Skiing in Brian Head, Utah

“To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” -Aristotle

We have always wanted to take the kids skiing, but we wanted to wait until they were old enough to help put on their own snow gear. If you are a parent, then you know how difficult it can be to just get gloves on a small child. So, we finally decided at the ages of 7 and 9 that the kids were ready to hit the slopes. The hubby asked around the firehouse and the general consensus was that Brian Head, Utah was the perfect place to take you kids skiing for the first time. Here are some of the reasons we picked this location and a few more questions you may want to know before going…

(We were hosted for one of our two ski days by Brian Head Resort, but as always, all opinions and photos are mine)

Why did we pick Brian Head?

Besides the fact that all the guys at the firehouse said it was the perfect location to take kids for the first time, we also realized it was going to be one of the most affordable places as well. We didn’t have a huge budget and skiing in California, either in Tahoe or Mammoth, was going to break the bank for us. We also picked the location because we knew we could drive and take all of our extra snow gear that may not have fit in luggage for an airplane.

Where is Brian Head?

Brian Head is in Utah, at 10,970 ft at its highest elevation, so pretty high elevation. From California we drove through Las Vegas, Nevada, a small sliver of Arizona, then into Utah.

What is there to do in Brian Head?

If you are headed to Brian Head, then you are definitely going for the snow. You can ski or snowboard and they also have runs for sledding. But if you are looking for shopping or other “night life” activities you are not going to find them here. We didn’t mind that it was going to be a more quiet trip, keeping the main focus on our snow play. We had a feeling that after a day on the slopes the kids would be toast and would just want to snuggle up by the fire, which we were correct. But if you are wanting restaurants, shops and other activities then this may not be the ideal place for you.

How many different lifts are there?

There are 8 different lifts ranging from 150ft. to 1,200ft. There are a total of 71 runs; 30% easy, 35% more difficult, 35% most difficult.

what are the prices?

What are the prices? The prices are, by far, one of the biggest advantages of picking this location. Kids 12 and under ski for FREE! Then lift tickets for adults range from $40-$80, depending on the day (weekends and holidays are more expensive).

If you don’t have ski’s/snowboards then you will have to rent them, but don’t worry they have rentals right on sight at the resort. It’s super easy, just make sure to get there about 30 minutes before you want to get outside because gathering all of the equipment can take a little bit of time.

The only other thing we paid for was lessons for the kids. These were the most expensive part of the bill, for a half day it was $120 a child. But the class sizes are small, the teachers are incredibly patient, and they learn so much in just a short amount of time, making it totally worth the money.

Where to go to find affordable skiing for the entire family! Click To Tweet

Where do you stay in brian head?

There aren’t too many traditional hotels in Brian Head. There is one Best Western, but besides that you will most likely have to book an Air B&B or VRBO. I wouldn’t recommend the exact one we stayed at, it seemed outdated and not as clean as I would have liked. Things I would look for in the future; our own hot tub (not a shared community one), ski in/ski out capabilities, more rooms with doors instead of just a loft area for sleeping, game area for kids.

How long should you stay?

Since the drive was pretty long for us, we decided we needed to stay for four nights (five days). Our first day was spent traveling, then the next day we skied. We took a break on the third day, just doing some sledding and snowman building, then went skiing again on the fourth day. Finally headed home on the fifth day, it was the perfect length for us.

Where can you go sledding?

There are two actual hills that Brian Head has built for sledding. The Navaho Tube Hill, which is a 75′ vertical drop with a 550′ slope length. Then there is the Giant Steps Tube Hill, which is a 100′ vertical drop with a 600′ slope length. We just happened to stay in an area that had a decent hill and made our own smaller sledding area, but you definitely won’t have any trouble finding somewhere to sled!

Other info

The altitude change definitely effected us more than I thought it would. The first day was a bit rough, we all had headaches, felt light headed and out of breath. We brought humidifiers with us, which did help us from getting too dried out when sleeping. By the second day we were feeling much better, but just something to keep in mind when going.

–> Have you taken your family on a ski/snowboarding trip? Where have you gone? Interested in other destinations? Check out my travel posts HERE.