Park City Mountain Resort Blog

Ted Ligety gets his Christmas Wish at Park City Mountain Resort

Park City local, Ted Ligety, coming off three GS World Cup race victories, had a chance to enjoy some of the five plus feet of snow received at Park City Mountain Resort the last four days. In between untouched pow turns, Ted talks about growing up on the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort and how the mountain has been such a big part of developing his skiing. As recently mentioned in the New York Times, Ted is a skier first and a racer second.

Watch the video below to see Ted Ligety in action on the mountain and click here to see more photos.

Snow Tales: Favorite Powder Day Spots

Ski Utah's Matt Baydala decided to shoot a little video blog of some of his favorite spots to hit on a powder day at Park City Mountain Resort. Where are you favorite spots? Leave them in the comment section below.

To read more about Matt's day at PCMR click here.

Snow Tales is a web series featuring you! That's right. We're featuring your mountain tales and adventures. To share your story email please email [email protected].

Thriller Snow Dance Returns for Another Year

Park City Mountain Resort presents another record breaking attempt to bring on the snow when it hosts the second annual "Thriller Snow Dance." With this event Park City Mountain Resort brings ski and snowboard enthusiasts together to celebrate snow, early-bird season pass pricing and Halloween. We invite you to join us Friday, October 29, 2010 at the Town Lift Plaza, located on lower Main Street, to be a part of this unique event. Participants are encouraged to don zombie and/or winter attire including ski or snowboard boots, to dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". There will be makeup artists on-hand to help paint zombie faces.

Whether you are a "Thriller" first-timer or a veteran we encourage you to indulge your inner zombie and participate in this community event. Last year the Thriller Snow Dance was broadcast live on Fox National News as well as several regional networks. So bring your friends, wear something crazy and join us for a celebration of snow!

There will be a dance teacher on hand the day of the event who will be teaching newcomers the Thriller Dance from 3-5 p.m. at the Town Lift Plaza.

WHO: Anyone who wants to have fun and “Thriller” dance for snow! Please come dressed in costume or winter apparel including ski or snowboard boots.

WHERE: Town Lift Plaza located on Park City’s lower Main Street.

WHEN: Friday, October 29, 2010
Practice: 3-5 p.m.
Dance: 5 p.m.

Below is a video from last year's inaguaral Thriller Snow Dance. If you haven't already purchased your season pass with the early bird rates, do so now before the zombies get you! http://parkcitymountain.com/pass

High Road Cooler World Music Festival 2010

We at Park City Mountain Resort are continually striving to strengthen our environmental initiatives and promote awareness to our visitors. It's an uphill battle that must be fought daily. This weekend we chose to be involved in the High Road Cooler World Music Festival. This event was just one of more than 6,800 events happening in more than 188 countries over the weekend as a part of a larger global initiative to increase awareness about climate protection. The goal of the festival was to provide top notch entertainment that would gather the Salt Lake community and provide a platform for different groups to teach them about climate protection.

PCMR's Brent Giles had this to say about Park City Mountain Resort's involvement as title sponsor of the event. "It was important for Park City Mountain Resort to support the Cooler World Music Festival as well as other events that focus on reducing the effects of global warming. We need to be good stewards of our environment and take responsibility for our actions. Global warming will decrease snowpack. Snowpack is water, water is life."

The High Road Cooler World Music Festival featured Big Bad Vodoo Daddy as the headlining act and brought in local supporting acts with Insatiable, Muscle Hawk and Rumba Libre. Festival attendess were treated to a whole village of local environmental and community groups, green businesses, and human and civil rights organizations ranging from Rocky Mountain Power to Whole Foods Market as well as a wide variety of food carts catering to even the pickiest of eater.  A steady crowd gathered around the stage dancing and hula-hooping to the musical entertainment throughout the entire day. In between sets, films and information on living greener were presented to willing listeners. At one point festival goers were gathered in a "350 days of action" logo by 350.org.

Overall the festival proved to be a pleasant mix of smiling faces, delicious food and great entertainment. We want to thank former SLC Mayor Rocky Anderson for organizing such a progressive event and allowing Park City Mountain Resort to be involved as title sponsor.

Check out photos of the event below and on our facebook page.

Fall Colors Have Arrived in Park City

There are signs everywhere that seasons are changing and Winter is approaching. I woke this morning to find my dog curled up under the covers seeking warmth and my phone told me it was only 37 degrees at 7 a.m.  Being a California girl, I'm not used to the drastic change in temperatures. 75 degrees during the day and dropping down to 30 at night. Holy guacamole!

Photo: Allen Bowen

Another thing I'm not accustomed to is the changing colors of the leaves. Boy did mother nature have a surprise for me. I never realized just how beautiful the mountains could be in the Fall. One day my favorite are the yellow leaves, the next its tangerine orange and today it's the bright red leaves. The views are breathtaking and on a daily basis I find myself stopping to take it all in.

Photo: Vicki Gaebe

Over the weekend I rode Town Lift and hiked Mid-Mountain trail to Spiro. The view from the chairlift was just a taste of the amazing colors I found on my hike. I found stashes of wild sunflowers, daisies, purple sage and lupin, just to name a few. I even got my wildlife fix by spotting three deer basking in the sun. Park City Mountain Resort is indeed a playground of nature's hidden treasures, no matter what the season!

Share your photos of the fall colors in Park City by uploading them to our Facebook and/or Twitter.

2010-2011 Season Passes On Sale August 24th

Scoring First Chair of the Winter Season at PCMR gets more competitive with each year. You need to eat right, train hard and get here EARLY. How early? Check our video to see.

Park City Mountain Resort Season Pass sales begin Tuesday, August 24th! Want to get first chair of the 2010-2011 Winter Season? Purchase your season pass early.

http://parkcitymountain.com/pass

Park City Events: Arts Festival and Jupiter Peak Steeplechase

We have two long-standing events happening in Park City this weekend and I for one can’t wait for the festivities to kick off. Both the Kimball Arts Festival and the 18th annual Jupiter Peak Steeplechase are great reasons to get outdoors and support your community.

The Jupiter Peak Steeplechase is a long time Park City tradition. Runners will embark on a 16-mile trail run with a 3,000’ elevation gain. The race begins at 8am on First Time, where runners will weave through trails, making their way up to Jupiter Peak then descending down to Silver Star. Join us at Silver Star plaza to cheer on the racers at the finish and watch the awards ceremony. Please note that no trails will be closed for this event, however you can expect increased traffic on the mountain.

The 41st annual Park City Kimball Arts Festival, that’s right 41 years and running, will take over the entire length of historic downtown Main Street. Artists of every shape and kind will showcase their work in categories ranging from ceramics, painting, and photography to music, jewelry, and even kids’ art. Picture all the character of Park Silly, but stretching the entire length of the street. The Arts Festival is an event not to be missed by both locals and visitors alike.

A few words of advice from Veteran Arts Festival attendees: Take the bus, leave your dog at home and don’t miss out on the food discounts you receive by showing your Arts Festival wristband. For even more inspiration, treat yourself to a mind-blowing ride down the Alpine Slide and get your heart racing on the Alpine Coaster. Arts Festival parking is available at Park City Mountain Resort’s Silver King lot, so you might as well purchase a Combo Pass for only $25 and finish off your day of food, art, and entertainment with some thrill rides!

Arts Festival Hours
Friday, August 6, 6:00pm -9:00pm
Saturday, August 7, 9:00am – 7:00pm
Sunday, August 8, 9:00am – 6:00pm

Donations are encouraged for entrance to the Park City Kimball Arts Festival on Friday evening. Saturday & Sunday tickets are $10 for adults, free for 12 and under. Saturday’s tickets may be used for re-entry on Sunday.

Halfway to Winter: A Midsummer's Night Post

Yes, It's me. You may be surprised to see a post from 406 in July. No more surprised I'm sure than Eric, Krista, and the rest of the PCMR staff who figure I drop off the earth this time of year. 

I took note of today's date and realized we're at a halfway point. Halfway through summer, halfway to next winter; however you prefer to look at it. You see, three months ago this week we closed our winter operations for 2009-10 and three months from now, we (the patrol) start our early training for the 2010-11 season. While it really feels like summer just started (we had a pretty good snowstorm over Father's Day weekend) folks are already getting set for the upcoming winter. I think Hutch even started to dig into the hiring process for our latest crop of rookies and I'm making preparations to travel with Colin in October to the biennial International Snow Science Workshop (held this year at Squaw).

For now, it's time to embrace the now and the heat of summer. Today I took a long ride up in the hills along just a bit our extensive network of single-track. Had great views along the Wasatch Crest of the high peaks and wildflowers.

 

I even ran into the PCMR sawyer crew (all patrollers of course) on their lunch break where CMG meets the Mid Mountain Trail at Hidden Splendor. Speaking of winter preparations, they are thinning the woods between Powder Keg and Assessment to open up some new lines. It was good to see Andrew, Jeff, CB, Manky, Ben, Mandy, Mike, Tessa, and Stu (nice pants by the way Stu). We shared some lunch and laughs; generally caught up on the last few months of our lives.

In a couple weeks my wife and I will pack up the dogs and head out to our camp on Lake Superior for the rest of the summer. A chance to trade the mountain bikes for road bikes, canoes and kayaks; trade world-class Park City cuisine for fried fish, pasties (pAAst-EEs) and beer. When we return in late September, we'll be that much closer to the first snowfall and another winter season. Until then, be sure to get outside and enjoy the Wasatch in summer.

Triple Crown Softball Tournament Returns to Park City

Week two of the 15th Annual Triple Crown Sports Girl’s Fast Pitch World Series is kicking off in Park City! 270 teams representing 14 states and Canada are descending on Park City, Oakley and Coalville fields. Each Monday of the tournament you can catch the Opening Ceremony parade on Main Street, starting at the top of Main Street by Wasatch Brew Pub and ending at 4th street. Teams will be competing in the parade for Best Banner, Best Team Costumes, Best Coaches’ Costumes, Spirit Award, Best State Theme and Best of Parade. The parade should begin shortly after 5pm, lasting no later than 7:30pm.

The team spirit from these ladies can be seen all around the resort. Matching shirts are a must and they aren’t afraid to take on a thrill ride! Our parking lot is filled with SUV’s whose windows are covered in team names and slogans. So far my favorite quote from a car window is, “Good Girls Steal.” 

  Don’t miss out on our special discounted offer for all Triple Crown Participants. Look for the exclusive offer on the back cover of your program. *You must pre-order online and allow at least 3 business days for ticket processing.

PCMR Float Wins Best of Show in the Park City 4th of July Parade!

As I noted in my "Fourth of July in Park City" post, our wonderful Mountain Hosts were responsible for building and "staffing" the Park City Mountain Resort float in this year's Park City 4th of July parade.

We are extremely proud to congratulate them on doing such a fantastic job. Park City Mountain Resort's float was named the "Best of Show" in this year's parade! Way to go everyone, and for those of you that weren't among the masses watching the parade, here are a few photos:

We like the parade so much that we're a sponsor!

Anyone recognize where the names Silver Queen, Hot Spot and Rosebud come from?!

Another famous PCMR feature...

And it all winds up with a perfect ski slope. We're already looking forward to seeing next year's float!