Poling around Brighton Ski Resort

Correspondent

"There's a lot of poling involved."

That was the warning my friend and I received from a passenger on the ski bus from Salt Lake City to Brighton. We had not skied there before and he was offering some advice.

"You have to watch out for the flat areas; you need to keep up speed."

That, we later discovered, was good advice.

Brighton, a good-size ski area about an hour's bus ride south of Salt Lake City in Big Cottonwood Canyon, is divided into three distinct areas, and it takes a bit of effort with your poles to get from one to another and back again. Plus, a large, flat beginning area mid-mountain will have you working up a sweat unless you heed our friendly passenger's advice and "keep up speed."

With 66 marked trails and several off-piste runs, Brighton's terrain is approximately 20 percent beginner, 40 percent intermediate and 40 percent advanced. All areas are accessible by high-speed quads.

The central area of the mountain is where most of the resort's beginner runs are located along with its terrain park. Beginning skiers can ride the slower Majestic Express quad to mid-mountain and hit a few groomed runs. More advanced skiers can take the Crest Express to the top of the mountain, where several short runs lead back to the mid-mountain beginner area.

A ski-through at mid-mountain takes you to the Snake Creek Express to the top of the other side of Preston Peak. From here, advance skiers can blast down several chutes or beginners can take a long track back to the base.

Though the mountain was not crowded midweek following a fresh snow, this was the most popular area with longer lift lines.

But over on the east side of the resort, it was practically deserted. Here, it's so open that you can go off the groomed trails and choose your own path through areas of powder. With the exception of maybe two runs, this is all intermediate to advanced skiing.

The third ski area on the mountain's west end is for experts only and is accessed by the Great Western Express up to Clayton Peak. This combination area of groomed and not groomed has several chutes coming off a long ridge. From here, you can ski a track at the top of the mountain back to the central area of the resort. But if you decide to ski to the bottom, it will take a bit of speed and a lot of poling to get there.

Brighton, with its location in Big Cottonwood Canyon at 8,500 feet elevation, gets more than 500 inches of snow a season. The latest snow report shows an 8-foot base with two feet of fresh snow in the last two days.

Brighton, and three other ski resorts - Solitude, just minutes from Brighton, and Snowbird and Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon - can all be accessed by bus from Salt Lake City. Ski buses pick up from about 10 downtown Salt Lake City locations and take skiers to any of the four ski areas. The ride takes just over an hour.

BRIGHTON

Lift Tickets: $58 adults, $25 children 7-12; free for children 6 and younger; $20 seniors age 70 and over

Mountainside accommodations: The 20-room Brighton Lodge has excellent family ski packages. (800) 873-5512, Ext. 120.

Information: www.brightonresort.com; (800) 873-5512