Brian Head Resort
Overview
Brian Head Resort leans hard into one statistic in its own marketing: a base elevation the resort calls the highest of any Utah ski area, quoted at roughly 10,000 feet. The recorded base elevation, 2,928.5 meters, converts to about 9,607 feet, close enough to that round-number claim to hold up, and the summit tops out at 3,324.7 meters for a vertical drop of 396.2 meters. That combination of thin mountain air and a relatively modest vertical is a known trade-off for southern Utah’s high-desert ski terrain.
Thirteen lifts, eight chairlifts, two rope tows, and three magic carpets, spread skiers across 68 mapped runs and 37.63 kilometers of trail, one of the larger lift fleets relative to run count among the resorts covered here. The resort’s own site splits its terrain across two named peaks, Navajo and Giant Steps, giving visitors a genuine choice of mountain faces rather than one continuous ski area. Terrain difficulty comes out unusually balanced: 14.65 kilometers intermediate, 11.25 kilometers easy, and 10.95 kilometers advanced, with a small 0.77-kilometer novice pocket rounding things out, a spread that avoids the heavy intermediate skew common at many mid-sized resorts.
Brian Head also runs night skiing, sold as a separate ticket category from standard day passes, and the resort promotes an annual average snowfall above 360 inches, a figure it attributes directly to that high base elevation. Opening day for the current season is set for November 6, and the on-site Brian Head Lodge anchors a “stay and ski free” promotion tied to certain bookings. No multi-resort pass currently counts Brian Head among its partners, so lift access runs through the resort’s own tickets and season pass products exclusively.
Getting to Brian Head means a short final approach: Cedar City Regional Airport sits just 22.3 kilometers away, a distance rare among the resorts in this dataset, while St George Regional Airport is a further option at 93.4 kilometers. The nearest larger population centers, though, are all well over 250 kilometers off, in the Las Vegas metro area, with Sunrise Manor, North Las Vegas, and Henderson forming the closest cluster of sizable cities and Harry Reid International in Las Vegas serving as the resort’s listed gateway airport at 271.9 kilometers. That gap between a very close regional airstrip and a very distant major metro is a pattern worth planning around for anyone driving in rather than flying regional.
An official trail map is downloadable directly from the resort as an image file, and the mountain is also charted independently on skimap.org and OpenSkiMap, both matching the sixty-eight-run, thirteen-lift layout recorded here. That ratio, roughly five trails per lift, is tighter than many resorts of comparable run count, pointing to shorter, more direct lift access across the two-peak layout. The lift fleet itself, two rope tows and three magic carpets alongside eight chairlifts, leans toward beginner-friendly infrastructure, matching the resort’s unusually even split between easy, intermediate, and advanced terrain.
Key stats
Official website — Last checked 2026-09-13
Lifts by type
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| rope tow | 2 |
| chair lift | 8 |
| magic carpet | 3 |
Runs by difficulty
| Difficulty | Distance |
|---|---|
| easy | 11.25 km |
| novice | 0.77 km |
| advanced | 10.95 km |
| intermediate | 14.65 km |
Maps
View official Brian Head Resort trail map (image) →
Run & lift overview
Brian Head Resort: 68 runs, 13 lifts. Reflects OpenStreetMap's run and lift mapping for Brian Head Resort, not the resort's own trail map graphic. © OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenSkiMap (ODbL).
Typical conditions by month
Monthly conditions data for Brian Head Resort is not yet available.
Lift tickets & passes
Brian Head Resort has no multi-resort pass affiliations on record.
Getting there
Nearest airports
- Cedar City Regional Airport (CDC) — 22.3 km straight-line
- St George Regional Airport (SGU) — 93.4 km straight-line
- Page Municipal Airport (PGA) — 150.2 km straight-line
Nearest cities
- Sunrise Manor, Nevada — 257.3 km straight-line
- North Las Vegas, Nevada — 261.2 km straight-line
- Henderson, Nevada — 264.1 km straight-line
Where to stay
A dedicated lodging guide for Brian Head Resort is not yet available.
Nearby resorts
- Eagle Point — 81 km straight-line, 379.3 m vertical
- Arizona Snowbowl — 282 km straight-line, 718.4 m vertical
- Lee Canyon — 295 km straight-line, 233.3 m vertical
- Sundance Resort — 318 km straight-line, 655.1 m vertical
- Snowbird — 337 km straight-line, 974.6 m vertical
FAQ
- Does Brian Head Resort really have Utah's highest base elevation?
- The resort markets itself that way, citing a base near 10,000 feet, and the recorded data backs that up closely with a 2,928.5-meter base, roughly 9,607 feet, among the higher starting elevations of any Utah ski area.
- How big is Brian Head Resort?
- A 396.2-meter vertical drop connects the 2,928.5-meter base to a 3,324.7-meter summit, with 68 mapped runs spread across 37.63 kilometers of trail served by 13 lifts. That works out to roughly five runs for every lift, a tighter ratio than many resorts of similar run count carry.
- Is Brian Head Resort split across two mountains?
- Yes, the resort's own site references two distinct peaks, Navajo and Giant Steps, giving skiers two separate faces to choose between rather than a single continuous mountain. Splitting the thirteen-lift fleet across two peaks also spreads the sixty-eight mapped runs into two distinct trail systems rather than one continuous network.
- What terrain difficulty dominates at Brian Head?
- Intermediate trail leads at 14.65 kilometers, with easy and advanced terrain close behind at 11.25 and 10.95 kilometers respectively, plus a small 0.77-kilometer novice section, an unusually even three-way split for a resort of this size. Few resorts balance easy and advanced terrain this closely, so skill level matters less here than at mountains skewed heavily toward one end of the difficulty scale.
- Does Brian Head Resort offer night skiing?
- Yes, night tickets are sold separately alongside standard day passes, extending the ski day beyond daylight hours. Selling night access as its own product rather than bundling it into every day pass lets visitors choose whether to add evening runs to their trip.
- What is the nearest airport to Brian Head Resort?
- Cedar City Regional Airport is closest at just 22.3 kilometers, a notably short hop compared to the 93.4 kilometers to St George or the 271.9-kilometer drive to the Las Vegas gateway airport. Page Municipal Airport in Arizona is a third, more distant option at 150.2 kilometers for travelers approaching from the southeast.
- How much snow does Brian Head Resort get?
- The resort advertises averaging over 360 inches annually, a figure tied to its high base elevation near 10,000 feet in the mountains above Cedar City.
- Is Brian Head Resort on any multi-resort ski pass?
- No multi-resort pass currently lists Brian Head among its partners, so lift access is limited to the resort's own day tickets and season passes. The resort does sell its own 2026/2027 season pass products directly, which remains the only route to discounted multi-visit access under current data.
Data sources
Last verified: 2026-09-17
Base facts from OpenSkiMap (ODbL), OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata (CC0), OurAirports (public domain) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). See /data-sources/.