PRIVATE FAMILY SKI VACATION HOMES IN
BRIGHTON & SOLITUDE SKI RESORTS, UTAH

Again, booking your Utah Winter vacation NOW with Mount Majestic for home and cabin rentals in Brighton and Solitude will save you lots of money on the slopes.

Enjoy Solitude Ski Resort’s best for as little as $40 a day. Pick up an 11 Pak + Card and get 11 or more days for just $40 a day. Or grab a 6 Pak + Card and get 6-10 days for only $43 a day. Purchase your ski days and bypass the ticket window with direct-to-lift service. Credit from unused days will rollover to next season; days are transferable (one per day per card), and you can add more days during the season at the pre-season price. Remember, with each adult pass purchased, kids under age 10 receive a free matching Pak of tickets.
The Family Pak works like this - 30 days to split amongst your family as you see fit! You must put a minimum of five days on each card. If you go over 30 days you can purchase additional days in groups of five at $39 each. This is a non-transferable picture pass.

Booking your winter vacations NOW with Mount Majestic for home and cabin rentals in Brighton and Solitude, Utah will save you money on the slopes. It’s that time of year to open your pocket book to save on lift passes for the 08-09 Brighton, Utah ski season. Just go to Brighton Ski Resort’s website to get the skinny on it. They are maximizing the family dollar by offering a child’s 7-10 unlimited ski pass for $50 when you purchase from one of their early season ticket plans, such as a book of 10 passes. This offer is available through September 12th. You don’t even have to drive up the canyon (what an awful drive) to cash in on these deals. You can get them online www.brightonresort.com, or at the following outdoor retailers for four days beginning Aug 29: REI-3285 E 3300 S, Sports Authority 5590 S. 900 E.

I was just reading the 2007-2008 Utah Ski and Snowboard Survey and saw some interesting stats I thought I would share. 

Utah had a 4.8 percent growth in skier/snowboard days this season, attributable to the high snowfall we had (up 39% from last year). Median income of visitors to Utah ski resorts was $76,000, up from last year by $1,000.  Do they take into account inflation? Average age of visitors decreased from 34 to 33 years of age even though, in my experience, there were more people in the 55 years and up category than in years past.  My, how we baby boomers are getting old.  There were less locals skiing the powder than out of state guests, and there were more international visitors than in any year yet - Utah is truly becoming THE place to ski globally.  One of the reasons is the weak US dollar. Most skiers/snowboarders were coming from California (22%), New York (8.3 %), Texas (7.1 %) and

Illinois (4.2 %).  Those who think the snowboarders are taking over the hill are wrong.  While this segment is growing, they still only represent 31 percent of visitors.  We are also getting smarter.  The percentage of visitors with a bachelors degree or higher increased from 58% to 60%. Hmm so we are getting younger, but smarter on average.  Singles take the lead on who tends to come with  a second segment of parents with children at home the next.  I bet there would be more from the latter segment if they surveyed only Brighton Ski Resort visitors.   Good news for you late planners - only 39% started planning their trip by October.  Most trips were booked in January.   Finally 61 percent of respondents indicated they would definitely return to

Utah within the next two years.  Why???? Need you ask?  A majority of respondents indicated snow quality and their number one reason for returning, followed by presence of family and friends, was the proximity of the ski resorts to the Salt Lake City Airport, and better value for the skiing.

Ever wonder what the lifties on the Brighton Ski Resort do during the summer months? Well, some things I can’t say in print, but they do many things I can.  Besides reseeding the hillside so it doesn’t look like a construction zone all summer, they may be adding new water lines to extend the snow making capacity on the hill, or they may be repainting the lift towers.  This summer they are replacing all of the bulbs in the light poles for night skiing.  Apparently they lose their luminosity as time goes on.  All the cables and the chairs for all lifts have to be individually tested for unraveling and cracks in the steel, and all the bearings in the rollers have to be cleaned and repacked.  Finally, the entire grooming and snow removal equipment has to be overhauled and in top shape for a busy winter.  They will be busy setting up for snow making the minute the weather gets cold enough. There is never a dull moment for those folks. 

This is a picture of Jay and Susan, my in-laws, perched on top of Twin Lakes Pass after a half-day hike. This goes to prove that the mountains of Brighton, Utah are accessible for and the hiking amenable to all age groups. Jay just celebrated his 75th birthday. Can you imagine better in-laws, especially the ones that adore nature like I do and continually want to be active? There is no sitting around with them around. We had a wonderful birthday lunch on top of Twin Lakes Pass with fresh strawberries, turkey and sprout sandwiches and cold clear Brighton water. If you spent a weekend here skiing in the Wintertime when 20 foot snowdrifts are common, you would understand just how crystal clear, cold, pure and refreshing the taste of Brighton water is. The highlight of my day, speaking as a Mom, was that my kids didn’t dare whine with their grandparents in tow. I wish they were around when it was time for the kids to clean their rooms.

On Saturday, August 9th, I ran in the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase again (I do it every year) and was thinking it was going to be a bad day because I arrived just as the gun was going to go off. Not a problem normally, but I hadn’t registered yet. So I started running and ran without a number. I am proud to say I shaved off 20 minutes from last year. 3:18.02. OK, I didn’t win it but I did in my mind. The run has a 3,000 foot elevation gain and is a 16 mile loop. I am not only got getting older, I am getting stronger and better. Must have something to do with the healthy

Utah mountain air. Couldn’t have been due to the great night’s sleep I had at La Vista because I had one equal to that last year sleeping at Chez Louisa. Hmm. Could it have been that it was noticeably cooler? Nah. Not 10 minutes after I got back and showered did it start pouring rain. We haven’t hadrain for over a month. We really need this moisture. Think I will sit and relax in the beautiful living room and watch it rain onMountMillicent, one ofBrightonMountain’s most breathtaking views, knit a few rows, and take a nap.

The Charity Car Show was held thsi past Saturday, July 26 in the Brighton Ski Resort Parking lot. At first, the Car Show seemed to be an odd event to be hosted in a ski resort parking lot perhaps more fitting for a mountain bike rally.

The Charity Car Show was organized by Ryan Stevenson who suffered a spinal cord injury in a snowboarding accident two years ago. The Brighton Ski Resort Parking lot was full all the way back to the Brighton Store. The Show featured around 200 classic and custom cars with proceeds going, appropriately, to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation which funds innovative spinal cord research and helps improve the quality of life for people living with paralysis. The best part was the unofficial parade of these incredible cars going down the Canyon roads at around 5:45 pm. Got to see them in action.

July 18, 2008

As I continue to mention to all of my guests that come to Utah to rent Mount Majestic’s ski homes in Brighton and Solitude in the winter months, our area of Utah is full of adventure and nature during the summer months, as well. In the winter, “Ski Utah” is the common tagline. In the summer, I should coin the phrase “Hike Utah”.

For example, today, my friend Linda and I hiked down to Solitude from Brighton to attend the Wasatch Wildflower Festival which was started to not only celebrate the blooming of wildflowers but to show people how to care for them and to expose them to the finiteness of the ecosystem. Included in the festivities were art shows, theater, live music, food and, of course, hikes and walks which Utahans enjoy with great regularity.

This year is a particularly good year to attend the Wasatch Wildflower Festival because the Wasatch Mountains have had a lot of moisture this past spring. The many 6-8 inch snow storms we had in May and June have yielded green shrubbery and wildflowers with bright and strong colors of every sort.

We chose to take the moderate wildflower walk by boarding the Sunrise lift to the top then enjoyed a short walk to Solitude Lake. We were met by many curious ground squirrels and enjoyed a few hours of meeting people from San Diego, Hartford and even a big group from Minneapolis who were in Utah for a family reunion. We chose to hike back down the hill to the bottom so we could get an ice cream at the Stone Haus Restaurant before heading back home.

July 20, 2008

Other members of my family embarked on a tandem trip over the pass to Park City and then on to Francis, Kamas, Oakley and then back to Park City for dinner and a sleepover at the Washington School Inn which is one of the famous bed and breakfasts in this area of Utah. My daughter is the resident vegetarian in the family and chose Thai cuisine for refueling. All were sore and tired from a long afternoon of biking but fun was had by all.

If you were to google “snowboarding” and “mountain cabins” you would find these cool pictures of one of our Brighton Vacation rental properties, Quigloo.

View the Quigloo Pictures

So these dudes spent a week at Brighton shooting some crazy shots both inside and out. Who has time for that? Seriously though, I am delighted because it gives a larger audience a great showpiece of how all Mount Majestic’s ski rental properties are unique, way cool, and have great powder. There are limitless ways to enjoy a week in the mountains at one of these homes. Next week we have a group coming in from all over the west for a surprise 40th birthday reunion. I will try to get some shots of that!

 

I have been watching the new Millicent Express quad lift going in this summer.

It is a bittersweet moment for me as I remember this charlift’s debut in 1974. I loved riding that lift as a kid, feeling the two-seater chair swaying it’s way up to the top. As a parent, I was numbed by the fact that there wasn’t a bar to protect my babies riding up vast expanse of the Milly bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

This new high-speed quad chairlift is 3920 feet long with a vertical rise of 1109 feet. With the new Millicent lift all Brighton’s terrain will be accessable by high-speed quad. This provides a fast ride up while dispersing skiers across the vast terrain, providing shorter lift lines. The new day lodge at the bottom of the lift is slated to be built next fall.