Southern Utah’s Brian Head Resort would quadruple in dimension underneath a sprawling imaginative and prescient detailed right now by the Forest Service. The advanced growth would embody 1,651 acres of the Dixie Nationwide Forest together with 1000’s of acres of personal land owned by Brian Head Resort and third celebration developer Aspen Meadows. The expanded ski space would additionally embrace lands owned by the State of Utah and Brian Head City. All instructed, the imaginative and prescient may see 26 new lifts, greater than 382 acres of recent minimize trails, 19 miles of recent snowmaking strains, 15 miles of recent roads and 4 new on-mountain eating places. Brian Head’s Comfy Carrying Capability would greater than triple from 4,330 friends right now to 13,250. The resort says the venture would accommodate a rising demand for outside recreation in Utah, improve studying development, present connectivity between base portals and enhance the general visitor expertise.
Brian Head was acquired in 2019 by Mountain Capital Companions, the fast-growing collective of 13 ski areas within the Western United States and South America helmed by James Coleman. Coleman’s bold plan for Brian Head will not be fully new as adjoining developer Aspen Meadows proposed eight of the lifts on 850 acres of personal land again in 2023. Most of the lifts proposed on public land had been included in Brian Head’s 2023 Grasp Improvement Plan.
Of the 26 lifts now proposed, ten could be situated solely on Forest Service land, 4 would straddle personal and USFS lands and 12 would occupy solely personal land. Throughout the present ski space, Roulette would get replaced with a excessive pace quad and prolonged to load decrease on the mountain. All different present lifts would stay. A floor tow is proposed close to the prevailing Alpen Glow triple to serve 4 new trails. Greater up on the mountain, three new lifts are deliberate on 11,310′ foot Brian Head Peak. These would come with a 4,340′ removable quad known as Dragon’s Again and a 1,400 foot jig-back tram known as Peak.
Within the Sid’s Peak to East Ridge growth pod, Brian Head goals to handle hazard bushes and vegetation in areas impacted by the 2017 Brian Head Hearth. 5 lifts on this pod would service a few of Brian Head’s most superior terrain. The longest, dubbed Summit, could be a removable quad spanning 7,425 toes. 4 different lifts on this zone could be fastened grip triples extending between 999 and three,120 toes.
A 3rd pod known as Navajo Ridge to Dry Lakes would come with 4 lifts starting from floor tow to removable quad. These installations would run close to the prevailing Navajo Specific and stretch between 558 and 4,887 toes. They’d function on public land inside the Dixie Nationwide Forest and require a Particular Use Allow boundary adjustment.
Lastly is the Aspen Meadows to Freeway 143 pod with a considerable new day skier portal known as Artwork Village. This pod, situated on personal land, would come with an eight passenger pulse gondola linking to Brian Head’s present base. From Artwork Village, skiers may hook up with quite a few lifts together with 4 conveyors, six fastened triples and a removable quad known as Lengthy Meadows. The Forest Service notes building on this pod may start earlier than or concurrent with initiatives on public land as it’s not topic to the EIS.
If this growth was constructed as envisioned, it could create a novel alternative to ski 360 levels round an enormous space in both course alongside quite a few totally different features. “Sure new lifts and related ski runs would play an integral function in making a circuit of resort snowboarding round a base village at the moment unparalleled in North America,” the plan exclaims.
The Forest Service notes parts of the proposal on public and adjoining land will endure its most stringent stage of environmental assessment – an Environmental Influence Assertion (EIS). Even with right now’s probably favorable regulatory local weather, the assessment is predicted to take not less than three years.
At a excessive stage, Mountain Capital Companions has proven an unbelievable fortitude for buying ski areas and dreaming up huge plans. Simply final week, MCP introduced its intent to turn out to be the controlling shareholder of 4 extra ski areas in Chile, bringing its complete variety of mountains to 17. Since 2015, the corporate has invested greater than $125 million in enhancements throughout its rising portfolio, together with new removable lifts at Nordic Valley and Arizona Snowbowl. Final 12 months, the debuted a modest new Skytrac at Arizona Snowbowl and this 12 months MCP plans new lifts at Purgatory and Sipapu, each of which comprise components from older lifts. Regardless of these wins, ambition has not at all times been met with realized capital initiatives. A equally large growth plan for Nordic Valley involving public land introduced in 2018 went nowhere with the Forest Service.
At Brian Head, three public open homes are deliberate through the preliminary scoping interval to solicit public suggestions. They’re:
Tuesday, July 29, 2025 — Brian Head Lodge, 314 W Hunter Ridge Dr, Brian Head, UT
Wednesday, July 30, 2025 — Parowan Metropolis Workplace, 35 E 100 N, Parowan, UT
Thursday, July 31, 2025 — Southern Utah College, Brian Head Room (Sharwan Smith Middle), Cedar Metropolis, UT
All three will run from 6:00 to eight:00 pm.
