Aqua-blue skies, only the faintest of cloud cover and mild temperatures enticed locals by the droves Monday to Utah's ski resorts. There they mixed with destination visitors, who packed hotel rooms and condos along the Wasatch Front and Back and then got what most had been hoping for - a bluebird Presidents Day weekend in a year of phenomenal snow.

"It's a holiday and it's sunny. Everybody is coming out," said Christian DeHaas, a 14-year-old Spanish Fork boy who has a season pass at Sundance Resort above Provo.

That's for sure, said Sundance spokeswoman Lucy Ridolphi.

For the four-day weekend (counting Friday), Robert Redford's resort beneath Mount Timpanogos received 85 percent more visitors than last year, with revenue up 45 percent.

Some were first-time visitors, such as three couples from Binghamton, N.Y., who were escorted around one run by mountain host and skier Brad Houston of Orem, a 48-year veteran of Sundance's slopes.

"We tried to come once before but didn't get here until a quarter to 10 and we couldn't get in," said Deborah Abbey, noting that the New Yorkers have been coming to Utah regularly for the past half-dozen years. "We come to Utah because we know we'll always get snow. It may not always be powder, but you always have snow."

For others, such as Spokane, Wash., resident Courtney Clyde, Monday was a homecoming of sorts. The Springville native, back visiting family over the holidays, was making turns on smoothly grained Amy's Ridge for the first time in 35 years - and loving it.

So was Linda Hickman, a Provo native now living in suburban San Francisco, who was among 80 members of the Hickman-Whitesides family who had gathered at Sundance for a family reunion in honor of the 80th birthday of Linda's mother-in-law, Lucy. Eighteen to 20 of them were on the slopes this sunny day.

"The Hickmans and the Whitesides are a skiing family," she said. "We're loving this."

What's not to love? There were lift lines, for sure. The line to ride the Arrowhead triple chair was four lanes wide and six to eight groups deep for most of the day. But it moved along smoothly.

Libby Dowd observed similar circumstances at The Canyons Resort outside of Park City. "Even though our skier numbers were big, people were spread out all over the mountain, eliminating lines at lifts and crowds on runs."

Farther north at Wolf Mountain, all rental equipment was gone by 10:30 a.m. Little wonder that General Manager Bill Cox observed, "Visits are up over 100 percent from last year, surpassing the record Presidents weekend of 2006."

mikeg@sltrib.com