Mount Brighton

Modern-day Mt. Brighton in Brighton, Michigan with original (and now defunct) orange chair in center of picture

Mt. Brighton is a ski and snowboard area in Brighton, Michigan that opened in 1960. As no hills large enough for commercial skiing or snowboarding exist naturally in Brighton, Mt. Brighton's slopes are man-made and reach a maximum height of 250 vertical feet. Mt. Brighton has six chair lifts, one handle-lift and ten tow-rope surface lifts. Silver is the longest of the 26 runs, reaching 1350 feet. A terrain park, featuring rails, boxes, and jumps, is available to freestyle skiers and snowboarders. Almost all of the snow on Mt. Brighton is created artificially using water stored in an on-site reservoir and industry standard snowmaking equipment.

Groups and clubs

Mt. Brighton's Snowsports Academy offers ski and snowboard lessons to both groups and individuals, and offers specialized programs for children (skiing and snowboarding) as well as ski racing. The Snowsports Staff is made up of highly trained instructors - many of whom are AASI (American Association of Snowboard Instructors) or PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) certified. "Ski and Snowboard Club" is a popular activity for suburban and metro Detroit elementary and high school students who want to learn to ski or snowboard, and Mt. Brighton provides lessons to many of these groups. National Ski Patrol certified staff and volunteers provide education and training in leadership, outdoor emergency care, safety and transportation services.

NASTAR (NAtional STAndard Race) racing is available to the public, Saturdays and Sundays, allowing racers to compare their race results to other NASTAR competitors. There are additional events held throughout the season, including an annual Bikini Race, "Slush Cup", "Fun Days", and a bi-weekly "Friday Night Flights" Big Air or Rail Jam.

The Jackal Golf Course

The Jackal is an 18-hole golf course that was added to Mt. Brighton in 2001. Bruce Matthews designed the par 71 course with four sets of tees ranging in yardage from 6,655 to 4,826.

Aspen Extreme

Mt. Brighton made a national appearance in the 1993 feature-length film, "Aspen Extreme." The movie was filmed on location at Mt. Brighton and also in Aspen, Colorado. The main character, T.J. Burke (played by Paul Gross), walks onto Mt. Brighton in late Fall at the start of the movie. Burke hikes up the Black run to the top of the Red, Black and Silver chairlifts where Dexter Rutecki (Peter Berg) is welding a two-person chair that belonged to the Blue chairlift. The Blue, Green and Yellow chairlifts are on the second peak at Mt. Brighton, which is clearly visible in the background. Throughout the movie, Rutecki wears an orange hat created for the movie, but is mistakenly believed to be the official hat of the Mt. Brighton maintenance department employees. The movie indicates that Mt. Brighton was built on top of an existing land fill, which is somewhat misleading. Mt. Brighton was created with excess road debris from the construction of Interstate 96 and US 23, which could also be considered land fill, not with garbage.

The owners of Mt. Brighton are the Bruhn family, who also manage the golf course during the summer.

Coordinates: 42°32′17″N 83°48′25″W / 42.53806°N 83.80694°W / 42.53806; -83.80694