Sorry, skiers and snowboarders, but ski season in Utah will be on hold until at least Sunday.
Brian Head Resort announced Tuesday that it would be pushing its season opener back yet another week to Nov. 21. The ski area, which is located about a half hour north of Cedar City, had already reset its original projected opening date from Nov. 7 to Friday. With the delay of an incoming storm and temperatures too warm to make snow, it was forced to push its start date back again.
It has company in doing so. Months ago, Solitude Mountain Resort tentatively set its opening date as Nov. 14.
On Monday, the Big Cottonwood Canyon resort reset its opener for Sunday, conditions permitting.
Brighton Resort has not announced an opening date and has a tendency for firing up its lifts hours before its neighbors in order to claim first-to-open bragging rights. The chances of that happening this season, however, are slim. The resort’s webcams show fields of brown with a few sparse white patches.
That won’t be the case after this weekend, when most of Utah’s mountains are expected to receive at least a couple inches of snow. As of last weekend, forecasts showed the storm arriving Friday. Now, however, it appears most resorts will see the bulk of their precipitation Saturday night through Tuesday.
Brian Head and Eagle Point seem poised to reap the biggest benefit. OpenSnow.com estimates they’ll receive between 8-18 inches from Saturday through Tuesday. Eagle Point is not scheduled to open until mid-December.
(Julie Jag | The Salt Lake Tribune) Skiers wait in line for the Giant Steps Express chairlift at Brian Head Resort on Jan. 8, 2023. The ski area has pushed its start date back for a second time this season and now expects to open Nov. 21.
Northern Utah resorts, meanwhile, are forecast to receive between 2-16 inches between Sunday and Tuesday. That includes between 5-13 inches at Solitude. It also includes up to 16 inches at Alta Ski Area in Little Cottonwood Canyon and 10 inches at Park City Mountain, both of which are scheduled to open Nov. 21.
The forecast continues to call for a chance of snow through Nov. 24.
To placate anxious skiers and snowboarders, Brian Head is hosting a free, hike-to rail jam with pro snowboarders Pat and Joey Fava on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Skiers and snowboarders can start shaking off the rust on the rails at the base of Navajo Mountain at 11 a.m., followed by a competition from 1-3 p.m.
Tom Pettigrew, Brian Head Resort’s general manager, told The Salt Lake Tribune on last week that once the ski area opens — whenever that is — it will be open daily for the rest of the 2025-26 season.
“It would take something pretty dramatic for us to move away from — once we launched the resort operation — to reduce the days of operation,” he said. “Our intent is, as soon as we start to then start to get bigger.”