Utah ready for early ski season

Funny what a little snow will do. Resorts are packing, grooming and, in some cases, planning early openings.

Brighton will begin putting skiers on its slopes Friday, which is one of its earliest openings on record.

Other Utah resorts also are reporting that they could be opening early.

Brighton will be among the first North American resorts to open and will send a signal across the globe that Utah is, indeed, getting early snow.

Also open are Vail and Loveland in Colorado, and Mammoth Mountain in California.

"This will be the first time in 21 years that Utah has had a ski area open this early," reported Kip Pitou, president of Ski Utah. "It's a great boost to Utah skiing and the ski industry in general."

Official opening dates posted prior to the storm were:

• Alta — Nov. 18.

• Brian Head — Nov. 13

• The Canyons — Nov. 19

• Deer Valley — Dec. 4

• Park City Mountain Resort — Nov. 13

• Powder Mountain — mid-November

• Snowbasin — Nov. 25

• Snowbird — Nov. 20

• Solitude — Nov. 19

• Sundance — Dec. 11

• Brighton and Beaver Mountain had no official date posted.

On Wednesday, Brighton was reporting about 36 inches of snow midmountain and as much as 58 inches in the higher elevations.

Connie Marshall, director of public relations at Alta, said the resort has a midmountain snow depth of 54 inches and has received 75 inches of snow from passing storms. The resort is holding with its Nov. 18 opening.

Down the canyon, at Snowbird, marketing director Dave Fields said there is 3 to 6 feet of snow on the ski runs.

"With the snow we have now, and expect to get tonight, in all probability we'll move up our opening date. If we do, it will be the earliest we've opened."

Down south, Craig McCarthy, director of marketing at Brian Head, said the resort has a base of 42 inches, and "we've got groomers out packing snow. This will make a nice base, because the snow was heavy and wet."