Utah Has 15 Ski Resorts-and I Skied Every One in a Single Day

"A light snow fell through the beam of my headlamp as I pushed off my edges down the slope. Ahead of me, five more disembodied beams skittered across the snow, each emitting from the skiers ahead of me. Otherwise, it was pitch black. We were deep in the forested highlands of the Markagunt Plateau of southern Utah on a ski run at Brian Head Ski Resort, about 250 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. My watch read 4:36 a.m."

"Utah looms large in a skier's world with spectacular terrain and so much snow. On that brisk mid-March morning in 2023, with weeks of winter remaining, about 700 inches of snow had already fallen at some resorts. That's 58 feet-10 cars stacked atop each other-and the most snow Utah had ever received in the shortest amount of time since official record-keeping began in 1943."

A skier began a pre-dawn run on Brian Head Ski Resort, navigating pitch-black conditions with headlamps across the Markagunt Plateau. By mid-March 2023 some Utah resorts had received about 700 inches of snow, the largest short-term total since records began in 1943. Utah offers diverse ski options, including Brian Head, Cherry Peak, Sundance, Deer Valley, Brighton, Snowbird, and Woodward, with features from night skiing to terrain parks and attendant service. The skier planned to visit all 15 Utah ski resorts in a single day. The challenge traces back to a 2009 idea from a group associated with Ski Utah.

Read at Travel + Leisure