When daylight isn't enough, there's always the night.
For a few hours, anyway.
After day passes expire, night crews arrive and light switches are turned on, and it's time for night skiing and snowboarding.
Night sliding is an option. A bonus to some. It's an opportunity for others who otherwise may not be able to ski or snowboard during daylight hours.
High-tech lighting has made it all possible.
There are eight resorts in Utah offering a variety of twilight options. Beaver Mountain, Brian Head, Brighton, Park City Mountain Resort, Powder Mountain, Snowbird, Sundance and Wolf Creek are all open for evening shredding.
Days, hours and prices vary.
Interestingly enough, skiers and boarders in the Southeast and Midwest are far more interested in twilight skiing than those in the Rocky Mountain area.
Reasons range from higher populations east of the Rockies to easy slope accessibility to the simple fact that daytime skiing is so good in places like Utah and Colorado.
According to the National Ski Area Association, the highest percentage of night visits are in the Southeast and Midwest regions — 30.6 and 23.8 percent, respectively — where in the Rocky Mountain region, night visits drop to 1.2 percent of total ski trips.
There is also a correlation to resort size. That is, the larger the ski area, the lower the percentage of night skiers and boarders. Night visits at smaller areas are 29.2 percent of the total skier count, and at larger areas it's 3.5 percent.
Night skiing is simply an extension of daytime sliding : the same resorts, the same lifts and the same runs, only fewer of them, and all with a very different look under the lights.
The main lighting comes from bulbs set high on poles, many falling under computer control. They come on as visibility requires.
But then on special nights, the moon delivers an inspiring glow of soft light to the entire landscape.
And, at some resorts, when there are clouds in the sky, "there's a glow from the city lights hanging over the mountain tops. It's not much, but it's pretty impressive," noted Jerry Warren, mountain operations manager at Sundance.
There is a number of reasons people find night skiing so appealing, among them being lower ticket prices and less on-hill traffic.
Nights are especially nice for beginning skiers for those very reasons.
After nearly a quarter-century in the dark, Sundance is now offering skiing at night, due in part, said Warren, "to demand, requests and the popularity of a summer program.
"For the past two years, we've offered full-moon lift rides in the summer," said Warren about Snowbird. "On any given night, we've had more than 1,000 people show up just to ride the lift. And it made sense for us to start it up again, considering the number of people and students down in the valley."
One of the first to offer skiing under the lights was Park City Mountain Resort back in the winter of 1967-68 on its PayDay run, which was listed at the time among the country's top-10 runs.
Currently, Park City offers three runs at night, "the longest being PayDay at 5,560 feet. First Time is 1,800 feet, and the TurtleTrail/Skiway is 2,660 feet," said Meisha Lawson, the resort's communications manager.
Beaver Mountain opens a couple of times during the winter to public night skiing. The rest of the nights are reserved for private groups only.
The guarantee to turn on the lights is a minimum of 80 skiers or snowboarders. In many cases, groups and companies have held reserved nights for years.
Brian Head has offered nights for about 10 years. It runs a single lift on a gentle slope on Friday and Saturday evenings.
The crowd at night, said Ron Burgess, Brian Head communications director, is a mix of "students and mostly locals. It's a different experience. I liken it to playing high school football under the lights."
Brighton opened for nights in 1979.
It offers the most skiable acreage at night — 200 acres and 17 runs — off three lifts.
Here, too, the heaviest traffic comes from locals looking for an escape and skiing or snowboarding after work and school.
According to Jared Winkler, "It takes more than 200 thousand-watt bulbs to light up the areas. If you know the area you're going to ski, on moon-lit nights, you can ski the trees with a head lamp. People have also found it's a great opportunity to ski the powder."
Powder Mountain opened for nights back in 1972 on its Confidence run, which ran for about 600 feet. Today, it offers seven runs on its Sundown lift and Tiger tow.
Dave Jessup of Powder Mountain's marketing department said that while night skiing has been popular in the past, "we have seen a tremendous growth over the past couple of years."
Two things that can be attributed to the growth are a lower-priced lift ticket and extended hours — from 3 to 9 p.m.
The resort is also offering a Thursday night jib event on the first Thursday of every month. The Jan. 7 event is called the Junkyard Jib and will feature some unusual obstacles.
Snowbird offers skiing and snowboarding three nights a week off its Chickadee lift. It's a bonus to lodge guests who can ski free. Visitors pay $7 for the opportunity.
Sundance lights up its runs on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings, all the way from Ray's Summit to the base, with access to three long runs, one of which is a black diamond. "So (those) runs are definitely not just for beginners," said Warren.
Wolf Creek, formerly Nordic Valley, offers night skiing and snowboarding throughout the week.
Major ski and snowboard event organizers have also discovered evening events.
World Cup has held slalom races under the lights for the convenience of fans. Deer Valley has, and will hold again on Jan. 14-18, World Cup freestyle events at night.
NIGHT FACTS
Beaver Mountain: Private parties only. Lift pass is $10 Monday through Thursday, $12 Friday through Sunday. www.skithebeav.com.
Brian Head: Friday and Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. Lift pass is $15. www.brianhead.com.
Brighton: Monday through Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. Regular price lift ticket is $32 for adults, but lots of 2-for-1, half-price and discounts. www.brightonresort.com.
Park City Mountain Resort: Sunday through Saturday, 4 to 7:30 p.m. Adult lift ticket $46, children 7-12 $34 and those 6 and under free. www.parkcitymountain.com.
Powder Mountain: Sunday through Saturday, 3 to 9 p.m. Lift ticket $15 adults, $12 children 7-12, those 6 and under free. www.powdermountain.com.
Snowbird: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday only, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., $7 for a pass. Lodge guests ski free. www.snowbird.com.
Sundance: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 4:30 to 9 p.m. Lift ticket is $25 adults, $18 children 6-12, with those 5 and under free. www.sundanceresort.com.
Wolf Creek: Sunday through Saturday, 4 to 9 p.m. Lift pass is $15 weekdays, $20 weekend for adults, $15 weekdays, $15 weekends for children. www.wolfmountaineden.com.
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