There is, finally, some crispness in the air at night in the Park City area after the extreme summer heat. The snow will follow, and in two months, the ski season is scheduled to open at Park City Mountain Resort.
The fall is always the time for people in Park City to begin pining for the ski season as they await their first outing on the slopes with new gear, make decisions about ski passes and wait for the sound of the first hisses of the snowmaking guns.
We are optimistic for the upcoming PCMR ski season even after the, to be polite, challenges there during the 2021-2022 winter. The most recent ski season at PCMR suffered through staffing shortages, unacceptably long lift lines and an overall atmosphere of crowdedness. Some of the problems were a result of a poor start to the winter weather, but others can be pinned on the resort itself.
PCMR’s skiers and snowboarders, as well as Parkites who must navigate through life in the city in the winter, all hope the resort understands that another season like the most recent one will not be accepted.
To her credit, Deirdra Walsh, the new vice president and chief operating officer at PCMR, acknowledges the issues of the 2021-2022 winter and appears to be genuine in her commitment to take steps to avoid a repeat during the upcoming ski season.
She rose through the ranks at PCMR, first working there under the ownership of Powdr Corp. and then remaining after the Vail Resorts acquisition, before leaving for Northstar Ski Resort in California. She returned from the Lake Tahoe region to take the top post at PCMR. As a result of her career path, Walsh has a unique understanding of the successes and failures of two corporate owners of the resort.
Walsh and the leaders at Vail Resorts headquarters in Colorado will be the ones who will ultimately be responsible for staffing PCMR at a level that ensures acceptable service, so soon after the employee shortage seemed to perpetuate the displeasure over the winter in the 2021-2022 season. They will also be the ones who roll out a paid-parking system at the Park City-side base area, a step that is designed to better manage the crowds.
Walsh was groomed for a post like the one she now holds. The whole community should be rooting for her since it is the whole community that will share in her success, or in her failure.