PlanetSKI’s Postcard from Park City
16th March 2023 | Rob McAteer, Park City, Utah, USA.
Last modified on March 20th, 2023
One of our regular readers, Rob McAteer, is in Utah for the first time. Here’s what he makes of one of the USA’s largest ski areas.
We were at the bottom of the resort for 9am and first lifts after a 45-minute scenic drive out from Salt Lake City.
There is a well organised parking system with reservations required.
This meant we got pretty close to the base station and it was just a short walk to the ticket office thus avoiding any need to use shuttle buses.
Shuttle buses are available for those parked further out.
From the base station there’s a few chair lifts heading off in different directions up the mountain.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
We worked our way ‘skiers right’ as you look at the map and the area near Tombstone lift.
Park City, Utah. Image © PlanetSKI
Park City has 7,300 acres of skiable terrain.
- 330+ trails,
- 40+ lifts,
- 13 bowls,
- 6 terrain parks,
- 1 half pipe & 1 mini pipe.
It is a result of a merger between the ski areas of Park City and the Canyons that were purchased by Vail Resorts.
They are now linked by a connecting gondola.
Canyons to Park City. Image © PlanetSKI
There was a bit of a split in ability in our group, so some were happy lapping the blues, whereas a couple of us were keen to check out the double black diamond unpisted areas.
With loads of options we started with the 9090 chair and lapped a few of the off piste areas up there.
The slopes that had been in the sunshine were soft enough with some nice pockets of relatively new snow to be found.
The terrain is good and varied with some good steep sections amongst trees and wider more mellow bowls.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
The area has a rich silver mining heritage – the first ski lifts used were the old mining lifts.
The mines litter the ski area and are a reminder of its history.
Mining history of Park City. Image © PlanetSKI
Mining history of Park City. Image © PlanetSKI
Mining history of Park City. Image © PlanetSKI
On my visit anything out of the sun was a bit crusty on top and not as fun to ski.
The town of Park City remains one of PlanetSKI’s favourite US towns with great ski areas on offer:
There are direct flights from London:
Like many ski areas in the USA this winter has been a bumper one and Park City has just announced it is extending its season.
Park City, Utah. Image © PlanetSKI
Back on the groomers and a bit lower down, conditions rapidly deteriorated in the afternoon as it was much warmer than forecast.
The snow was much more like spring skiing and very chopped up, so we didn’t hang around on the lower slopes for too long.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
We then headed up to Jupiter chair, which can best be described as a very quaint two-person chair.
From the top there’s loads of accessible terrain only a short traverse or hike along the ridge.
We lapped a few of the bowls up there called ‘War Zone’ and ‘West face’ which had great snow.
Plenty of fun to be had up there and a great mix of terrain.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
The only downside was that the lifts over that side closed by 3.30pm so our fun was curtailed a little.
Whilst the snow was by no the so-called “greatest snow on earth”, there was plenty of it and the easily accessible backcountry runs made for a great day’s skiing.
As we made our way back to the base station the slopes got incredibly crowded due to a few natural bottle necks in the layout.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
That combined with poor visibility as fresh snow was falling made for a challenging route back to the car park.
For anyone lucky enough to be in the area later this season then conditions should be great after a reasonable amount of fresh snow in the forecast.
The hints of spring were fun the past few days, but we are now back to this winter’s regularly scheduled powder programming ❄️ ❄️ ❄️ . Who’s excited for a few more Park City powder days this week? pic.twitter.com/ou50c4qXww
— Park City Mountain (@PCski) March 15, 2023
All in all, a very enjoyable day’s skiing in Utah.
There is something for everyone at Park City with good facilities and lots of terrain serviced by the many lifts.
It describes itself as “a mountain of endless possibilities.”
Overall compared to the Alps I’d say the lifts and layout don’t work as well as they do in the Alps, but the access to off-piste within the ski patrol area is far better.
I loved the off piste in USA and the whole idea of skiing inbounds – where ungroomed areas are declared safe to ski and are available to experts and intermediates alike.
The mountains in Utah are nowhere near as stunning/dramatic as the Alps either, with short vertical descents compared to the resorts in Europe.
But they have a beauty of their own.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
Most resorts in the USA would fit into a small corner of some of the huge mega ski areas in the Alps.
Even a large one like Park City is small compared to says Les3Vallees or Paradiski in France, Zermatt and Verbier in Switzerland or the huge linked ski areas in Austria such as the Ski Welt, Ski Circus or the Arlberg.
But boy it’s good to be skiing in the USA and enjoying what it offers.
Park City, Utah. Image © Rob McAteer
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