Great Snow Escape: Park City resort ready to open

PARK CITY -- Our last stop on the Great Snow Escape, Park City Mountain Resort, opens for the season this weekend.

"It's going to be one of the best openings here for quite a few years," said Brent Giles, the resort's director of Operations and Environment. That's because the resort recently purchased 17 new snowmaking guns and the temperatures have been cold enough to use them. That means skiers and boarders will likely see a few more runs open early this year.

Communications Manager Andy Miller said, "We've got something for everyone. I can almost guarantee that you'll have a great time when you come out to the mountain."

Park City is making good on that promise, according to Ski Magazine. This year the publication named Park City the No. 6 resort in North America and the No. 1 family vacation destination.

Tom Pettigrew, director of Skier Services, explained, "The mountain itself is a great family-based mountain. We have terrain from gentle blue runs to immaculately groomed blue runs, black runs where we have off-trails, ungroomed conditions, the bowls."

Many families love the resort's "signature runs." Black diamond in level, these runs are groomed, which allows intermediate skiers and riders to try the terrain. The resort covers 3,300 acres spread out over 17 peaks and bowls. They feature 114 trails and 3,700 feet of vertical. And don't forget about the three terrain parks and super pipe. It all adds up to a great outdoor experience.

"Once you're up on the mountain, it's a mountain," Pettigrew said. "You're not surrounded by condo developments and houses. It really feels like you're out in the environment experiencing the environment."

That environment began to flourish after a grant from President John F. Kennedy's administration opened the resort in December 1963. The ski resort was built on mining land. When it opened it was called Treasure Mountain, and it was owned and operated by United Park City Mines. At that time the resort could hold 3,000 skiers per hour. But soon millions of dollars in improvements were being built.

In 2002, the resort's history grew to include hosting numerous events for the Winter Olympics. Park City hosted the men's and women's giant slalom events for alpine skiing, plus all of the snowboarding, including the half pipe and slalom.

"We get people coming from around the world, around the country, who know us from having seen us in the Olympic competitions 10 years ago," Andy Miller said.

Today the Park City resort still hosts championship competitions. In February it hosted the first ever slopestyle skiing finals in the Freestyle World Ski Championships.

"It was such a big hit that the Olympics liked what they saw and they added it this summer as an official event for 2014," Miller said.

National Ability Center

Park City Mountain Resort is home to the National Ability Center. It offers recreational programs for people with physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities.

The center runs year-round and serves 2,500 kids and adults with 17,000 experiences a year. It has a ski team, and the center's alpine skiing and snowboarding program for individuals with disabilities has been rated one of the best in the country.

Food

Park City Mountain Resort is the only resort with lift service and ski-in/ski-out access to Park City's historic Main Street. Visitors can ski right down to all the shops, restaurants and galleries after a day on the hill.

The resort itself features 10 places for food, and has a new executive chef this year -- Brian Prusse. He's cooked up new menu items for the food and beverage spots and helped all of the on-mountain restaurants create their own unique identity.

"We're much more geared to family experience," he said. "And with kids and snowboarders and that clientele, our food tends to lean more toward comfort food and homestyle cooking."

This year the food establishments are making all of their soups and chilis from scratch.

One of the more unique food choices at Park City is Cobra Dogs. It's an exclusive kind of snowboard brand that Park City brought in last year. A "cobra style" dog includes sauerkraut, cream cheese and cobra sauce. Boarders seem to love it!

The business operated out of a Coke trailer at the bottom of the terrain park. This year, Park City has built a permanent structure for it in the same place.

"Right there on the super pipe, you can come down, sit on the deck and watch people get air and have a dog," Prusse said.

Additional activities

A lot of people visit Park City to enjoy the Alpine Slide and coaster during the summer. But the resort also features a lot of fun things for the family to do in the winter, whether they ski or not.

• Zipline
  The Flying Eagle Zipline is the newest non-ski based activity at the Park City Mountain Resort. This winter will be its first full season of use. Unlike many ziplines, riders don't get harnessed in. They sit right in a chair. "It's not a super thrill ride" Miller said, "but it's a fun way to cruise up and see the resort base area from a different angle."
• Alpine coaster
  The resort's Alpine coaster is the only one of its kind in Utah and it's a big hit in the winter. "That's a great activity for maybe a grandfather or grandparent to do with a child on a vacation," Pettigrew pointed out. Miller added, "It's really a cool ride in the wintertime when you have the snow piling up on the sides. It forms a really cool snow tunnel on each side of the tracks that you cruise through all the way down."

• Terrain parks
  In addition to the zipline and coaster, there are three terrain parks spanning all levels. They draw in the younger crowd with a 22-foot Eagle super pipe. "I think that we recognize that we need to engage the younger piece of the populous and action sports is something that's interesting to them," Pettigrew explained.

  Miller says the super pipe was one of the first of its size in North America. "It's known throughout the ski and snowboard industry as one of the finest pipes in the world, one of the best cuts." Some of the most accomplished skiers and snowboarders in the world use the super pipe for training. When it's not hosting competitions, it's open to the public.
• Viking Yurt
  Customers of the Viking Yurt meet at the lodge at 6 p.m. and take a 25-minute sleigh ride up the ski runs to the yurt, which is nestled right in the middle of all the snow. Inside, visitors enjoy a set five-course dinner with live music. Prices are $125 per person and it opens Dec. 18.
• Tubing at Gorgoza Park
  The Park City Mountain Resort operates the site at a separate location near Jeremy Ranch. Park Manager Tom Butz said, "Our main tubing area has seven tubing lanes, three beginner lanes, and four advanced. Then there are three additional lanes for little kids." The park provides tubes and the staff shows customers exactly what to do. "We can get a couple hundred people here at a time," Butz said. "They're all out with their families having a great time, everyone from little Junior up to grandpa. So, it's fun."
• Snowmobiles
  The Park also provides snowmobiles for kids as young as 5. "That's a blast seeing a 5-year-old get on their own snowmobile, put on a helmet and ride around our course," Butz said.

More information, prices, schedules are available at the resort's website.