Sure, you can go to Salt Lake City and ski all the amazing resorts in the Wasatch Range with all their deep powder and great terrain. They are awesome and the skiing is first class.
But if fighting for parking in Park City or dealing with all the NIMBYs in Little Cottonwood Canyon (yes, you should build the Canyon Gondola… just saying!) is not your thing, then do I have a place for you. It’s a place at the other (wrong?) end of Utah.
The southern end! A place known for amazing National Parks (Bryce, Zion, or Moab anyone?) and amazing vistas. It is also host to one cool little ski area. A ski area that last year received 311 inches of the white stuff and stayed open deep into May! I am talking about Brian Head Ski Resort. A place that is on the wrong end of Utah, a place you probably never heard of, but a place that maybe you should have.
At 9,600 feet above sea level, Brian Head surprisingly has the highest base elevation in Utah (take that Wasatch!). This elevation enables the high snow fall level, but it is not the normal mountainous alpine environment you might expect.
Instead, the ski area is located on a high mesa surrounded by other mesas filled with lush pine forests and amazing red rocks. The same red rocks that make Zion National Park, just 60 minutes away, beautiful are here as well. Just three hours north of Sin City (Las Vegas), and five hours south of No Sin City (Salt Lake), it is a “remote” location in some sense, but also a mere 30 miles from the interstate so also easily accessible from either location.
I took advantage of this ease of access from Las Vegas and caught a late-night flight into Sin City last spring. Once I secured my rental vehicle, I took a lap down the Strip to take in all the glitz and glamor, then headed out into the desert.
It is best to grab the glitz and glamor of Vegas before you get to Brian Head because the base area is a bit sparse. There is no real town or village outside of a few shops and a coffee shop near the parking lot. The main lodge is a bit smaller than most but has all the required services. This is a very family friendly resort. There is no real night life, so head back to Vegas if you need that.
The resort has had a multitude of owners and lots of starts and stops over the years. You can find pretty much any flavor of ski town home you would like. 1960s duplexes? Yes, they have that. 70s timber-walled condos? Check. And also plenty of 90s-era McMansions.
Like most ski towns, the pandemic brought on a bit of a real estate boom as many folks left the city and moved to the mountains. Alas, the boom has still not brough much additional infrastructure.
On arrival, I was surprised to find that the slopes don’t open until 10 a.m. weekdays in the spring. So, I found a spot in the sole coffee shop and got some work done, before booting up and heading to the slopes. A lack of infrastructure also meant I parked for free right in front of the lodge.
Why the 10 a.m. start? Given the high altitude and dry desert location, the slopes tend to freeze hard overnight. This is great for snow preservation, but it can make the slopes bulletproof in the morning. Giving the sun an extra hour to loosen the snow made for a fine surface the day I was there.
The resort sits in a wide valley and spreads trails across both sides. The main slopes are on Brian Head Peak itself. These are mostly served by the Giant Steps high speed quad. Off this peak are some great wide blue cruisers and some steeper blacks. However, with only 1,500 feet of drop, this terrain is not that challenging, but there is plenty of variety of pitches and trails to fill the day.
Across the valley sits Navajo Peak. There is a road bisecting the two, but there is a chair to get over going one way and a tunnel on the way back. This side is largely beginner terrain with its own lodge. It is served by a few fixed lifts and a high-speed quad accessing primarily green and blue terrain. This is the family area and ski school area. It is also home to the interestingly named Maryland Parkway trail, a green run full of beginner traffic. Draw your own conclusion on this.
Oh, did I mention the prices? Brian Head is not on either of the mega passes. It is on the Power Pass, which is a Mountain Capital Partners product. It combines an odd mix of thirteen mostly similar-sized western resorts. Nearby Arizona Snowbowl and Las Vegas’s Lee Canyon are on the pass, so if you live in Las Vegas this could be a good pass for you.
It should be noted that Mountain Capital Partners is famous for their surge pricing model, once charging over $300 for a powder day at Arizona Snowbowl. However, surge pricing works both ways, so by planning my trip well in advance and on a weekday, my lift ticket was only $30. That’s right — $30 for an amazing day at an amazing location.
I hit one of the many sunny “bluebird” days this resort often sees. The snow was soft, and the crowds were nil. It was so worth the effort to get there. If you are looking for something different or just need to escape that convention you are attending in Las Vegas, I would recommend putting Brian Head on your radar.
Robbie Allen is an avid small hill skier. He has written several articles on the many small hills he has sought out.
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