Comment: Brighton got its start in 1936 when members of the Alpine Ski Club designed and built a "skier tow" out of half-inch wire rope and an old elevator drum. Brighton became the first tow-serviced ski area in Utah and was one of only a few operating in the nation. A group called Brighton Recreations built the first chairlift in Big Cottonwood Canyon in 1946.

Since 1936 Brighton Resort has been considered the local favorite for families and those learning to ski or snowboard.

The Canyons

Number of lifts: 16 — 2 gondolas, 9 high-speed quads, 2 triple, 1 double, 2 surface lifts

Vertical drop: 3,190

Skiable acres: 3,700

Terrain: 14 percent beginner, 44 percent intermediate, 42 percent expert

Top elevation: 9,990 feet

Number of runs: 152

Snowboarding: Yes

Terrain parks: 2

Comment: The resort, then called Park City West, opened in 1968, five years after Park City Mountain Resort, with three double-chair and four rope tows and an uphill capacity of 3,300 skiers per hour. The name change to ParkWest came with the sale of the resort in 1975.

The real growth came in 1997, when the American Skiing Co. purchased the resort and changed the name, again, to The Canyons, and began the first stages of a $500 million expansion program.

This is Utah's largest ski area when it comes to developed runs and lift access with more than 3,500 acres of skiable terrain.

Deer Valley

Number of lifts: 21 — 1 gondola, 10 high-speed quads, 2 fixed-grip quads, 6 triple, 2 double.

Vertical drop: 3,000

Skiable acres: 1,825

Terrain: 24 percent beginner, 43 percent intermediate, 33 percent expert

Top elevation: 9,570 feet

Number of runs: 91

Snowboarding: No

Terrain parks: 1

Comment: Deer Valley officially opened in 1981, but its history actually goes back into the 1940s. Bob Burns and Otto Carpenter opened Snow Park with a single "T-bar" on Deer Valley land, then added a chairlift back in 1949.

The resort has been rated either No. 1 or No. 2 by readers of SKI Magazine for a number of years. Areas it scores high in are service, grooming and food, which includes its famous Deer Valley turkey stew.