Utah ski season taking flight

A flight of geese flies past ski lifts in Park City on Sunday. A lack of natural snow didn't keep die-hard skiers off the slopes. (Scott Sommerdorf / Salt Lake Tribune)

Park City » Although Mother Nature failed to deliver a major winter storm over the weekend, she couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of Utah skiers.

On a sun-splashed, 25-degree Fahrenheit morning at Park City Mountain Resort, a small but content group of snow junkies gathered at one of six Utah ski areas already open for business.

The hum of giant snow-making equipment was the morning's dominant sound as it threw fog-like clouds of snow into the air.

At 9 a.m., about 100 cars sat in a vast parking lot. Nearly all were local, but a few had license plates from as far away as New Jersey, Vermont and Oregon. About one in 10 chairs on the First Time Lift was occupied by skiers

Ken Richter, of Farmington, and his two daughters were faces in the crowd. As he unloaded three sets of skis from his car and prepared to test the mostly man-made snow coating two runs, Richter stroked his beard, looked skyward and smiled.

"It's a beautiful day," he said. "They have the runs covered and I'm happy. I mean, clear skies and skiing always make it a good day."

Despite predictions of snow through the weekend, Mike Conger of the National Weather Service said Mother Nature changed her mind.

The first storm expected for Saturday slid past "a little further north" and dropped "a few inches of snow" along the Utah-Idaho border, he said.

Nevertheless, a second storm arrived Sunday evening, and was expected to drop 2-6 inches of snow in the Cottonwood canyons. Park City will be "lucky to get an inch or two. It's not going to be much of an event for them," Conger said.

Park City Resort opened Saturday and according to skiutah.com, other open areas include Brian Head, Brighton, Snowbird, Solitude and Wolf Creek.

"Thanks to cold temperatures, we have made 200 percent more snow this year than we did at the same time last season," said Brent Giles, Park City Mountain Resort director of operations.

Jonathan Townsley, of Park City, declared the early-season conditions were satisfactory.

"It's groomed snow -- man-made -- but it's sunny up here and it's better than doing nothing on a Sunday morning," he said. "It's good exercise -- definitely worth coming out."

With a gas-fueled fireplace flickering, the lobby in the Lodge at the Mountain Village was deserted, except for front-desk clerk Megan Lopiccolo.

"This is pretty typical for this time of year," she said. "It's always pretty slow around Thanksgiving. It doesn't pick up until Christmas. So we're not too worried about reservations or anything like that."

luhm@sltrib.com