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BRIGHTON — Although it's been in business for almost 80 years, Utah's first official ski resort still tries to stick to its traditional, historic roots, and beginning this year, will offer free skiing to kids 10 years old and under.
Located about 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, Brighton Resort was founded in 1936 and boasts being the first ski resort in Utah, originally operating with a rope tow, according to Ski Utah director of communications Paul Marshall. The resort has since grown and now offers six chairlifts and one magic carpet.
While the lift system has been updated throughout the years and now offers a high-speed quad that provides access to all of the resort's terrain, many of the other amenities have remained traditional and true to their historic roots, according to Brighton Resort marketing director Jared Winkler.
"It's really the true historic skiing," he said. "Everything is fairly updated at Brighton and so the one thing we don't want to do is build new lodges and spend a lot of money to have to cause us to raise our ticket prices. … Our market is Salt Lake City and the surroundings areas around the Wasatch Front."
The Brighton Lodge was built in the 1950s and is still the original building, Winkler said. The lodge maintains a family-friendly environment with a large fireplace in the main entrance where people can gather to play board games. The lodge has 16 rooms and offers the only lodging at the resort, but private cabin rentals are also available in the area.
Because of the resort's emphasis on creating a family environment, children 10 years old and under will now be able to ski or snowboard for free beginning this season, Winkler said. In the past, the resort only allowed waived ticket fees for children 7 and under.
The resort also has a ski school that has been offering lessons for the past 80 years. Winkler said many of the current instructors are third- and fourth- generation ski instructors.
"The dad was an instructor and now their kid's an instructor and now they have kids with them that are looking to be peer instructors," he said. "You ask around and a lot of people will tell you that they learned to ski or snowboard at Brighton."
Along with skiing and snowboarding at Brighton Resort, snow skates, ski bikes and snow trikes are also allowed on the slopes, Winkler said. The resort also offers five terrain parks with jumps and ride rails, giving people the opportunity to practice tricks while enjoying the slopes.
"(We allow) anything that is safe for riding up a lift. As long as they are safe for themselves and safe to everyone around them, we usually allow it," he said. "Anything can go at Brighton. And a lot of places don't allow that sort of stuff."
Brighton was the first resort to open for the 2015-2016 season, opening on Nov. 18. It is also often the last resort to close for the season, Winkler said.
Location: 8302 S. Brighton Loop Road
Hours: Day skiing is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Sunday. Night skiing just began Wednesday and will be from 4-9 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Prices: An adult day lift ticket is $75 and adult night lift ticket is $40. A youth (11-13 years old) day lift ticket is $45 and a youth night lift ticket is $27. However, on Wednesdays, the resort teams up with a charity and people can donate items to get discounted $20 lift tickets. Wednesday, Dec. 9, people can donate a warm article of clothing that will go to The Road Home Charity. People can also ski for free on Dec. 24-25 if they dress up as Santa Claus.
