Mt Brighton, MI: 2/1/19

When I moved from Kinderhook,NY in 1984 at the age of 14 Mt Brighton was the first place I skied in Michigan and it left a lot to be desired. Jiminy Peak  suddenly felt like skiing a 3,000’ hill.
Last fall I bought a punch card for Mi ski resorts that gives me a lift ticket at 33 different areas. Mt Brighton is the closest area in metro Detroit to me. So since my ticket is already paid for and I haven’t been there since Vail bought Brighton and they put roughly 10 million into the place I thought why not try it again.
Pros:
The lodge is much improved
The quality of the man made snow is 100% better now thanks to SMI snow guns.
The employees seem happy to be working
Great terrain park if that is your thing
Close to home
The beer was cold.
Cons:
The lifts are slow
The runs are short and to make it worse the runs on the big hill flatten out about 2/3’s of the way down.
Next to no trees

I went solo tonight which is rare for me. Normally my kid goes with me and it felt like I was cheating on her. The snow was a nice packed powder and the bad part was you would just get into a  rhythm and the run is over. The good part is it is still skiing and after a day at work it was a great way to  unwind.
Mt Brighton says 250’ vertical but the actual skiing vertical is more like 150-175’. I am sure they measure from the back of the area to the top of the big hill.






I did get to see a beautiful sunset and I love the old groomer they have in front of the lodge

Pretty pictures.

Do they allow uphill travel? With such short runs I think I could get more of a workout by climbing for my runs and then saving money not buying lift tickets.

raisingarizona wrote

Pretty pictures.

Do they allow uphill travel? With such short runs I think I could get more of a workout by climbing for my runs and then saving money not buying lift tickets.

A good friend of mine lives 10 mins away and he said in a week night you can skin all you want. On a weekend they want you to have a lift ticket. He now just buys the Epic pass so he can Ski our west also

So it’s small, low AND flattens out at the bottom? They got it all. I can see why it was a letdown compared to Jiminy. Looks like fun anyway. And that sunset is pretty

All in all at the end of the night it was better than sitting home on the couch. After living in Michigan I will never put down a 1000’ hill.