Brighton
Saturday 27 January 2007

Weather

Cold, weak sun behind high altitude clouds

Conditions

Groomed runs fine. Rocks and plants off the main groomed runs. Some runs normally groomed did not have enough snow cover to allow for grooming.

Story of the Day

It is Saturday, so we headed for Brighton which tends to have shorter queues. It took a little longer to get there than we expected because of a closed access ramp onto the freeway, so it was around 9:15 by the time I made it onto the slopes. Started at around 9:15am.

There was high level cloud weakening the sun, so it was much colder than on the previous 2 days. In the many times that I have skied Brighton, I have developed a pattern, which starts with a few crusing runs off Crest Express until the queues build up. Then I transfer to Snake Creek Express where the queues tend to build later in the day.


Early morning sun through the trees alongside Lower Mary
The top of Crest lift

Sun streaming through the trees
Doyles hut

Tree skiing under the top of the Crest lift

The first look at the runs under Snake Creek, specially Doyle's Dive showed lots of rocks so I decided to avoid that run in particular. First run down, I risked unroomed moguls. No real problems.


Runs at the top of Snake Creek
The top of Snake Creek lift

Next run I took Ziggy's, parallel to Pioneer and similarly mogulled.

Next run down I looked for Thunderhead, but no runs in that area had been groomed at all and I ended up on Thor. Although not particularly steep, it was heavily mogulled, narrow and with exposed rocks at a number of places. Passing the base of Snake Creek lift, there was quite a queue and I was feeling very cold, so I decided that it was time for coffee.

I met Sue down at the lodge at around 10:45am. The 15 minute coffee break was just about enough to get warm enough.


Borders at the base area with Mt Millicent in the background

Great Western Express had an experts only sign at the bottom, so there was no queue. The sign wasn't really justified; there were two relatively easy ways down. To complete the day and get plenty of exercise, I did three runs from Great Western with runs from Snake Creek interspersed.


The top of Great Western
Too little snow


Looking across the Wasatch range from the top of Great Western


Looking down into the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon


Beneath the bottom of Best Western lift


Lots of obstacles on Wrangler run


Looking down to Heber Valley from the top of Snake Creek


Looking towards the top of Great Western

I finished around 12:45 and we decided to drive a little was down the canyon to stop for lunch. We weren't the only ones and had to wait around 30 minutes for a table at the Silver Fork Lodge. So ends a very enjoyable three day stay in Salt Lake.


Sue waiting for our table for lunch
The top of Guardsman's Pass


Silver Fork Lodge
The entrance to Silver Fork Lodge is dominated by a bear on the roof

Runs

Lift Vertical Easy Runs Intermediate Runs Advanced Runs
Start of day
Crest 1207 Pacific Highway, Lower Mary
Crest 1207 Lost Maid Pacific Highway, Lower Mary, Snow Drift, Mary Back
Crest 1207 Lost Maid Lower Mary, Pacific Highway, Mary Back
Crest 1207 Powder Alley, Shoulder, Snow Drift, Pacific Highway
Crest 1207 Snake Creek Access Tantamount
Snake Creek 1040 Pioneer Easy Out
Snake Creek 1040 Pioneer, Ziggy's
Snake Creek 1040 Sundance Thor, Scout
Coffee break
Crest 1207 Snake Creek Access, Deer Park Thunder Road, Great Western
Great Western 1745 Elk Park, Western Trail Aspen Glo
Snake Creek 1040 Deer Park Pine Martin, Great Western, Pioneer
Great Western 1745 Western Trail, Elk Park, Golden Needle
Snake Creek 1040 Snake Creek Access, Pick em Up, Deer Park Pioneer, Great Western
Great Western 1745 Western Trail, Elk Park, Golden Needle
Snake Creek 1040 Sunshine, Hawkeye
End of day
Total vertical 18717

Last updated: 4th February 2007