Brighton

Until recently, Brighton was a low-budget Cottonwoods escape from the crowds for Utah locals. But with the introduction of the Ikon Pass, the resort has attracted much more destination interest in recent years. Brighton is much smaller than the leading Rockies resorts but enjoys the snow-heavy microclimate unique to the Cottonwood Canyons and an excellent terrain park. However, a lackluster logistical setup hurts the resort as it finds itself sprung onto the destination stage.

Brighton sits in Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon, one of the snowiest areas in all of North America. As a result, the ski area enjoys outstanding accumulation each winter, sometimes receiving more than 500” in a season. Additionally, the snow is dry and light, allowing for undemanding powder skiing even right after a storm. The snow isn’t quite as consistent as that at Alta and Snowbird, but it’s hard to beat the quality anywhere else.

Brighton’s exceptional snow allows the resort to stay 100% open for a considerable portion of the season. Every lift-serviced resort area is typically open by Christmas, making Brighton a reliable early-season vacation choice. Great Western, the one mountain zone that doesn’t face primarily north, typically takes the longest to open.

Brighton is a modestly-sized resort, measuring just under 890 skiable acres inbounds. The mountain consists of four distinct terrain areas; from west to east, they include Great Western, Snake Creek, Crest, and Millicent (which is known as Milly by locals). Each of these areas is served by a high-speed lift, and rides up these lifts are quick and enjoyable. Three of these zones span the resort’s entire lift-serviced vertical; the exception is Snake Creek, which covers about two-thirds of it.

For those preferring a local feel over a built-up, commercialized vibe, Brighton is a great choice. The ski area tends to attract a more humble crowd than bigger competitors. The resort is quite remote, with fantastic views of surrounding nature that punch way above what one might expect from such a small mountain. With the exception of unassuming facilities at the bases and some junctions, there’s very little buildup at Brighton. The top of Great Western offers the best views at the ski area, with striking vistas of peaks both in front of and behind the resort.

Given its proximity to so many tall peaks and high elevation (the resort tops out at 10,750’), one might be surprised by Brighton’s short vertical drop. The resort spans just under 2,000’ from top to bottom, shorter than essentially every other Rockies destination. That being said, the resort boasts a solid variety of terrain across its modest footprint. Highlights include groomers, a few brief bowl sections, and surprisingly varied glade terrain.

Brighton is arguably the best resort in the Cottonwoods for beginners. Unlike its neighbors, Brighton offers top-to-bottom green trails, making it feel much more accessible to beginners than a typical resort. Green terrain mostly consists of typical, below-treeline slopes, but a few glades that border these runs are mellow and widely-spaced enough for beginners as well. As a result, Brighton offers a unique opportunity for beginner tree terrain that can’t be found at nearly any other competitor.

Perplexingly, getting to a sizable chunk of Brighton’s green terrain requires starting down a blue run first. However, the blues involved in these routes are some of the easiest on the mountain, allowing for beginners to get down them without much trouble. That being said, true beginners may want to stick to the Explorer bunny hill until they’re more comfortable on the slopes.

Brighton also offers very strong intermediate terrain. The blue runs here vary somewhat in difficulty, with some easy enough to be considered greens at competing resorts and others offering typical intermediate pitches. Many runs are below-treeline cruisers, but like with its greens, Brighton’s most interesting intermediate areas are its glades. Intermediate tree runs border the defined trails and can be found off every lift. Additionally, a few short intermediate bowls can be found off Milly.

Brighton was the first Utah resort to allow snowboarders, and this manifests in its competitive terrain park setup. The resort’s five terrain parks include features ranging from small to extra-large. In addition to the typical boxes, rails, and jumps, the Majestic terrain park offers a number of unique specialty features. For freestyle terrain in the Cottonwoods, Brighton is by far the best option.

Brighton boasts a few awesome advanced and expert areas, including tree-defined trails, glades, and bowls. Must-hit areas for experienced visitors include the aspen trees off Great Western and some gnarly cliffs off Milly. Additionally, a few truly extreme lines with mandatory straightlining are accessible by hiking. These runs vary in difficulty depending on the snowpack, with later-season days becoming less challenging as tougher obstacles get filled in by new accumulation.

However, Brighton really isn’t an expert’s mountain. Blacks and double-blacks only make up a small fraction of the resort, and experienced guests who stay in-bounds may find themselves wanting more. None of the resort’s steep pitches are particularly lengthy either.

That being said, Brighton offers very easy access to out-of-bounds sidecountry terrain. Many areas are directly accessible from the lifts and filter back into the resort. These zones often boast untracked snow, and unmarked obstacles such as cliffs and rocks exist throughout the terrain. These out-of-bounds areas are unpatrolled with no avalanche control, making them extremely high risk under certain conditions. Be sure to carry avalanche gear and go with a local if you don’t know the area.

Despite the resort’s modest size, Brighton is not well set up for getting between mountain zones. Getting from one side of the resort to the other can take as many as three lifts, none of which are particularly direct. The base terminals for Brighton’s lifts are in separate pods that aren’t connected by trails, meaning that if you end up at the bottom of a lift, top-to-bottom runs are warranted even to go absolute distances of only a few hundred feet. And the runs are only long enough such that you can make it to the next lift over. One key tip: on a powder day, it’s often possible to avoid the messy on-mountain logistics entirely and just ski across the parking lot to get between resort areas.

Given its location in the middle of the resort, guests need to go through the Crest area to get between Milly and points west. This, along with the fact that Crest is home to the main base facilities, turns the Crest lift into a major chokepoint. This lift was replaced with a high-speed six-pack for the 2023-24 season, the new lift’s on-paper capacity isn’t actually any higher due to wider chair spacing. On top of that, Brighton’s lifties still haven’t figured out how to efficiently manage a six-person queue, so at least as of the 2023-24 season, the resort has not consistently loaded chairs to capacity. These combined with a less efficient loading setup result in little improvement in lift lines.The neighboring Majestic lift, which primarily serves the terrain park of the same name, also technically extends high enough to provide access to the other resort areas; however, the lift is too slow and unknown to effectively provide relief. Unless it’s an off-peak weekday, it’s best to avoid the Crest lift unless absolutely necessary.

Getting around the mountain is made worse by annoying flat sections in less-than-ideal areas. It’s essentially impossible to avoid catwalking on a trip to Brighton; a considerable portion of runs either bear flat spots themselves or funnel into level runouts. Unfortunately, trails required to get between lifts are among the flattest at the resort, requiring prolonged catwalking in sections. If there’s fresh snow on the ground, be prepared for a workout.

Signage could use some improvements as well. Markings in key areas offer trail and lift directions, but in certain situations, the signs could be better placed. In addition, several important junctions don’t have trail maps. This can make it difficult to orient yourself with the mountain when you first get there.

Unlike many other Utah mountains—and all other Cottonwood resorts—Brighton offers night skiing. The resort stays open through 9pm six days a week, offering 250 acres of lighted terrain off its Crest, Majestic, and Explorer lifts.

Additionally, Brighton offers direct lift access to and from the neighboring Solitude ski resort. Visitors can ski both mountains on the same day with a SolBright ticket or the Ikon Pass. The two areas combined are similar in size to some smaller destination mountains, and those looking to stay for multiple days may want to consider splitting their days between the two resorts.

Until the 2023-24 season, all of Brisghton’s facilities were found at the base. This changed with the opening of the Snake Creek mid-mountain lodge, which theoretically should have made it a lot easier to stop in for a break. However, the lodge has a number of design flaws that significantly limit its practicality.

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