These Utah ski resorts are now open

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Brighton Ski Resort opened, joining Solitude and Brian Head for the season.
A snowstorm is expected to bring up to 10 inches to Cottonwood Canyons.

SALT LAKE CITY — Brighton Ski Resort opened Thursday ahead of a snowstorm expected to bring as much as 10 inches of powder to the Cottonwood Canyons over the next two days.

Dozens of skiers and snowboarders lined up to ride the Majestic and Explorer lifts at the Big Cottonwood Canyon resort, the third to open in Utah this season. Neighboring Solitude opened for the weekend last week and will start spinning the lifts for the 2024-2025 season on Friday.

Brian Head in southern Utah opened last Friday. Other areas plan to start winter operations around Thanksgiving and in early December.

WE ARE OPEN! Majestic and Explorer are open from 9am-4pm and we're hoping to get more lifts open as soon as possible. Thank you to all of our employees for getting our resort open as soon as possible for people to enjoy! pic.twitter.com/KRb8YVjS3D
— Brighton Resort (@BrightonResort) November 14, 2024

When will it snow again?

Skiers and snowboarders might have some fresh snow to ride in the next few days. A storm is moving into the state beginning Friday and into Saturday, according to KSL-TV meteorologist Matt Johnson.

"We're not expecting a ton from this storm system," he said.

Johnson anticipates the storm will drop 2 to 5 inches in the mountains and 5 to 10 inches in the Cottonwood Canyons. The storm will clear out Saturday afternoon.

And more could be on the way next week.

OnTheSnow meteorologist Chris Tomer is forecasting 6 to 8 inches at Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Brighton in the Cottonwoods and less accumulation at Park City, Deer Valley, Powder Mountain, Brian Head and Snowbasin.

SKI Magazine recently named Snowbasin as the best ski area in the West based on reader surveys. Alta also made the Top 5.

Utah ski resorts current opening dates:

Alta — Nov. 22
Beaver Mountain — TBA
Brian Head — Open
Brighton — Open
Cherry Peak — TBA
Deer Valley Resort — Dec. 7
Eagle Point — Dec. 20
Nordic Valley — Dec. 7
Park City Mountain — Nov. 22
Powder Mountain — Dec. 6
Snowbasin — Nov. 29
Snowbird — Nov. 28
Solitude — Nov. 15
Sundance — Dec. 4
Woodward Park City — Nov. 29

What else is new?

Deer Valley released a new trail map Thursday to reflect its expanded terrain and three new chairlifts — Keetley Express, Hoodoo Express and Aurora. Renowned illustrator and graphic designer Rad Smith, known for keeping up the tradition of hand-painted ski maps, designed and drew the new guide using an aerial perspective to accurately portray the resort's varied terrain, chairlifts and amenities.

"Deer Valley's new trail map is more than just a guide to our expanded terrain; it's a work of art that captures the essence and intricacies of our mountain landscape," Susie English, vice president of marketing, said in a press release. "This map not only provides a preview of this year's enhancements and the new terrain coming in future seasons, but it also showcases our dedication to elevating every aspect of the guest experience."

Also Thursday, Snowbird announced the addition of more carpool-only parking spaces to help ease winter traffic congestion in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

People ski and snowboard at the grand opening of the season at Brighton Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon on Thursday. (Photo: Laura Seitz, Deseret News)

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.