Brighton Ski Resort

It is said that Utah Resorts are blessed with dry, light and plentiful snow, maybe the most skiable snow in all the world. It is true that annually they get over 500 inches of dry fluffy snow. So when one moves to Salt Lake City, even only temporarily, it seems mandatory to experience skiing as only the montains of Utah can offer. At least that's what Wayne thought.

I had had a bad skiing experience almost 40 years before, when I had the unbelievable good luck to ride up a "mountain" in Northern MN with the best-looking boy in my grade. He had just explained how he had saved all his money to purchase his new skiis and this was his first chance to try them out. When the chairlift reached the top he stepped off and I suddenly realized I hadn't. What could a 16 year-old girl do, who was trying to impress this young man, but jump? I was only about a foot above the ramp but jumping made me lose all control and I found myself sliding right for him, and horror of horrors sliding right over the top of his new skis, leaving 2 long scratches. Needless to say, I avoided him the rest of the ski trip, and have tried to stay away from chair lifts ever since!

I have skiied since; I went with the girls on Family Day at Hyland Hills, (back when they were in grade school and learning to ski on a field trip with gym class), and we took the family to Keystone in Colorado 2 springs ago, but I stayed away from chairlifts whenever possible.

Now here we are in Utah on a beautiful Saturday in March, heading up Little Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton Ski Resort. Wayne decided on Brighton for our first attempt as a co-worker had said it was where her children learned to ski and she highly recommended it.

We decided to rent everything there and take lessons as they had a great deal; equipment lessons, and lift tickets for a reasonable price. We got tickets, were fitted with equipment and had a 1/2 hour before lesson time; enough time to grab a quick lunch-a sandwich and milk. Then I reported to the absolute beginners and Wayne to a group working on turning.

My class had 13 students and 2 instructors. Wayne's class had 2 students and 1 instructor. My class began at the very beginning, only putting on 1 ski until we had mastered moving on it. It didn't take long for the class to naturally divide into 2 groups- those who could stop and those who couldn't! I am proud to say I was in the advanced group and we soon moved off the bunny slope with the magic carpet and all the toddler classes. That's when I found myself in line for the chair lift.

I rode up for the first time with Billy, a 20 something who was eager to learn. We had a nice visit as the lift went up and up. Then it ended; Billy stood up and slid down the ramp, while I pushed myself off the chair, slipped back and landed on my behind (at least I didn't scrape Billy's skis!). My instructer, Kevin was in the chair behind me and he hauled me up and out of the way. He took us to the side of the lift and talked to us about getting down; use the snowplow, widen the back when you find yourself going too fast, turn to the side with skis parallel on the slope to rest.

I took off near the back of our group and made it down without falling or resting but my hips were killing me (Have you ever tried to snowplow straight down a mountain without stopping or turning?)

One of the benefits of being in a class is that you get to enter the lift line from the lesson queue so we had minimal waits. My second ride up was with Naomi, a young women from North Carolina who was on her third class; she just couldn't understand how to turn. She was in Utah with her fiance who loved skiing and really wanted her to enjoy it too. She had a great attitude. In too little time we were once again at the top. Naomi slipped off the seat and glided down the ramp. I did not and found myself on the ground again, once more picked up by Kevin.

This time Kevin had us follow him a short distance making frequent turns. He then sent us down the mountain at our own speed. This time I could slow down just by turning and I really enjoyed my trip down. Our group waited at the bottom trying to spot Kevin. Finally we saw him about half way down with Naomi, who still hadn't got the hang of turning without falling. My group decided to go back up rather than wait for Kevin and Naomi, but I waited hoping to get some help with the lift.

After about 15 minutes they joined me. Kevin had seen the others on the lift. He told me I didn't have to wait. I explained about the lift and so this time the 3 of us rode up together (it was a 3 person lift). Kevin told me I would do it this time and I did but I think he had my elbow! He told me I needed to stand up straighter as I got off, leaning forward like a ski-jumper. I lean forward bending at the middle so my weight in back makes me fall. :)

Our lesson had been going for over 2 hours so we were on our own once we got to the bottom. Instead of heading down to the lift I took a side path near the bottom and skiied to where our lessons started just as my phone rang.

It was Wayne sitting on the canteen's deck wondering where I was. He had started on green trails but quickly his teacher moved them to blue runs where they worked on parallel turns and faster speeds. He wanted to do another run but I was bushed so I told him to go ahead and I'd meet him on the deck when he was done.

It was then that I realized I couldn't get out of my skis! I knew there was a release somewhere but couldn't remember where. I tried poking things in front of my boots like my CC skis but nothing happened. Then I saw Kevin standing with other instructors writing on clipboards about 50 feet away. I poled myself over and admitted I couldn't remember how to get out. He said that was an important thing and that he should have remembered to remind me, and he showed me the release (behind my boot!). I took off my skis and climbed up steps to the deck. I found a spot to store my skis and sat at a picnic table. Around me many people were packing up for the day. Brighton has night skiing and the day passes were just about up. I wished I had brought my own money as I was suddenly cold and hungry.

Then Wayne slid up and said he wanted one more run; would I come? I told him no but I would take his money! He took off and I struggled inside (I didn't quite have the knack of walking in ski boots!) and bought myself a cup of hot cocoa and a giant cookie. It tasted so good but I decided to save 1/2 for Wayne. When I thought he should be back down, I stuffed the end of the cookie in my pocket, and balancing skis, poles and a 1/2 cup of cocoa I struggled down the slope to the entrance of the rental building.

I was never so glad to get out of those ski boots and back into my own hiking boots. We got our rentals back with minutes to spare, and headed out to catch a van back to our car. (We had arrived too late to park in the main lot and had to park at a secondary lot a mile down the road.) But we just missed the van so we walked back, enjoying the beautiful scenery. We had left our camera in the car, so we drove back to the main lot and took the picures posted here.

The drive back down Little Cottonwood Canyon was very slow with lots of skiiers leaving at once, from both Brighton and Solitude, another resort we had passed on the way up. But we had a nice visit with Emily on my cell phone until we lost cell coverage.

Then we saw a moose standing in the creek, as well as gorgeous views of the snow covered mountains with the setting sun making them sparkle.

All in all it was a wonderful day and now I can say I skiied in the mountains of Utah!