Park City Mountain Resort

Park City Mountain Resort is a ski resort in the western United States in Park City, Utah, located 32 miles (51 km) east of Salt Lake City. Park City, as the ski resort and area is known, contains several training courses for the U.S. Ski Team, including slalom and giant slalom runs. During the 2002 Winter Olympics, it hosted the snowboarding events and the men's and women's alpine giant slalom events.

Park City Mountain Resort
The Resort's Eagle Race Arena in January 2007
Park City Mountain Resort
Location in Utah
Park City Mountain Resort
Location in the United States
LocationPark City, Utah, United States
Coordinates40°39′3″N 111°30′27″W
Vertical  3,200 ft (980 m)
Top elevation10,026 ft (3,056 m)
Base elevation  6,900 ft (2,100 m)
Skiable area7,300 acres (11.4 sq mi; 29.5 km2)
Runs324
7% easiest
49% more difficult
44% most difficult
Longest runHomerun, 3.5 mi (5.6 km)
Lift system41
Gondolas: 4
Chairs: 32
- 6 high speed six packs
- 9 high speed quads
- 5 quads
- 8 triples
- 4 doubles
Surface: 2
- 3 magic carpet
Lift capacity31,000 skiers/hr
Terrain parks7
1 superpipe
1 minipipe
6 natural half pipes
Snowfall355 inches (29.6 ft; 9.0 m)
Snowmaking500 acres (2.0 km2)
Night skiingNo
Websiteparkcitymountain.com

Opened 58 years ago in 1963, the resort has been a major tourist attraction for skiers from all over the United States, as well as a main employer for many of Park City's citizens. The resort was purchased by Vail Resorts in 2014 and combined the resort with neighboring Canyons Resort via an interconnect gondola to create the largest lift-served ski resort in the United States.[1]

During the ski season, most slopes and lifts are open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

History

The resort was opened on December 21, 1963, as Treasure Mountain by United Park City Mines, the last surviving mining corporation in Park City, and the resort was opened with funds from a federal government program to revive the economically depressed town. When it originally opened, it boasted the longest gondola in the United States, a double chairlift, a J-bar lift, base and summit lodges, and a nine-hole golf course.[2] The gondola was a four-passenger Polig-Heckel-Bleichert (PHB, a German aerial ropeway company). Its sister lift was built at Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley, Maine, after top members of Sugarloaf's management visited Park City's lift.

When the slopes first opened, a special Skier's Subway was used to transport skiers nearly 2.5 miles (4.0 km) into the mountain through the pitch-black Spiro Tunnel on a mine train, where skiers then boarded a mining elevator ("hoist") that lifted them 1,750 feet (530 m) to the surface at the foot of the Thaynes Canyon chair, and from there they had access to the entire mountain.[2][3][4] Aerial trams once used for hauling ore were converted into chairlifts. To this day, more than one thousand miles (1,600 km) of old silver-mine workings and tunnels remain beneath the slopes of Park City and neighboring Deer Valley.

Treasure Mountain's name was changed to the Park City Ski Area for its fourth season of 1966–67; thirty years later, it was renamed Park City Mountain Resort in 1996. The resort had grown to include eight peaks and nine bowls, with 3,300 acres (5.2 sq mi; 13.4 km2) of skiing and sixteen chairlifts.[5] The resort has also developed summer activities including an alpine slide, alpine coaster, zip-lines, and several hiking and biking trails.[6]

A sister ski area, originally known as Park City West and later as Canyons Resort, opened in 1968. Deer Valley Resort opened in December 1981, at the site of the former Snow Park (1946–69).

2002 Winter Olympics
Temporary seating at the resort during the 2002 Olympics

During the 2002 games, the resort hosted the men's and women's giant slalom, men's and women's snowboarding parallel giant slalom, and both men's and women's snowboarding halfpipe events. The resort's Eagle Race Arena and Eagle Superpipe were used as the Olympics runs. Temporary stadiums were erected at the end of each run with spectator standing areas on each side, creating a combined capacity of 16,500 persons.[7] Almost all available tickets for events at the resort were sold — 99.8 percent — to a total of 95,991 spectators.[8] During the games, 96 percent of the resort was open for normal seasonal operations, making it the only venue to allow spectators to leave and reenter.[7]

2012 Litigation

In March 2012, Powdr Corporation (owners of Park City Mountain Resort) announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Talisker Land Holdings, LLC (Talisker), the owner of Canyons Resort, as well as United Park City Mines Company, both partial land owners of the resort. The lawsuit filed by Powdr Corp. was in response to an eviction notice issue by Talisker, the entity that owns most of the land the ski runs are on, who had been leasing it to Powdr Corp. (a continuation of the lease made between Park City Mines and Powdr Corp. when Talisker bought the land from Park City Mines).[9] Powdr Corp. claimed that they had initiated talks with Talisker to extend their lease to 2051, and that Talisker had refused to agree to the terms and threatened to close the resort. In response, Talisker claimed that Powdr Corp. had failed to agree to the new terms set down by Talisker, and that they have never threatened to close the resort. Powdr Corp. sued Talisker for $7,000,000 for compensatory and punitive damages for the threat of the closure of the resort.

Park City Mountain Resort had leased the land on which its ski runs are located for $155,000 per year, with an option to renew the lease for 20 years. In 2011, when this option came due, Powdr Corp. failed to renew the lease in a timely manner and sent a letter two days after the lease had expired. Eight months later, Powdr Corp. received a letter from Talisker that their lease had expired and they were to turn over the land and its improvements to Talisker. In 2013, Talisker leased Canyons Resort to Vail Resorts who then took over the legal action. Near the end of May 2013, an eviction notice was served on PCMR to vacate the leased land of the ski area.[10] (Greater City Co. v. United Park City Mines, 120500157 (Summit County Utah 20140521).).

On September 11, 2014, Vail Resorts announced that it had purchased Park City Mountain Resort for $182.5 million, and that it would combine the resort with neighboring Canyons Resort over the summer of 2015 for the 2015-16 season.[11]

Park City Mountain Resort under Vail Resorts

When the purchase was finalized, Vail added Park City Mountain Resort to its EPIC season pass program for the 2014-15 season.[12] In 2015, the merger of PCMR with Canyons was undertaken by Doppelmayr USA as part of a project that built two new lifts and relocated a third. A new gondola called Quicksilver was built between the bottom of Silverlode at PCMR and a point below the top of Iron Mountain at Canyons. King Con was upgraded to a high speed six pack, while the original King Con high speed quad was relocated to replace the Motherlode triple chairlift. The upgrades on the PCMR side were done to alleviate expected congestion at Silverlode and King Con from the added interconnect gondola. The former Canyons Resort base area was renamed the Canyons Village at Park City and the entire combined resort now operates under the Park City Mountain Resort name.

Park City mountain resort is home to many ski schools run by the mountain, but is also home to privately owned ski schools. In 2017, the various individual clubs came together to form one organization - Park City Ski & Snowboard Club.[13]

For the 2018 season, Doppelmayr constructed a high speed quad to replace the High Meadow lift at Red Pine Lodge.

For the 2019 season, a fixed grip quad was constructed running from the bottom of Tombstone to a point just above the top of Sunrise, providing quick egress from the Tombstone and Iron Mountain pods to the Canyons Village base area by alleviating the need to take Tombstone back to Red Pine Lodge.

Statistics

As of the 2015-16 season, after the merger with Canyons Resort.

Mountain information
  • Base elevation: 6,900 feet (2,103 m)[14]
  • Summit elevation: 10,000 feet (3,048 m)
  • Vertical rise: 3,100 feet (945 m)
  • Total mountain peaks: 8
  • Total skiable area: 7,300 acres (29.5 km2)
  • Average Annual Snowfall: 365 inches (930 cm)[14]

Trails
  • Total Trails: 348[15]
    • Beginner: 15%
    • Intermediate: 54%
    • Expert: 31%
  • Terrain Parks: 4
  • Superpipe: 1
  • Minipipe: 1

Lifts
Lift Name Length Vertical Type Make Year Installed
3 Kings 2,176 ft 439 ft Fixed Triple Doppelmayr 2011
Bonanza Express 5,318 ft 1,122 ft High Speed Six Garaventa CTEC 1997
Cabriolet 2,705 ft 193 ft Cabriolet Garaventa CTEC 2000
Crescent Express 7,200 ft 1,743 ft High Speed Quad Doppelmayr CTEC 2008
Day Break Fixed Triple Yan 2001
Dreamcatcher 4,619 ft 1,533 ft Fixed Quad Doppelmayr CTEC 2006
Dreamscape Fixed Quad Garaventa CTEC 2000
Eagle 2,515 ft 1,155 ft Fixed Triple Garaventa CTEC 1993
Eaglet 1,355 ft 255 ft Fixed Triple Garaventa CTEC 1995
First Time Express 1,823 ft 276 ft High Speed Quad Doppelmayr CTEC 2004
Flat Iron 1,641 ft 4 ft Fixed Double Thiokol 2009
Frostwood Gondola 1,963 ft 166 ft Pulse Gondola Doppelmayr CTEC 2008
High Meadow Express 1,965 ft 278 ft High Speed Quad Doppelmayr 2018
Iron Mountain Express 5,181 ft 1,484 ft High Speed Quad Doppelmayr CTEC 2010
Jupiter 3,315 ft 1,000 ft Fixed Double Yan 1976
King Con Express 4,438 ft 1,216 ft High Speed Six Doppelmayr 2015
McConkey's Express 5,260 ft 1,172 ft High Speed Six Garaventa CTEC 1998
Motherlode Express High Speed Quad Garaventa CTEC 2015
Ninety Nine 90 Express 6,680 ft 1,563 ft High Speed Quad Garaventa CTEC 1998
Orange Bubble Express 8,709 ft 1,523 ft High Speed Quad Doppelmayr CTEC 2010
Over and Out 2,412 ft 278 ft Fixed Quad Skytrac 2019
Payday Express 5,726 ft 1,278 ft High Speed Six Garaventa CTEC 1997
Peak 5 2,815 ft 1,038 ft Fixed Quad Garaventa CTEC 1999
Pioneer 3,720 ft 968 ft Fixed Triple CTEC 1984
Quicksilver Gondola 7,767 ft 1,686 ft Gondola Doppelmayr 2015
Red Pine Gondola 6,679 ft 1,119 ft Gondola Poma 1997
Saddleback Express 4,269 ft 1,121 ft High Speed Quad Garaventa CTEC 1997
Short Cut Fixed Triple Yan 1997
Silverlode Express 5,370 ft 1,322 ft High Speed Six Garaventa CTEC 1996
Silverstar Fixed Triple Garaventa CTEC 2006
Sun Peak Express 3,729 ft 1,087 ft High Speed Quad Doppelmayr 1997
Sunrise Fixed Double Garaventa CTEC 2003
Super Condor Express 6,910 ft 1,798 ft High Speed Quad Garaventa CTEC 1998
Thaynes 2,800 ft 850 ft Fixed Double Yan 1975
Timberline 2,229 ft 360 ft Fixed Quad Doppelmayr CTEC 2008
Tombstone Express 6,566 ft 1,734 ft High Speed Six Doppelmayr CTEC 2006
Town 6,665 ft 1,232 ft Fixed Triple CTEC 1985

Slope aspects
  • North: 43%[14]
  • East: 29%
  • West: 24%
  • South: 4%

Summer

During the summer, Payday provides lift service to an alpine slide and an alpine coaster. Restaurants are also open during the summer, and will often have live bands and other activities. The resort creates and maintains its own trails and trail connections to the rest of the Park City area trail system. Activities at the resort include miniature golf, a climbing wall, and trampolines with a harness.

Alpine Slide at Mountain side Resort in Park City, Utah

The resort offers lift-served access for hiking and mountain biking on Crescent, Payday, and Town lifts from the Park City Mountain Village base. Canyons Village provides hiking and biking access via the Red Pine Gondola and Short Cut. Most trails in the area are family-friendly and not very strenuous. The majority of mountain bike trails are intermediate, with a small percentage designated as expert trails.

Park City is one of the featured mountains in the 2008 video game Shaun White Snowboarding.

References
  1. "Goodbye Canyons, hello Park City: Utah ski resort on track to be biggest in U.S." Los Angeles Times. July 29, 2015.
  2. Park City Mountain Resort. "Park City History". Park City Mountain Resort website. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  3. Auran, John Henry (February 1967). "Don't call it Park City; it's really Treasure Mountain". Skiing. p. 58.
  4. The Milwaukee Journal - Skiing facilities grow with skiers - 1965-01-10 - p.7
  5. Park City Mountain Resort. "Resort Stats". Park City Mountain Resort website. Archived from the original on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  6. Park City Mountain Resort. "Summer Activities". Park City Mountain Resort website. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  7. Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2001). Official Spectator Guide. p. 70.
  8. Salt Lake Organizing Committee (2002). Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games (PDF). p. 79. ISBN 0-9717961-0-6. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  9. Hamburger, Jay. "Talisker, Confident, Prepares to Act Upon Eviction Notice Against PCMR". Park Record. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  10. Paskin, Janet. "The Ski Resort Fight Over Park City Mountain". Businessweek. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  11. Smart, Christopher. "Vail buys Park City Mountain Resort for $182M". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  12. "Vail Resorts Acquires Park City Mountain Resort in Park City, Utah". Vail Resorts. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  13. "Local groups join forces to create Park City Ski & Snowboard Club". Retrieved 2018-08-29.
  14. "Best Ski Resorts: Park City Terrain, Snow Quality and Mountain Ranks". ZRankings. ZRankings LLC.
  15. "Terrain and Lift Status". Park City Mountain. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

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