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Wild Utah: What kind of visitor is best suited to patronize your resort?

Brighton: Brighton's visitors range from season pass holder, Erma Huck who is 92 years old this year, through the many tatooed and pierced crowd, to the family of 5 who is here every Saturday.

WU: What is your resort's number one feature?

B: Customers comment on our trees - which I interpret to mean the gladed runs, the variety of terrain and the beauty of our environment. We focus on GREAT SNOW, great prices and friendly service.

WU: What causes the biggest headaches for visitors at your resort?

B: Powder shots to the face!

WU: What's new for the 2004/2005 season?

B: This season we have replaced our 1955 Majestic double chair with a quad. Our entire rental fleet is new, and boy is it pretty!

Brighton feels like a small resort - everyone is family. BUT we ski like a BIG resort. The unbelievable snow brings a variety of people here who enjoy the casual, personal atmosphere. Not fancy, not too much - and, carry your own d*mn skis!

High Points: Gobs of Snowboarders & Inexpensive Lift Tickets

Low Points: Gobs of Snowboarders Y Comida Mas o Menos

Free Tip: BYO

Brighton is often the first resort to open its lifts in the fall. If you're diehards like us, you'll ski wherever there's a lift running; thus, Brighton is our favorite when it's the only one open. No matter what day it is, if Brighton is open, it's packed with snowboarders.

Brighton is snowboard central here in the Wasatch. Two of only four remaining resorts in the U.S.A. to restrict snowboarders from their mountain are here in Utah. So it only makes sense that riders would not just populate the other local resorts, but they had to take one for themselves.

Brighton is owned by Boyne USA, a company for which Wild Utah's publisher, Tommy Kirchhoff, used to take gainful employment. We think Boyne USA's idea to purchase Brighton was based on the fact that it's 1) totally awesome, and 2) the mountain sits directly central to Solitude, Alta, Park City Mountain and Deer Valley.

There exists a legacy that one day, all seven of these resorts might connect so that people could ski all of them with one ticket (much the way it's done in Europe). Obviously, there are some issues, like Alta and Deer Valley's "pedanal" thinking about how many planks to stand on. But Brighton is already connected to Solitude. One can purchase the Sol-Bright ticket to ski both resorts. Alta and SnowBird can be had on one ticket. Park City and Deer Valley have been known to cooperate. It could happen.

Brighton's food is on the low end. The Alpine Rose in the lodge is pretty standard resort grub. The Brighton Chalet is where you can buy hotdogs and hamburgers, and find yourself swarmed with snowboarding adolescents. The pick of the joint is Molly Green's. This has the best food, excellent views, and it's the best choice for après ski. We've had lots of good times at Molly's.

As the resort sits right now, it's super low-key. Tickets are cheap, and the snow is bountiful. The terrain is as good as anywhere. We hold a very high opinion of the resort because it's just so old-school. The glitziest part of Brighton is the website, if that tells you anything.