ST. GEORGE — Skiers eager to take the slopes at Brian Head will need to wait an extra week.
The Brian Head Resort 2023-24 ski season will open next Friday, Nov. 17, instead of this Friday.
While Brian Head officials had been optimistic about an early opening after a rainy first week of October coming off a record rainfall season as well as a chilly weekend in Southern Utah, the warmer weather since has tempered that optimism.
“The warmer temperatures haven’t allowed us to capitalize on our new snowmaking upgrades,” Amber Palmer, marketing manager at Brian Head, said in a statement. “Our team is doing an incredible job and taking advantage of every opportunity to make snow so we can open as soon as possible.”
The delay spoils the chance for Brian Head to be the first ski resort in Utah this season to open its lifts. Instead, it will have to settle for a tie for first next weekend with Alta, Solitude and Park City resorts.
Thanks to the previous snowy winter, Brian Head was able to have its longest season in 60 years last year, opening on Nov. 4, 2022, and remaining open until April.
A spokesperson for the resort said with an El Nino winter ahead expected to make it wet down in St. George, there should be plenty of powder in the mountains above to provide for an extended season to start 2024.
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