Utah's ski season is officially under way. The first lift made its first rounds Wednesday night.
If weather forecasters are right, count on most of Utah's resorts being under full power long before Thanksgiving.In the race to be the first, Powder Mountain opened one lift to night skiing on Wednesday. Passes are $9.50 adults, $6.50 children.
Park City will open on Friday at 11 a.m., with skiing on PayDay from the Alpine Slide unloading down. Prices are $12 adults, $5 for children.
Solitude announced it will open two lifts - Moombeam and Link - on Saturday and Sunday. A day pass will be $16. Brighton has reported that it plans to open sometime next week. Snowbird and Alta are expected to follow - soon.
The weekend storm all but guaranteed Utah, Thanksgiving skiing. Alta is reporting 40 inches of snow mid-mountain. Down the canyon, Snowbird has nearly 5 feet of snow on its summit. Both areas have opened in the past with less snow than they have now.
Park City, gearing up for the women's World Cup races over Thanksgiving, has been making snow the past few weeks. The natural covering from the last storm left the resort with a solid base.
According to Onno Wieringa, general manager at Alta, the snow pattern over the weekend was perfect.
"It was a typical Alta storm. It started out heavy, which gave us a good base, then turned light. Right now we've got five or six inches of nice light powder over a good base," he said.
When skiers do hit their favorite resort they will find a few things different this year.
Most notable is the new high-speed detachable quad at Brighton. This is its second. The new lift will open up 10 new runs and 200 acres of skiable terrain. Also, a new chairlift was put in to replace a rope tow used to service a beginner's area.
Alta replaced, extended and increased the capacity of its Sugarloaf lift over the summer. The old double was replaced by a new and longer triple. The new unloading area will provide easier access to Germania Pass.
The area is also replacing its rope-tow shuttle between upper and lower areas with a new, high-tech tow that will reach from ticket shack to ticket shack.
Park City invested another $1 million into its snow making system that was, already, the most developed in the state.
Snowbird will be putting more attention into its grooming program. This year most of the beginner and intermediate terrain will get a regular grooming from the resort's fleet of snowcats.
Of major interest, no doubt, to skiers will be lift ticket prices. They will be:
- Alta went from $21 last year to $23 for an adult day pass.
- Beaver Mountain also jumped up $2, going from $16 to $18.
- Brian Head, under new ownership this year, held with its $28 pass fee from last year.
- Deer Valley remains Utah's most expensive resort. This year it jumped its prices from $41 to $43 for an adult day pass. During holiday periods it goes up to $46.
- Elk Meadows had the largest increase. It went from $19 last season to $25 this year.
- Park City went up a dollar, going from $39 to $40 for an adult all areas, all day pass.
- ParkWest, also under new management this season, held firm at $25 for an adult day pass.
- Powder Mountain went from $19 to $20 this season.
- Snowbasin made a slight increase, going from $22 to $23.
- Snowbird also went up $1 on its passes, going from $29 to $30 for an adult chair pass, and from $36 to $37 for a tram.
- Solitude followed other areas with a $1 increase, going from $26 to $27.
- Sundance also held firm on its 1991-92 rate - $22 for an adult day.
All areas will, of course, be offering half-day and children's passes for less than the adult pass. Some areas, too, have resident discounts available. It would pay a skier to contact his or her favorite resort and see if any of the programs are still available.