clock came, the upper mountain lifts are now closed. I had to ski down to the one and only lift that will continue to spin (Brighton has night skiing during the week). Then I heard the news. They're cancelling night skiing that day. Not because it's raining, mind you. But because it was starting to get rather windy. No wonder I was cold earlier, it's the wind. Wet and wind don't mix well.
So, I out last the lift on a rainy day! Haha!!
(Most of the folks on the mountain that day were out of town visitors, who probably already paid for the lift tickets, and having nothing else better to do anyway. Further, for us easterners, rain and sleet is just another day on the mountain. The more jaded locals all stayed home. )
Forecast was for the precipitation to turn to all snow. The cold wind was a clear indication of the falling temperature. So I wasn’t too heartbroken by the cancellation of night skiing: whatever fallen after 4 will be there the next morning!
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