Utah ski resorts consider big impacts as Sunshine Protection Act progresses

PARK CITY — A bill that would eliminate the twice-yearly clock change is moving forward, but some employees in Utah’s ski industry said permanent daylight saving time could create challenges both on and off the slopes.

The Sunshine Protection Act would make daylight saving time permanent year-round. Supporters, including President Donald Trump, argue the change would lead to more evening daylight and increased outdoor and economic activity in the winter. Critics say darker winter mornings could affect safety, sleep and daily routines.

Related: Potential Daylight Saving Time change would impact American Jewish community

If the change were to go through, Utah wouldn’t see the sun rise until about 9 a.m. in the winter.

At Deer Valley Resort, mountain operations vice president Steve Graff said the possible change would require significant adjustments to how ski resorts operate during the winter season.

“It’s going to bring a lot of questions on how we’re going to operate our business,” Graff said. “We’ve adapted to doing some of the work before the sun comes up but really, you can’t operate a ski resort without actually having natural light to inspect.”

Graff said many critical morning tasks, including ski patrol inspections and lift safety checks, rely on natural light.

“Ski patrol … they have their morning briefing. They divide up into their teams, they build their avalanche mitigation measures. And then they start getting to the places,” Graff said. “They can’t do the work without the sunlight.”

Graff said thousands of employees could be affected, with departments including grooming, ski patrol, lift maintenance and lift operations all needing to adjust schedules.

“Those two hours before 9 a.m. are very busy,” Graff said. “There’s a lot of handoff that goes between the groomers and the ski patrol and the lift maintenance and the lift operations … At the end of the day, we want to make sure that we were able to open their ski resort safely in a timely manner.”

He also questions if other businesses would adjust their hours if the ski areas did.

“Rental shops, restaurants … all the things that support the ski areas,” Graff said.

Some visitors questioned whether later opening times would fit with established routines.

“If you look now, people are already starting to quit; they go have lunch a little before 11:30,” skier Bert Zimmerli said. “You go up here to Stein’s and get lunch past 11:30, it’s full. If you don’t start until 10:30, that’s going to cause a lot of issues there.”

His son, Grant Zimmerli, said later opening times could make it harder for students and others to fit in morning runs.

“Definitely in my younger years, especially my friends in high school, we’d skip class in the morning and go up at the absolute crack of dawn to get up there as soon as it opens and get a few runs in,” he said. “Open an hour later, and that’s just not going to be it. Might not be worth it anymore to try and do that.”

While permanent daylight saving time would provide more light later in the day, Graff said the resort questions if skiers would stay longer on the mountain.

“What we see right now is mid to late morning, our busiest times,” he said. “By afternoon, people are already wrapping up and moving on. So extending further in the afternoon, that’s an unknown.”

Others said they’d welcome the change if it means ending the seasonal clock adjustments.

“Just changing the time roughly an hour disturbs your whole routine, your mental state,” said skier Lynne Doti. “I like skiing when it’s not too sunny, so, the evening when it gets softer light, I like that.”

While snow conditions change throughout the season, Graff said the time change could impact them more.

“When you’re skiing in April or late March in the afternoon, by 5 (p.m.), it’s going to be pretty soft by then,” he said.

Darker sunrises also mean some people might find themselves driving to ski areas in the dark.

“I don’t think that’s going to affect our commutes much, the commuting in the dark, but for our guests, which far outnumber our employees, that might be more of a problem for them,” Graff said.

The Sunshine Protection Act goes to the Senate next. The Senate previously voted in favor of this change back in 2022.