Cold temperatures the past few nights - down to Wednesday morning's low of 14 - enabled the Big Cottonwood Canyon resort to make enough snow to stick with scheduled plans for today's opening.

Alta Ski Area had similar timing ambitions, but decided Wednesday to delay the startup of its lifts until "we get another good-sized 'Alta storm,' " said resort spokeswoman Connie Marshall, describing a weather system that stalls out over Little Cottonwood Canyon and unloads its pent-up moisture as deep powder.

Snow making also apparently will allow The Canyons to open part of its mountain Saturday, but Park City Mountain Resort will need a few more days to get ready and pushed back its opener from Saturday to next Wednesday.

The Utah ski industry's hopes for a third consecutive banner start remain frustrated by a high pressure system that has camped out over the West and is projected to stay strong into early next week. Besides keeping any prospective snow-bearing storms at bay, the high pressure ridge also will let mountain temperatures climb upward, reducing the effectiveness of snow making.

"At night it will certainly be cold enough to make snow," said National Weather Service lead forecaster Brandon Smith. "But the mountain peaks will get a little warmer while we have stagnant air in the valleys."

A little system forecast to brush the Uinta Mountains tonight will "squeeze out a flake or two," he added, "but nothing significant."

So this year's bragging rights for earliest opening belong to Brighton.

"We'll probably have a 20-inch base in most places we have snow making," said resort executive Randy Doyle.

He plans to start the Majestic chairlift during the morning, add the Crest lift by early afternoon and Explorer after that. "We're shooting for Snake Creek chair by the weekend," Doyle added.

Not all runs off of those lifts will be ready for turns.

But after more than a week of warm nighttime temperatures that hampered snow-making efforts - "we were totally hitting our heads against the wall the whole time," Doyle said - the thermometer dipped into the teens earlier this week. Just in time.

Still, Brighton's staff was scrambling Wednesday to get ready for today.

"We'll limp along," Doyle said. "Groomers are moving around the snow we made. When we complete certain runs, we shut down the snow making and move it to those areas that need it. Lift crews are getting their pads on chairs, signs up and ramps into good shape. The ticket office is going through training. The food service is loading up on hot dogs and hamburgers."

Because of the restricted terrain and hubbub of getting the manufactured snow everywhere it needs to be, Brighton is lowering the price of an all-day ticket today to $35. It will go up to $40 after that, Doyle said, before climbing to this season's rate, $44, once the whole mountain opens.

While last-minute preparations were going on Wednesday, Doyle said a "couple of hundred kids are climbing around the mountain," unable to wait for the lifts to take them to favored boarding or skiing shots.

Ryan Terwilliger, a manager at Milosports in eastern Salt Lake County, had to work Wednesday but was eager to get out of the shop today. "You get pretty antsy, especially working in a store, seeing people getting excited and seeing new products."

At Alta, even with snow making, resort officials didn't feel they had the quantity or quality of snow needed to open, Marshall said.

"We try to open beginner, intermediate and expert at the same time," she added. "But what we have doesn't match the kind of product we like to open with."

The Canyons plans to start with the Saddleback and High Meadow lifts, using terrain whitened with "18 new snow guns that have been working great," said spokeswoman Katie Eldridge. "We'll open what we can and add as we can. It will help everybody get the kinks out."

Park City Mountain Resort added 10 snow-making guns to its system this season, producing "47 percent more snow in half the time," said spokeswoman Krista Perry. But the resort still needs more time to "let our slope maintenance crews do some grooming to get a couple of runs off Payday lift ready."

Other Utah resorts are in a wait-and-see mode." As Powder Mountain Resort noted on its Web site Wednesday: "When will the season open? Soon, we hope!"

Mikeg@sltrib.com