Opening day for Park City Mountain remains scheduled for Friday even as the area suffers through a spell of warm, dry weather.
The resort said it “is on track to open with its typical opening package, having taken advantage of intermittent cold weather and natural snow since late October.”
The plans, which are weather dependent, include opening terrain on the Park City and Canyons Village sides. The First Time and PayDay Express lifts are slated to open, as well as the Mine Cart carpet, on the Park City side. The Canyons Village side’s opening-day lineup is expected to include the cabriolet from the primary parking lot, the Red Pine gondola and the Saddleback Express and High Meadow lifts. The Sweet Pea carpet is also included. The opening-day terrain is expected to cover six trails across the two base areas.
The resort said it “will continue snowmaking operations and monitor the weather to expand terrain offerings in the coming weeks.”
Park City Mountain this ski season is marking the 60-year anniversary of the opening of Treasure Mountains, the precursor to today’s resort. There will be opening-day celebrations with disc jockeys at the two base areas and free limited-edition posters commemorating the anniversary. There will be two additional limited-edition posters distributed later in the ski season.
The opening of the ski season is a key day on the Park City calendar, even if it is normally scheduled at a time when there is only limited tourism in the community. Skiers and snowboarders in the Park City area and elsewhere in the region usually account for many of the people on the slopes during the opening weeks of the ski season, followed by the arrival of visitors from outside of Utah as the holidays approach.
Park City Mountain usually sets its opening day several weeks before the lifts at Deer Valley Resort begin turning. Opening day at Deer Valley is scheduled in December.
There has been only intermittent recent snow as preparations for the start of the ski season continued at Park City Mountain. Snow coverage at the lower elevations on the Park City side of the resort was visibly sparse on Tuesday.
The National Weather Service forecast midday on Tuesday called for sunny conditions with the high temperature reaching 56 degrees on Wednesday and rain possible on Wednesday night. The Thursday forecast called for a chance of rain followed by a chance for snow and rain, with little if any snow accumulation expected, and daytime temperatures reaching 47 degrees. Thursday night was forecast to be dry with temperatures in the range of 29 degrees.