Brighton
Brighton Ski Resort is a popular and new ski destination located in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, just outside of Salt Lake City. The resort is conveniently located just 30 minutes from the city, making it an easy day trip or weekend getaway for skiers and snowboarders. Brighton is the ski resort that most Salt Lakers learn to ski at.
Brighton is known for its laid-back feel, cheaper lift prices, family-friendly atmosphere, and an impressive annual snowfall which averages over 500 inches per season. The snow at the resort typically comes down dry and powdery, which is excellent for skiing and snowboarding conditions when fresh. The ski season at Brighton typically runs from mid-November to mid-April, and the resort offers over 1,000 acres of skiable terrain for all levels of skiers and snowboarders to enjoy. Brighton also has a terrain park for freestyle skiers and snowboarders, featuring a variety of jumps, rails, and other features.
In addition to its great skiing and snowboarding, Brighton also offers a variety of apres-ski amenities, including lodges, many dining options, and a lively après-ski scene.
We recently ranked all of Utah's ski resorts, so you can see where Brighton stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Brighton is a part of the Ikon Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all or most of the Ikon-sponsored slopes with it throughout the year, depending on the type of pass you bought.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Brighton around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Brighton Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Brighton has a total of 66 ski trails, which are serviced by 4 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 1,050 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 425 hectares, 1.6 square miles, or 4.2 square kilometers.
Brighton's slopes see on average 500 inches (12.7 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 41 feet every year!
Total Runs
66
Lifts
4
Skiable Acres
1,050(4 km2)
Annual Snowfall
500"(1,270 cm)
Brighton Ski Resort Elevation
Brighton Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 10,500 feet, or 3,200 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 8,750 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 1,875 feet (571 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 10,500 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
10,500'(3,200 m)
Vertical Drop
1,875'(571 m)
Base Elevation
8,750'(2,667 m)
Brighton Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
56.3out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Brighton has 1,050 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Brighton's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 40% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 39% as expert.
Beginner
21%(221 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
40%(420 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
39%(410 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Brighton Ski Resort good for beginners?
Brighton is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 61% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.
Brighton Ski Resort Location
Brighton Ski Resort is located in the state of Utah, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Brighton, UT.
Address:
Brighton, UT 84121 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
brightonresort.com
GPS Coordinates:
40.60000, -111.58000
Getting to Brighton Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Brighton Ski Resort), its coordinates of 40.60000, -111.58000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Brighton, UT to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Brighton Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salt Lake City International Airport | SLC | Salt Lake City, UT | 25 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Brighton.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Provo-Utah Lake International Airport | PVU | Provo, UT | 27 mi |
| Ogden Hinckley Airport | OGD | Ogden, UT | 47 mi |
| Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport | RKS | Rock Springs, WY | 148 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Brighton Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Brighton Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solitude Mountain | Salt Lake City, UT | 10,488 ft | 70% | 2 mi |
| Alta Ski Area | Salt Lake City, UT | 11,068 ft | 71% | 3 mi |
| Snowbird | Snowbird, UT | 11,000 ft | 67% | 4 mi |
| Deer Valley | Park City, UT | 9,570 ft | 68% | 4 mi |
| Canyons Village at Park City | Park City, UT | 9,990 ft | 76% | 6 mi |
| Park City (Park City Mountain) | Park City, UT | 10,026 ft | 76% | 8 mi |
| Park City Mountain | Park City, UT | 10,026 ft | 78% | 8 mi |
| Woodward Park City | Park City, UT | 6,840 ft | 14% | 11 mi |
| Sundance | Sundance, UT | 8,250 ft | 62% | 13 mi |
| Nordic Valley (Wolf Mountain) | Eden, UT | 6,400 ft | 48% | 31 mi |
| Powder Mountain | Cedar Valley, UT | 9,422 ft | 60% | 44 mi |
| Eagle Point | Huntsville, UT | 10,600 ft | 55% | 46 mi |
| Cherry Peak Resort | Richmond, UT | 7,040 ft | 42% | 92 mi |
| Snowbasin | Orangeville, UT | 9,350 ft | 79% | 92 mi |
| Beaver Mountain | Garden City, UT | 8,860 ft | 52% | 95 mi |
Brighton Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 10,500 ft |
| Base Elevation | 8,750 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 1,875 ft |
| Trails | 66 (21% Beginner, 40% Intermediate, 39% Expert) |
| Lifts | 4 |
| Skiable Acres | 1,050 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 500 inches |