BRIAN HEAD, Utah -- There is a saying among ski resort operators:

"The money is in the bunny."

That means, to the uninitiated, ski resorts make most of their bucks from beginning skiiers, those who slip, slide, crawl and bounce their way down the beginner (bunny) slopes.

So, bunny-friendly ski resorts are welcome sights to the majority of American skiiers.

And, Brian Head Ski Resort has to rank near the top of the bunny-friendly ski resorts in America, with about 80 per cent of the resort's 52 ski runs composed of beginner and intermediate slopes (there are several black diamonds and some double black diamond cat skiing areas available for those wanting more radical skiing).

Located in relatively remote Southwest Utah, Brian Head is something of a mecca for beginner and intermediate skiiers.

"Probably 80 to 90 per cent of our skiiers are beginners and intermediate skiiers," says Brianhead Sales and Marketing Director Craig McCarthy.

The powdery Utah snow, which falls on Brian Head at the rate of about 400 inches per year, creating more than a dozen 40-to-50-yard-wide beginner and intermediate groomed cruiser runs, provides a super training ground for those who want to work on improving their skiing and to families preferring easier tracts.

"We get a huge number of parents and kids here," said McCarthy. "We try to make sure they have plenty of room to operate on the slopes."

With its somewhat boony locale (3-4 hours from Las Vegas and Salt Lake City), Brian Head has the luxury of rarely seeing its 500 acres of slopes crowded. "A three-minute lift line wait here is considered a long time . . . most of the time skiiers can ski right up to the lifts and get right back on,'" said McCarthy. The resort gets about 150,000 skiiers per year, a relatively small number for a first-class western ski resort.

The Brian Head Resort is unique in its very lofty altitudes. The resort headquarters at the base of the mountain is at the 9,600-foot level. The skiiers take lifts to the top, where they reach the approximate 11,000-foot level.

"We are the highest sea level incorporated town in America," says Brian Head Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jade McDonald. "Because of our elevation we have a lot of 'highest' records for our town."

The nearest communities to Brian Head are Parowan (12 miles to the east) and Cedar City (35 miles to the west). But Brian Head itself has several hotels, condos, restaurants and grocery stores to provide basic needs.

The resort lodge offers rooms with fireplaces, full kitchen accomodations, jet tubs, spas, game room, exercise room and heated indoor pool. Rates run about $78 per night for two people. Ski lift tickets range from $28 to $38 (with nearly 50 per cent discount for kids 6-12 and seniors 65 and older). Kids age 5 and under ski free when skiing with an adult.

The resort is actually on two mountains (Giant Steps and Navajo), divided by a small road. The Navajo's nine slopes are basically all family intermediate and beginner runs. The six-lane snow tubing park is also at the edge of the slopes. The Giant Steps/Brian Head area has more than a dozen long cruiser groomer intermediate-beginner runs, plus about 16 black diamond runs (double black diamond runs, including jumps of 60 feet or more from rock ledges, are available by cat skiing from the Brian Head Peak).

Continuous bus shuttle service hauls skiiers and lodgers between the two mountains and the town.

The split-mountain situation is the largest problem for skiiers at Brian Head.

"We realize that, and we have been working to get a ski lift built that will connect the two ski mountains," said McCarthy. "We have got all the legal work done except for one elderly landowner who has been reluctant to give us the right to run a lift over his property. We would not build anything on his property, just run the lift over it, but for whatever reason _ it's not money _ he is holding out. We hope to get an agreement soon."

The resort offers day care and plenty of ski programs for children, beginning at age 3.

McCarthy says Brian Head was one of the first ski areas in America to open this season, getting skiiers on the slopes in early November. "We usually stay open until late April and have plenty of good snow left, but people start thinking about other things around that time."

Interstate Highway 15 has been good to Brian Head, enabling Los Angeles area and Las Vegas area residents to get to the slopes in only a few hours. "Probably 80 per cent of our business comes from those areas," said McCarthy.

On the Internet:

www.brianheadutah.com
www.brianheadtown.com/bhrc

This story was published on 20 May 2002.