Utah

“Utah’s Gold Rush”

Published:  January 20, 2002

Cover/Feature Story to Outdoor Section of Maine Sunday Telegram accompanied by 4 Exclusive Photos

by Heather Burke

 

This morning we were in Maine. By noon we’re skiing Utah’s renowned powder. An early drive to Logan, a direct flight to Salt Lake City, an efficient check-in at our hotel, and we are on the slopes at Park City Mountain. The snow is soft at 9,000-feet, the sky is blue, the scenery is traditional Rocky Mountain spectacular.

 

A quick swipe of the credit card, click into our skis and we board the Payday hi-speed six-pack lift. Six minutes and 1,200 vertical feet higher we board the Bonanza, another hi-speed six-pack for another 1,100’ vertical, that deposits us high above the legendary miner’s town of Park City. Fresh powder tracks by 1pm. No jet lag, no Olympic size crowds, just 3,300 vast acres of skiing.

 

Welcome to the reality of Utah skiing, the west’s most accessible slopes. We happen to have chosen Park City as our first ski stop, but we could have been at the summit of Snowbird, Alta, Deer Valley, The Canyons, Solitude, Brighton or Snowbasin on our first day – all within an hour’s drive of Salt Lake City airport.

 

Park City is big, more than twice the size of Sugarloaf. Lift pods (14 of them) head every which way, to the point of confusion to the newcomer. Guided tours are recommended, but my husband absorbs trail map content through osmosis.

 

Of the 100 trails, Park City has everything from perfectly buffed blue-square cruisers to extreme terrain. We do not even scratch the surface of the six upper bowls including hair-raising Jupiter or McConkey’s. From a glance, we determine those ominous double black diamond chutes and steeps are best saved for when our kids are in ski camp.

 

We ski the fall line of “Picabo,” where the trail’s namesake will compete in the women’s GS on Feb. 22. “Having the Olympics come to my hometown is a dream come true,” said Picabo Street.

 

Park City will host all of the Olympic snowboard events and the alpine Giant Slalom. The mountain has been transformed in preparation for the global Games. Stadium seating has been installed, spectacular day lodges crown the summit and mid-mountain. A pedestrian bridge to the historic Park City downtown now connects the revitalized base village.

 

Older lifts have been replaced, with 6 passenger detachable chair lifts – four of them. These lifts are highly social, comfortably seating our entire family, a ski patroller and a local powder hound. The patroller reflected that when this area opened 38 years ago as Treasure Mountain, high winds would shut down mountain lifts, but intrepid skiers would make their way through the underground mining shafts to reach the fresh “pow.”

 

We make infinite turns on a dozen superb cruisers our first day. We already logged more miles on our skis than our rented SUV.

 

Day two, an attentive Deer Valley host unloads our skis as we arrive at the immense Snow Park Lodge. This is no standard base lodge. I gawk at the massive beams, gleaming brass fixtures and elegant appointments. This is home to Bogner wearing clientele. No wooly ski pants or grungy snowboard attire here (Deer Valley is one of four ski resorts still banning boarders). 

 

Our inaugural ride up the Silver Lake Express shows perfectly manicured corduroy in all directions. The comfy quad gives us a bird’s eye view of next month’s Olympic freestyle aerial jumps, the mogul and slalom courses.

 

Our son longs to ski “Champion,” the mogul run where Jonny Moseley will bump and jump for gold on Feb. 12. My husband, the trail map man, leads us past Stein Erickson’s impressive lodge, and up the Quincy Mountain lift, toward Empire Canyon, the highest elevation of Deer Valley at 9,570-feet.

 

From the Empire summit, my mate drops into steep chutes while I lead the kids down the sparkling snow-covered “Superior” trail which saunters down this impressive peak. Empire Canyon, added a few years ago, ended Deer Valley’s reputation as “Bambi Basin” by rounding out their immense intermediate offerings with steep, deep, bowl skiing that other Utah areas have long been famous for.

 

Day three, we are very comfortable in the lap of luxury, exploring more of Deer Valley’s extensive seven mountains of terrain. We ski silky smooth snow, ride spiffy lifts and sip “the most chocolaty hot cocoa” my daughter has ever tasted.

 

Everything you hear about Deer Valley is a true, chef created gourmet buffets in posh lodges, supple leather seating in the heated gondola. My son returned from his jaunt to the men’s room wide-eyed, “These definitely are not Sunday River’s bathrooms,” referring to the marble and shining gold plated fixtures one would expect to find at a Ritz Carlton but never a ski area base lodge.

 

Deer Valley is upscale, exclusive (example -the snowboard prohibition) and pricey. But you get what you pay for - pampered service, superb conditions, cushy lifts, and magnificent lodges in an enchanting mountain setting.

 

Day four, we drive a scenic 8 miles through Park City to yet another immense resort, The Canyons. Just five years ago, American Skiing Company broadened its horizons to Utah with the purchase of the sleepy Park West Wolf Mountain ski area. The five vastly undeveloped peaks were ripe pickings, since the world was coming to Salt Lake in 2002. What better way to showcase a new resort?

 

A transformation of 15 new lifts and the creation of a base village has ensued, and the Canyons now lays claim to “Utah’s largest ski area.”

 

There is familiarity at the Canyon’s Grand Summit Hotel, very much like Sunday River’s hotel designs. From the resort plaza, the mountain doesn’t look like much but my trusty trail map spouse promises there is more to this place than meets the eye.

 

We head for the Flight of the Canyons Gondola, no leather, but we were the first eight-passengers to launch out of the base this morning. Sure enough, as we crest the hill, more lifts (16 all-tolled) and eight mountains peaks come in to focus. 

 

The Tombstone Express services superb cruisers among magnificent aspen groves. Peak Ninety Nine 90, symbolizing the actual summit elevation, is black diamond wildness via hi-speed quad. It’s all expert powder shots and steeps, but no easy way out.

 

Peak 5 offers fun, twisty glades or a mellow cruise down “Harmony” back to the resort base. On the western most flank, Dreamscape was added last season with intermediates in mind.

 

The Canyon’s eastern-most Condor Express can keep upper-end skiers and riders grinning all day in Chutes 1 through 7. The luge-like “Canis Lupis,” trail is the site of that notorious James Bond ski scene, you’ll feel like “007” as you shoot from one blind banked turn to the next.

 

From this eastern boundary of the Canyons, if you have backcountry training and avalanche equipment (peeps, electronic locater devices and shovels), you can hike another 600’ to access the wide-open bowl off Murdock Peak. We found the speedy lifts served us ample vertical.

 

The Canyons, like nearby Park City and Deer Valley, warrants at least two days to master. Unlike its neighbors, The Canyons will not be hosting any Olympic venues but that is no reason to skip this new mega resort.

 

Last but not least for us, we discover Snowbasin, host to the Winter Olympics showcase events, the Downhill and Super G. This vast 63-year old ski area, 33 miles east of Salt Lake City, has been a humble powder spot for Ogden locals.

 

In 1984, Earl Holding, oil tycoon and owner of glitzy Sun Valley ski resort, purchased the area. He saw the mountain’s enormous potential but his ambitious expansion plans were stymied in National Forest red tape until Utah garnered the Games in 1995.

 

Suddenly things freed up. Permits in hand, Holding proceeded to pump millions into this 3,200-acre ski resort, including two high-speed 8-passenger gondolas, three quads and a tram.

 

Today, “The Basin” is comprised of five gorgeous mountain peaks jutting up to heights of 10,000’. Snowbasin is an alpine paradise with 2,940’ of lift-accessed vertical and more wide-open spaces, deep bowls and steep chutes than you can poach in a week.

 

The only shame is this “powder stash” is about to be discovered by the world.

 

The new Olympic downhill course is considered one of the most challenging in the world. Bernard Russi, the “crazy Swiss” FIS course designer and ’72 Downhill gold medallist, laid out this harrowing “Grizzly” course with 70-degree pitches and reverse fall line turns plummeting a dizzying 2,770 vertical feet.

 

It took me a little longer than the Olympic standard minute plus to ski this spine-tingling run. I stopped a few times to contemplate the sheer madness of the world’s fastest racers flying down this course at 80 m.p.h. on Feb. 10.

 

Just in time for the Olympics, Snowbasin has completed construction of four magnificent on mountain log and rock lodges, the same classy caliber as sister resort Sun Valley, Idaho.

 

Utah ski areas have made their final preparations to be center stage to the world Feb. 8-24. They have wisely invested millions in new roads, lodges, lifts, and snowmaking, (though I hardly see why they need manufactured snow with up to 40-feet of natural snow annually).

 

Ironically, all the hype of the Winter Games, and travel concerns from 9/11, have steered vacationers away from visiting Utah this season.

 

“History has shown at other venues including Nagano & Norway, Olympic communities have typically been slower the entire year of the Games, even though the Games are merely 17 days long. If history holds true in Utah as well, visitors will have the slopes to themselves,” said Shawn Stinson of Park City Visitors Bureau.

 

After viewing the Games on your big screen, you should consider this prime skiing vacationland. Now is the time to book that March trip out west. As an incentive, Utah resorts are promoting a $20.02 special valid all winter, stay at least three nights at participating lodging properties and get a $20.02 gift certificate toward an adult lift ticket.

 

Go ski the gnarly Olympic downhill course at Snowbasin, bash the bumps at Deer Valley’s mogul venue, and ride the Superpipe where snowboarders will go for the Gold at Park City. If you are “up for it”, you can even go off the Nordic jump or take a ride on the bobsled or luge at the new Olympic Park just outside Park City. 

 

Ski Utah President Kip Pitou said, "We have already received a ton of snow. I couldn't have scripted this any better. All eyes are on Utah this year and they're seeing white."

 

With 500 inches of dry fluffy powder which they have patented “the greatest snow on Earth,” convenient flights, and ten ski resorts within an hour’s drive from Salt Lake Airport, Utah is hard to beat. 

 

After the athletes’ Gold rush in February, Utah skiing will be on everyone’s list. I predict that this ideal ski destination will go from hosting the best in the world to attracting the rest of the world.

 

If You Go:

 

Ski Utah offers information on all ski resorts, including lift and lodging packages. 1-801-534-1779, www.skiutah.com

 

Park City Chamber of Commerce offers ski and stay information. 1-800-453-1360, visit www.parkcityinfo.com

 

Deer Valley offers a totally exclusive slopeside lodging experience. 1-800-558-3337, www.deervalley.com

 

The Canyons Resort offers slopeside ski and stay packages at the Grand Summit Hotel or The Sundial Lodge. 1-888-CANYONS, www.thecanyons.com

 

Snowbasin Ski Area 1-801-620-1000, www.snowbasin.com

 

Southwest Airlines offers package trips with airfare, car rental, lodging and lift tickets. 1-800-SKI-8365, www.swavacations.com

 

 

All Photos by Greg Burke who is also an accredited Photojournalist NASJA/ESWA member.

 

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