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PROVO — Annie Condon says she's hiked many trails of the same uphill views of dirt even on routes that end with some of the most scenic vistas in Utah.
But that wasn't the case when she hiked Sundance Mountain Resort's new 1.25-mile Pahneekahvets Trail, which begins at 6,600 feet elevation and offers views of Stewart Falls and North Fork Canyon along the way.
"This is like every 100 steps you're going to have a perspective of the resort that hasn't been accessible before," said Condon, the resort's spokeswoman, noting that the trail's name derives from a Ute Tribe word that translates to "look around you, look at the beauty of this place."
While Utah's 15 resorts are still known for skiing and snowboarding, they've started adding more summer activities — like the Pahneekahvets Trail — in recent years to meet the growing demand for outdoor activities in the state.
So even as this year's record snowpack has all but melted and record-breaking ski season has come to an end, they're still finding ways to draw in visitors for hiking, mountain biking and wildflower peeping along with a whole host of other activities, says Alison Palmintere, spokeswoman for Ski Utah, a nonprofit that promotes the state's ski and snowboard industry.
"Summer is definitely becoming more and more important, I'd say, over the past few years, as resorts continue to add year-round offerings and start to become year-round destinations," she said, speaking to KSL.com on Thursday.
This year's record snowfall, producing figures that exceeded 900 inches at places like Alta Ski Area, led to record-shattering visitation at resorts. Ski Utah's preliminary estimates indicate that there were 7.1 million skier visits during the 2022-2023 ski season, a 22% increase from the previous record set during the 2021-2022 season. Twelve of the state's 15 resorts broke their visitation records.
It also caused some problems and delays in summer plans. Deer Valley Resort snow removal teams needed to use machinery to dig out mountain biking trails in Park City, encountering some snow depths of 20 feet or more even in late June. Back at Sundance Resort, mountain operations and bike patrol teams also encountered quite a bit of damage caused by the record snowfall.
"With all of the storms from this previous year, there are still some trees we're cleaning up," Condon said.
But with warmer temperatures finally arriving in Utah, many of those delays are clearing up, giving visitors access to the new hiking and mountain biking trails.
Deer Valley announced on July 3 that all but one of its 70 miles of trails had opened. The annual Wasatch Wildflower Festival also kicked off last week with events at Brighton and Solitude resorts; it wraps up with events at Snowbird Resort on Saturday and Alta on Sunday, although Palmintere says peak wildflower viewing is still likely a few weeks away because of the long winter.
Snowbird also debuted its new outdoor tram balcony as it switched to summer operations last month. The resort had received so much snow over the winter and early spring that most of the landscape was covered white on the way to the top of Hidden Peak even in mid-June.
Not everything has cleared out, though. Alta's summer road and Albion Basin campground are still closed because of the snowy conditions. The town expects the road to open by late July and the campground to be available by early August.
Palmintere says having these outdoor options helps the resorts keep busy, but adding more hiking and biking trails and other activities can also help spread out outdoor recreation across Utah, such as its national and state parks.
"There's just a variety of different offerings across the state," she said.
