(photo by Ryan Freitas)

Brighton Resort on opening day 2012.

 

Unwilling to concede an inch, literally, Brighton Resort, is opening TODAY- For Free. Anyone desperate to make a few resort turns before tomorrow’s official opening can ride Brighton from 2-4 p.m. on the Majestic Lift’s Shoulder Run. “We went through the effort of making all this snow so we figured we might as well go for it,” said Brighton Spokesman Jared Winkler.

On trail there’s about 15-20 inches of manmade. “Off the groomed is about five inches of dust,” added Winkler. In other words STAY ON THE GROOMED.  It’s not worth wrecking yourself this early in the season. Tomorrow, expect the Explorer lift to open adding two more trails to Brighton’s skiing. Lift tickets are $37.

Solitude Resort also moved up their originally scheduled Nov. 14 opening day. Get your tickets to ski tomorrow for $39. Three lifts and four groomed runs will be accessed from the Moonbeam base area. “We started testing our snowmaking system to see if it was working during the last cold spell and it just kept staying cold enough to get four good nights,” said Henry Hornberger, vice president of mountain operations at Solitude Mountain Resort, in the Salt Lake Tribune. “This latest storm cycle has allowed us to run snowmaking around the clock for the last few days.”

Another factor in the early openings could be the 60-degree temps Salt Lake City will see starting tomorrow and running into next week. The resorts made a bunch of snow and I’m sure they would hate to see it all go to waste.

 

The rest of the gang is still waiting for bigger snows and bigger snow depths. Here’s what we have so far and all that can change the moment a whopping storm hits us:

Snowbird Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 20th.

Alta Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 22nd.
Brian Head Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 22nd.
The Canyons Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 23rd.
Park City Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 23rd.
Powder Mountain Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 29th.

Snowbasin Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is November 29th.
Deer Valley Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is December 7th.
Sundance Resort
Anticipated Opening Is December 13th.

Beaver Mountain Resort
Anticipated Opening Is December 13th.
Wolf Mountain Ski Resort
Anticipated Opening Is December 13th.
Eagle Point Resort
Anticipated Opening Is December 13th.