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That’s a very accurate description of both line lengths and speeds. We made this mistake once to take the Majestic Lift and then even long lines at Crest started to look more attractive. What do you think of Brighton? I feel that we’ve left a lot of it undiscovered, and that by itself makes it worth visiting again. We easily loved Milly and liked Western, but have mixed feelings about the center part, to the point that some said that they’d rather ski Solitude again than another day at Brighton.

Well, the center felt like a circus 🤡

I guess, it’s not so much about how the center looks, but more about what people ski it and how they do it.

Woah, Brighton is insane. It has so much variety. It’s more crowded. It’s quite picturesque. It’s confusing. It’s dangerous. Compared to it, Solitude is so much more relaxed, straightforward and open. We loved all those trails in the trees, endlessly merging, crossing and splitting apart, but I still have no idea of how exactly they’re laid out, as it’s just a giant mess. You constantly have to look around for people jumping on you from a merging trail or even crossing from left shoulder to right and disappearing somewhere in the woods. No freaking wonder we saw two med evacs at Brighton in one day and zero at Solitude in two. Tons of little kids scraping trails with their pizzas and guarding parents going edge to edge behind them. Lines in the central area could be 5 minutes at times. And they have a terrain park, ugh. But the flanks of the resort are just the very opposite. No lines, with open views, high in the sky (just the mere thought of something dropping from the Western express is unbearable) and pretty interesting terrain. I agree, the Milly side is the best. There were never too many people, a walk from the parking lot is easy, there’s a terrace where one could stop for lunch, it’s just such a contrast from the hectic center. The trails there are also quite unique. They all offer insane views, are fast, are at the same time easy but also non-trivial with continuous ups and downs, turns and go arounds. We really had a blast at Milly. The weather started cold, about 12F, but quickly warmed up to about 50F. Conditions were immaculate, with velvet in the morning and cream cheese in the afternoon. So good, but I just can’t shake the feeling that the center of the mountain felt so... camelbacky?? In short, between the two, Solitude has won our hearts. Brighton left a long lasting impression.

Awesome, we have printed barcodes, so will park at Milly then.

Does anybody know if there is a ticket office at the bottom of the Milly lift, or do I need to go to the main parking area?

Long and noisy, but the views!!

Speaking of cross country, the elevation is totally killing me. I’m usually pretty good at going uphill even in alpine skis, but here I start gasping for air ridiculously fast, and gator has to go. If I had to fill out a COVID questionnaire today, yep, a big ✔️ against shortness of breath.

Well, $125 may not be an outrageously high price tag for a dinner, it’s the contrast between the cost and how the venue looks that seems a little ridiculous.

We’re gonna ski Brighton tomorrow. Already eyeballed part of it from the Summit Express, and it looked great from the distance

Today was no spring skiing. Temperatures dropped below freezing yesterday afternoon, and it was just single digits in the morning. But the great part was that they groomed when it was cold, and it never got warm during the day, do today was a winter wonderland. Spectacular groomers that just screamed to be hugged for their perfection. Even in the afternoon when corduroy was long gone, it was still smooth, firm, fast and edgeable. No piles, no mashed potatoes, winter conditions in short. Buuuuut everything else was still frozen. IDK, looking at continuously sunny weather, nice groomer skiing and super thin crowds, it doesn’t look like Utah at all 😂

Heh, right. The Yurt. When we first spotted it we thought nothing of it. Well, perhaps John looked recognizable, but the yurt itself wasn’t anything to write home about. That’s until I read about how “adventurous diners could follow a guide through snow covered evergreens on snowshoes to this secluded Mongolian Yurt for a five course extravaganza” 🤣 $125 per person is a steal, corking fees included.

Who can guess what this is? It sits on the slopes, just a little higher than the base area. There’s a Nordic groomed trail going by it. We haven’t seen a soul over there, but it’s supposed to be a popular and “most unique” place. I’ll post the answer after we come back from the afternoon session.

Yeah, that’s it.

It’s fully open now, so we’re all over the place, but stay on groomers as the difference between groomed and ungroomed is drastic - the latter is just frozen. The only trail that has some spring coverage issues is Solbright and only in the very beginning - rocks start showing up. Summit Express that you’re referring to indeed goes down and up twice but features the best views, so we’re on it quite often.

So, spring skiing here has been amazing so far. Awesome weather, mostly sunny, hardly any people especially after lunch, we never saw any lines here. The temperatures are going down, though not as fast as it was forecasted, and I expected lots of ice after yesterday’s 60F, but nope, groomers were A-OK from the start. Softish, fast, wiiiiiiide and fast, super enjoyable. Ungroomed trails were on the other hand rough and icy, so screw them. Partly cloudy in the morning changed to about an hour of strong snow after lunch with terrible visibility, but then things gradually improved and it’s now fully sunny again. The difference between skiing here in snow and under sun is so drastic, I just can’t get over it. The only thing I feel bad about now is that they close at 4pm. Just why??

Initially I had 2 days at Solitude, a day at Brighton and a day trip from SLC to Snowbasin, but then had to cut it short as we need to be back by Friday.

Well, it’s kinda worth it. If it snows crazy, I’d rather be stuck in my room than in the middle of the canyon. And if the weather is nice, it works out even better as you can take a brief rest, bite and then just wander around while the sun is still high. We still need a car to bypass buses, load on groceries and haul all the stuff for a day at Brighton after we checkout.

These are condos at the bottom of Solitude where we’re skiing for two days. They look 100% identical to what I’ve seen at Keystone, both inside and outside. Living area, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, balcony, TV, fireplace. I keep having dejavu moments all the time. But the arrangement is awesome. Walking distance to the slopes, 3 hours of skiing, lunch break at home, and off for three more hours. Nice to travel with a chef too 🤣

Wow, out of nowhere ran into Bigfoot tracks. Is it even safe to ski here?!

Today was murder! An absolute murder... I’ve never seen so many people at EWR. TSA line before the escalators was running across the entire terminal. Literally, end to end. We were stupidly expecting an easy flight, hardly any lines, because you know, COVID, but nope! Having arrived at the terminal 90 minutes ahead of the flight, we hardly made it to the gate in time. 10 mins more and we would not have made it. Even this was a pure luck because we begged and were allowed to cut a short piece of the line near the scanners. Ah, spring break! But in the end yay, we’ve made it! The skis have made it too, and I was fully expecting them to end up somewhere in Florida or Aruba in this chaos. It is sunny in SLC! It’s so warm that people walk around in T-shirts, both in downtown and in the mountains. The thermometer may show 55F, but the sun is merciless! Got a Highlander, which was nice, as it has tons of space for everything, but yet is such a waste in a weather like this. It is going to be a rather short trip, only three days on the snow.