The annual SKI Magazine resort rankings are out, and there are some surprises. First off, Park City Mountain moved up from last of the list, No. 30, to a respectable middle of the pack No. 15. That upgrade is well-deserved.
The dark year, the 2021-22 season, was a disaster. They wouldn’t pay a reasonable wage in a tight labor market and so the mountain went unstaffed. The employees they did have were working double shifts, got burned out, and weren’t having a good time. They let the guests know that. Some lifts never opened, food service was reduced to the infamous $9 cold hot dog. It was embarrassing. To top it off, it was a terrible snow year.
This past ski season, the basis for the new SKI Magazine rankings, they got it mostly fixed. The place was fully staffed, employees were having fun and showed it, food was still ridiculously priced but was available. It didn’t hurt to have record snowfall.
In the ski business, record snowfall cures almost every problem. So credit where credit is due, Park City Mountain managed a quick turn around and is back in the middle of the Western resorts.
The rankings loved the snow, the town, and the variety of terrain. The weak spots were overall value, lifts, crowds, guest services and lodging. In other words, this is a very expensive place to vacation and doesn’t always meet pretty high expectations.
Deer Valley has been in the top three, jostling with Whistler and Sun Valley for No. 1 for years. It slipped to No. 9 this year, with the rankings noting the crowding problems from the Ikon pass. It remains to be seen if the new reservation system for Ikon passes this winter gets that under control. Guest services and dining were the high spots as you would expect.
The rankings for our local resorts were no surprise. Deer Valley still has a ways to go to get back to what it was before the twin plagues of corporate ownership and COVID. The expansion to the Mayflower terrain will be interesting to watch. It will be a real challenge to mix a new base area that will want to fill every bed in every hotel every night with the core Deer Valley value of less crowded skiing.
The big surprise in the rankings was who came in at No. 1: Powder Mountain. Huh?
It’s been a few years since I’ve skied there, and there have been some ownership changes and on-mountain improvements in that time. But my impression of it was that it was huge, but not very interesting skiing. Nothing very steep. They do weird stuff like tow you behind Cats to access some terrain, and pick you up at the bottom of the canyon in a bus. There was nobody there, which is apparently why it was No. 1 in the rankings.
Powder will last for days after a storm, while it is gone here by 10 a.m. The rankings said Powder Mountain offered “massive adventure at a good price without all the noise.” In other words, it’s all about the skiing. That’s kind of the Alta ethos, but getting to Alta is now such a miserable process that it falls down in the rankings. “Keep it slow and old” wrote one survey respondent. The lack of lift lines was a huge factor.
Snow Basin was No. 2, largely because it is still somewhat uncrowded.
In explaining the rankings, the editors of SKI said they had changed the scoring this year to focus more on core skiing — terrain, snow, challenge, lifts, lack of crowds — and less on what the Powder Mountain reviewer called “all the noise.” Roast duck is an interesting lunch, but really, if the skiing is good and there are no lift lines, PB&J sandwich in your pocket is enough.
Conde Nast Traveler also ranked ski areas. The differences in readership became immediately clear when Deer Valley was No. 2 on their list. Powder Mountain hit the top of the SKI chart because it didn’t have the “noise.” Conde Nast’s readers are all about the noise — the dining, the luxury lodging, day spas, shopping, more shopping, and almost in a footnote, some mention snow and skiing. And right on cue, we have new noise in town.
Saks Fifth Avenue is opening a seasonal store in the St. Regis hotel. The press release announcing the opening said, “This project strategically targets markets devoid of traditional Saks Fifth Avenue stores. Deer Valley, in particular, is one of these markets.”
All this time, I’ve been living here devoid of the Saks Fifth Avenue experience and didn’t even know it. The gaping hole in my existence is about to be filled with a small format Saks store that is open for private shopping by appointment, with a constantly rotating curation of merchandise.
So if Gorsuch doesn’t have that $300 white T-shirt you’ve always wanted, maybe the personal shopper at Saks can get one for you. I’m willing to bet their selection of flannel shirts can’t hold a candle to what I can get at Tractor Supply Company. Still, I will feel better knowing that Saks has come to rescue us from our brutish existence.
Let it snow.
Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986.