What's New at our Ski Resorts
Photography: Butch Adams
Combined, Park City’s three mountain resorts have spent millions of dollars in improvements, upgrades, new equipment and new programs for skiers and riders. Here are some of the highlights for the 2004/2005 season:
THE CANYONS is offering a Free Day Deal. Buy two or more days of skiing or riding at The Canyons Resort, and you’ll get an additional day on the slopes for free. In order to redeem this offer, guests must log onto www.thecanyons.com/freedaydeal to pre-register. After registration, participants will access an online certificate. By presenting the certificate at the ticket window, guests can redeem an additional day of skiing with the purchase of a multi-day ticket.
Be the first on the slopes of The Canyons on Wednesdays and Saturdays with a resort “insider.” First Tracks at The Canyons makes its debut during the 2004/2005 Season. For $30 plus a lift ticket, guests will have the pleasure of being the first on the lifts, and the first to make tracks at Utah’s largest resort. Reservations are required, 435.615.8042.
The Canyons makes bringing the whole family to the slopes affordable and fun! “Celebrate Children SKI FREE” packages are available throughout the 2004/2005 Season. Bring your kids to The Canyons Resort and celebrate with free skiing and riding for Mom and Dad, free lift tickets for kids 12 & under, 50 percent savings on kids' equipment rentals and 50 percent savings on group ski clinics. Celebrate Children SKI FREE packages are available during the following weeks when you stay Sunday through Thursday night (ski or ride Monday through Friday) at the Grand Summit Resort Hotel or Sundial Lodge: 11/28/04-12/2/04, 12/5/04-12/9/04, 12/12/04-12/16/04, 1/2/05-1/6/05, 1/9/05-1/13/05 and 1/23/05-1/27/05.
DEER VALLEY RESORT’s $8 million in improvements for the 2004/2005 ski season include the following:
Two new chairlifts, the Judge Lift and the Silver Strike Express, were installed in the Flagstaff area of the Resort. The Judge lift is a fixed-grip triple chair and runs parallel to the existing Viking chairlift on the south side of Trainer ski run. Its base is near the Quincy chairlift base and the top is just below the merging area between Homeward Bound and Bird’s Eye ski runs. The Silver Strike Express lift is a detachable quad chair and starts below the base of the Northside lift and then runs to the east of Northside, ending at the top of Flagstaff Mountain.
The resort’s Flagstaff area is also home to two new intermediate ski runs. The runs, named Gemini and Lily, are accessible from the new Silver Strike Express chairlift. The Resort built a new Rail Park on the Ore Cart run in Empire Canyon. The Ore Cart Rail Park includes seven different rail features including fun boxes, double barrels, single rails, a few small jumps and more. Additional glade skiing has been added at the bottom of both the Empire Canyon and Flagstaff areas of the Resort.
Due to great popularity during its inaugural season last winter, Deer Valley will offer its Fireside Dining at Empire Lodge two nights a week during ski season, on both Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The dinner features three courses served from Empire Lodge’s grand fireplaces.
In interior improvements at Deer Valley, restrooms at both the Silver Lake and Snow Park lodges and the second level of the Snow Park Ticket Office have undergone remodeling. On the mountain, the resort replaced five snowguns and added five additional new guns; expanded snowmaking off of the Silver Strike Express chairlift; and replaced five snowcats and one winch cat with brand new equipment.
PARK CITY MOUNTAIN RESORT continues to enhance the on-mountain experience for its guests with nearly $5 million in improvements for the 2004-2005 season.
“Replacing the First Time chairlift with a high-speed, four-passenger detachable lift is our biggest investment for the 2004-2005 season,” said Julie Hopkins, director of marketing and sales for the resort. “The replacement of this lift will give our beginner skiers and snowboarders a better learning experience and more efficiently move skiers out of the lower base area of the Resort.”
“The second area of focus is our summer activities,” Hopkins continued. “We've doubled our summer business in the last five years, and it became time to double the capacity of our most popular rides to meet consumer demand.” The original Alpine Slide was first built 27 years ago. The resort added two new Alpine Slide lanes to the existing two lanes on July 24, 2004. The two new lanes take a unique route down the mountain with more curls, swirls, dips and turns.
The resort installed the first ZipRider in the world in 2002. Since the opening, the Zip Rider has been so popular that two new cables were installed on July 2, 2004. The Zip Rider is 2,300 feet, the longest in the world. The ride propels riders across the resort skiway at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour from 110 feet in the air.
Other capital improvements at Park City Mountain Resort focus on keeping the resort fresh and updated including adding new rails, features and music to the resort's #1 ranked terrain parks; painting interiors and exteriors of buildings; and replacing the Mid-Mountain Lodge roof.
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