Go behind the scenes to meet some of the hardworking snowmakers and see how much snow they have made for Opening Day 2010.
We are ready for Opening Day this Saturday, November 20th. Our snowmaking team has been working hard to get more terrain ready for Opening Day than ever before. Over $800,000 was spent this past year to improve our snowmaking, adding 13 new snowguns between Three Kings and Assessment. The new snowguns are more efficent, using the same amount of water with less power.
What does this mean to you? It means we have been able to run more snowguns around the clock while being more environmentally friendly than ever. We will be able to open terrain in the Three Kings area as well as the terrain you've come to expect on Opening Day; Homerun, Bonanza Access and Turtle trail. Rather than squeezing in features on Homerun, Terrain Park Manager Jeremy Cooper will be able to build on portions of Quicksilver and Three Kings run.
The mountain is full of white and we can't wait to get the lifts turning. Opening day is this Saturday, November 20th. We'll see you there!
Mother Nature has been hard at work helping us prepare for Opening Day. We've received another storm system this week at Park City Mountain Resort that has delivered the goods. Snow fell heavily for the duration of the day on Monday and the temperatures have been cold enough to put our snowmaking systems into high gear.
We are busy preparing to make the 2010-2011 Opening Day bigger and better than ever. An added incentive to year long bragging rights for first chair will be limited edition First Chair t-shirts. We're making 12 First Chair shirts. This means that the first people in line for the 6 pack chair on PayDay, the double on Three Kings and quad on First Time will all receive First Chair shirts. (Wristbands will be handed out to the first people in line at each chair to minimize any confusion.)
Be sure to arrive early to indulge in free donuts, hot chocolate and coffee. We'll be giving out a variety of goodies to those who show up early as well!
The countdown is on and we can't wait to see you on Opening Day!
Park City, Utah (August 10, 2010) – Park City Mountain Resort furthers its commitment to delivering exceptional guest experiences by investing over $4.5 million in capital improvements for the 2010-2011 winter season. The improvements include expanded night skiing and riding operations and increased snowmaking to enhance the early season conditions.
“Our focus remains on providing our guests with an exceptional downhill experience,” said Jenni Smith, president and general manager of Park City Mountain Resort. “The additional snowmaking will allow us to provide an enhanced early season product and the expanded night operations will drastically improve the night skiing and riding.”
Park City Mountain Resort will expand night operations to include the Three Kings Mountainzone, which houses the Pick ‘N Shovel Terrain Park. The Pick ‘N Shovel Terrain Park will double in size and be reintroduced as the Three Kings Terrain Park. The 1500 watt quartz lights on PayDay run, which has offered night skiing and riding for 43 years, will be replaced with 150 watt metal halide bulbs. The upgraded bulbs will provide enhanced visibility across the run and decrease the energy expended, saving 139,000 kWh per year. Night operations will be extended until 9 p.m. seven days a week beginning Christmas Day.
The Resort will add snowmaking to Assessment Run, a local’s favorite intermediate run, increasing the amount of terrain available off the Silverlode chairlift during the early season. Snowmaking will also be added to Three Kings and Quicksilver runs with seven fully automated fan guns and six low energy tower guns.
For the 2010-2011 season the Resort will also add three new “Adventure Alley” runs, which provide intermediates the thrill of skiing or riding in the trees. In addition, expanded glading off the Crescent Ridge will continue to enhance the advanced tree skiing terrain. The Resort has also purchased three new snowcats, including a winch cat, which will help the Resort groom up to 50 runs daily, including two to four Signature Runs.
On-mountain restroom facilities will also receive enhancements for the upcoming season. The restrooms in both the Summit House and Snow Hut restaurants will be renovated, in addition to Eco Toilets being placed at the bottom of Jupiter and King Con chairlifts.
Park City Mountain Resort’s owned and operated Gorgoza Park will also see some improvements this coming season. A 390 foot conveyor lift will replace the current tow rope accessing the lower tubing lanes. The new conveyor lift will increase the uphill capacity at Gorgoza by 25 percent. Gorgoza will also add a 60 foot conveyor lift designed to improve accessibility to the Fort Frosty play area.
Park City Mountain Resort is scheduled to open for the 2010-2011 winter season on Saturday, November 20, 2010. Season Passes will go on sale Tuesday, August 24, 2010.
It's been tough keeping the big news to ourselves but we have finally been given the green light to announce a few thrilling improvements for the 2010/2011 season at Park City Mountain Resort. We are significantly expanding our snowmaking and increasing both the night skiing/riding terrain and hours. You will now be able to ski or ride until 9pm with PayDay, Three Kings and First Time lifts in operation.
Night skiing/riding began at Park City Mountain Resort on PayDay in the 67/68 season, a fact I find quite impressive. In the 10/11 season night skiing is going to be incredible! We are replacing the old 1500 watt quartz lights on PayDay with 150 watt metal halide lights. This will give us a more even light across the run while expending less energy. You will also be able to ride under the lights in the Pick ‘N Shovel terrain park as well as Three Kings Run and Quicksilver! Overall the added lights will increase our night skiing/riding terrain by 23%.
In addition to having night skiing/riding for the first time, we will also add snowmaking to both Three Kings Run and Quicksilver Run. Seven fully automated fan guns and six low energy tower guns will be installed on these runs.
New snowguns
Our park rats can look forward to a new park in place of Pick N’ Shovel that will be OVER DOUBLE the size. You can expect new jib lines in the expanded areas and brand new features to launch progression.
So what do our improvements mean for you? More terrain open earlier in the season and longer hours to do what you love the most!
Stay tuned for more announcements on the 2010/2011 season improvements!
Mother Nature is trying to do her thing here in Park City and as you can see in this photo (taken from the Summit cam) we received a couple inches of new snow up top last night and it continues to snow as I am typing. Our wonderful mountain operations manager Brian told me this morning that they are making snow on PayDay, Treasure Hollow, First Time and the bottom of Bonanza chairlift. We are close to getting PayDay run open sometime this weekend. Now we really need Mother Nature to kick into high gear. My good friend Dan Pope had this to say in his email he sent me last night:
"High pressure will begin to move westward into the Eastern Pacific…allowing for several weather systems to push over Northern Utah between the 11th and the 13th. Another storm will move into the area on the 15th and 16th…with yet another storm closing in on Utah about the 19th."
And our buddy Joe Nicholls:
"A weak cold front is shifting south across the area and we'll see some light snow or snow showers. The air mass remains cold, so if we can get some breaks in the cloud cover later tonight, we'll drop off to near 20. A couple of quiet weather days expected through the weekend with temperature inversions on the lower part of the mountain in the mornings. The next cold front will move across the area on Monday bringing another chance of snow or snow showers. We're beginning to see more changes in the wavelengths of the weather pattern, and this should result in the high pressure shifting westward off the West Coast. This should will increase the chance of unsettled weather and cooler temperatures by around mid month."
I know we are all eagerly awaiting snow so that we can enjoy all that our mountain has to enjoy but if you remember last year we were in a very similar situation. We only had a couple runs open for the first couple weeks of the season and then on December 7 we got a big storm that turned everything around. And if we all remember last year, it started out slow but it ended a near-record snowfall year! It snowed from January thru March with barely any sun. In fact, I think I can count the number of sunny days on one hand. So all it takes is a big storm cycle to turn things around.
As we've been saying, we have no control over Mother Nature but we are working as hard as we can to provide a great experience with what we've got. We will continue to keep you updated whenever we hear anything new. Thanks for all of the feedback.
On another note, we are offering some unbelievable deals on packages where you can save over $500 on lodging and lift tickets. If you haven't already booked your vacation check out these deals.
I got up this morning and grabbed this shot off the Resort Plaza webcam, which shows some of the progress that our snowmaking team has been able to make during this little cold snap. If it looks a lot whiter than just a day or two ago, that's because we've been able to produce over 25 acre feet of snow in the past day, that's out of a grand total of about 80 acre feet that we've made so far this Fall (for those who don't know, an acre foot of snow is enough snow to cover an acre one foot deep). Keep it up snowmaking team!
*Weather Station Update* Please be aware that our weather sensor data is in the process of being updated, and for now, the base sensor and a few others are posting bogus data - the headers need to be re-aligned, for example on the base sensor, the relative humidity is actually temperature and wind speed is really relative humidity. In the meantime, if you're curious about our weather, here's a csv file with historical data from our base sensor from this weekend.
A group of us got together in the First Time Parking Lot this afternoon to implore Ullr, Mother Nature and whatever else might have some influence on our weather, to let it cool down enough to at least let us make snow. As you can see in the photo, perhaps something we did worked, because the temperatures dropped so that by 4pm we (well, Al and his crew) were crankin' snow guns all over the lower mountain!
Thank you to Phil, John, Lauren, Linda and everyone else who came out and helped with our informal, unsanctioned 'Pray for Snow' event. And everyone else, keep on dancing, because depending upon how much snow we're able to blow in the next couple of days, we're hoping for an opening by the end of next week at the latest (I'll keep you posted here - of course)!
I was just out on the decks of Legacy Lodge filming a PCTV interview and saw the beautiful sight of white! The snowmaking guns are churning out the beautiful powder that we so desperately have been waiting for. The temperatures are FINALLY cold enough to turn the guns on. Trust me, I've been as anxious as you. I am literally jumpy with anticipation of putting on my snowboard and making some turns. I'm also a little nervous that I won't be very good. But I'm reminded that it's just like riding a bike and it will all come rushing back to me. So, at this point in time, it's looking good for us to open on Friday. The temperatures are expected to stay cold (and if Mother Nature comes through for us) we should open Nov. 23! Please pray to your snow god or do your snow dance...whatever it is that brings the magic of cold temps and snow to Park City. I hope to see you on opening day and we can all celebrate together with a few turns on the board(s) and no falls on the white stuff! -P
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