Virgin Power Appreciation Society

Brighton, UT, USA

Brighton seems to be the boarders favourite in terms of what is an easy drive from Salt Lake City. A mere 45 minutes from a scorcher downtown, you can be making your first tracks on pisted runs.

The lifts seem pretty well laid out, and I had great fun on Millicent on warm spring days, riding the melting top coat of snow. The double blacks down the front (Scree-Slope, Lone-Pine) aren't that challenging if you're used to those kinds of runs. If you're not then you might want to avoid them as there are some cliffs that you could be dropping over if you make the wrong kind of mistake.

The Great-Western lift is a fast trip to the top and there are so many lines that you can take for a faster trip down to the bottom, and then do it all again.

I didn't get to do any backcountry here, but the possibilities looked good. I was scoping out some lines and I'm definitely going to go back for some of that Utah backcountry champagne powder.

This place certainly has a lot to offer, but I just got there at the wrong time. It hadn't snowed for a while, and I wasn't in a position to sample the obviously ample backcountry that's on offer. Much more next time.