Last week the valley was choked with haze from the 2020 fire season; so I talked someone into a ride up Big Cottonwood canyon to see how the town of Brighton, Utah was faring.
Brighton is a town with about 180 residents. It is also home to two world class ski resorts: Brighton Resort and Solitude. It also is home to the Silver Lake Nordic Center which has a ski track around a lake.
I had some technical issues while labeling the photos. I was horrified to discovered that it had been 16 years since I last visited this area. The town is off limits to dogs, and I had a dog.
The town is arranged as a one way loop. It has a general store and that is pretty much all. Yes, there are several ski lifts off the main drag such as Milly Express:
Which is serviced by Milly's Chalet:
The resort is in pre-season. I spoke with an instructor from the ski school who said that the resort is expecting to have a strange season. Apparently the resort wants to reduce the number of lift tickets sold to encourage social distancing. To do this, they might close their on slope ticket offices. That means that people will have to buy their tickets online before driving up the canyon.
The resort itself was in a preseason lull while I visited. The snow cannons were lined up in the parking lot and just a few people were mulling about the resort's offices.
Likewise, the trail grooming equipment waits for the first traces of man made snow:
The A frame shaped building houses a resort owned establishment called "Molly Greens." They are rumored to sell beer. So, you don't want the bishop to see you entering that establishment.
The main Brighton Resort Center is a large boxy building. The ski school is in the building behind the Brighton Center. As I am having some technical difficulties. I will upload the rest of the photo set later:
#gpsphoto : 40.598,-111.583276