By the time this is printed, I will have walked out of The Park Record newsroom for the last time as editor.

I’ve used the word “bittersweet,” as cliche as it is, a few dozen times over the last couple of weeks to describe my emotions as I leave for a technical writing position at the University of Utah. Being part of the Park City community for most of the last decade has been a pleasure. And working at this paper — and leading its newsroom for the last four and a half years — has been an experience that in countless ways has changed my life for the better.

I’m grateful for many aspects of my time here, but most special has been the opportunity to associate with, and have my name printed alongside, the talented journalists who put so much of themselves into covering this one-of-a-kind community. That’s something I’ve never taken for granted, especially over these last two years as our staff rose to the tremendous challenge of reporting on the pandemic. Whoever is selected as the next editor will have the privilege of joining a team that embodies the ideals of local journalism and overcomes stiff challenges to serve Summit County.

And I hope they benefit from the same support residents have shown the paper during my tenure. Parkites, by and large, understand the importance of having their own newspaper and The Park Record’s role within the community. Their loyalty was apparent time and again — most prominently during the early days of COVID-19 as dozens of donors showed us their appreciation with their wallets at a time of financial uncertainty.

While that was hopefully a once-in-a-generation crisis, the community’s continuing support will ensure The Park Record’s future remains bright even as radical shifts in the newspaper industry continue. I have no doubt the journalists who remain in the newsroom will hold up their end of the bargain and continue producing a product worthy of both the paper’s 140-plus-year history and our mountain paradise. I, for certain, will be a loyal reader.

What will I miss from my time at The Park Record? Not the deadlines. Not answering emails at 10:30 p.m. Definitely not waking up in the middle of the night on occasion in a (most often unfounded) panic that we got a story wrong or misspelled a word in a front-page headline.

I’ll miss striving to fulfill the paper’s high-minded mission, and more than that, I’ll miss the thrill of doing it alongside so many people I respect and admire.

And I suspect I will continue to feel a surge of pride every time I see someone flipping through the paper with their morning coffee at a local cafe or overhear someone say, “Oh, yeah, I read about that in The Park Record.”

My time at The Park Record is over. But my love for this paper, and the community it serves, will remain.

The post From the editor: A farewell appeared first on Park Record.

Chamber/Bureau aims to help community reach balance between tourism and livability

Summit County was in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic when Jennifer Wesselhoff arrived to take the helm of the Park City Chamber/Bureau. 

She had been hired, in part, she knew, to usher the organization into a new era where its role expanded beyond marketing Park City as an international tourism destination to also helping the community manage the impacts of visitors once they’re here. But she saw implementing that shift, and initiating a community conversation about the concept of sustainable tourism — in essence, striking a balance between the tourism industry’s economic benefits and its impacts on quality of life for residents — as a longer-range project, especially given the uncertainty the pandemic had created.  

“I didn’t want the business community and the nonprofits and the event organizers and employees who were all really suffering with the uncertainty of the pandemic to think I was tone deaf,” said Wesselhoff, the Chamber/Bureau’s president and CEO. “Like, ‘Who’s this new lady coming and talking about sustainable tourism when we can barely keep our doors open.’”

What Wesselhoff discovered instead is that Parkites — including business owners whose livelihoods depend on a thriving tourism industry — were clamoring for solutions to the negative impacts, from the ever-worsening traffic congestion to the dearth of affordable housing, that stem from inviting people from all over the globe to enjoy Park City’s world-class recreational offerings. 

Fast forward a year and a half, and the Chamber/Bureau is amid a significant push to address the issue. To begin with, the organization enlisted the help of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, which evaluates communities on criteria related to sustainable tourism, and planned to share the results with the public in February. The Chamber/Bureau also launched an online survey this winter to elicit feedback from residents about their ideal balance between tourism and livability. As of late January, approximately 3,000 people had taken the survey. 

“You know that people are really engaged and really interested in the topic if we have that level of participation,” Wesselhoff said. 

The results from both the Global Sustainable Tourism Council evaluation and the online survey will shape Park City’s first-ever sustainable tourism plan, which will outline how the community can continue to reap the benefits of tourism while mitigating its downsides. And the document may be ready sooner rather than later: The Chamber/Bureau aims to have a first draft ready shortly and for its board, as well as the Park City Council and Summit County Council, to adopt a final version this summer. 

While the specifics of the plan remain to be seen, steps taken in other destinations that have pursued sustainable tourism include implementing car-free zones, requiring permits to access trails, encouraging visitors to engage in volunteerism and focusing marketing efforts on drawing a demographic of tourists who demonstrate respect for the communities they visit in ways such as being good stewards of outdoor spaces and patronizing local businesses.  

The end goal is preserving what is special about Park City, from its authenticity to its cultural heritage, for decades to come while continuing to share it with visitors. 

“My hope is that it’s a community-wide plan and that it’s not just the Chamber plan or a city plan or county plan,” Wesselhoff said. “… We’ll be leading it and facilitating it, but ultimately there are going to be a lot of tactics in there that we don’t control.”

As optimistic as Wesselhoff is, however, she understands there are significant challenges to overcome in order to draft a plan the majority of the community can get behind. One of the most significant hurdles is the reality that not everyone agrees on what the proper balance is for Park City. A business owner, for instance, may want more visitors to flock to town than a second-homeowner does. And the second-homeowner almost certainly has a different vision than someone who was born and raised here. 

But what concerns Wesselhoff most is the possibility that some Parkites may see the process as a failure unless the result is Park City transforming back into the place it was five, 10 or even 30 years ago — an outcome that isn’t realistic given how much the town has changed and how much change certainly still awaits regardless of efforts to retain Park City’s unique characteristics. 

“(Some people) want to stop development, they want to stop tourism,” she said. “… They don’t want things to change. And this sustainable tourism plan is not that. I don’t think there’s a way for the Chamber to stop (those things). I think it’s important to balance all the issues.”

Even if the Chamber/Bureau and other community leaders accomplish their goals for the sustainable tourism effort, it doesn’t mean that problems like traffic congestion would disappear. Parkites would notice significant improvement throughout the year but would not be free of tourism’s impacts, particularly during peak periods.  

“There are going to be some days where we’re out of whack,” she said. “There’s no question. I think Christmas week and New Year’s week, just given the ski industry and the type of town we are, will always be busy. But (the goal is to be) not like that every day or every week of the year … and most of the time finding the sweet spot.”

Wesselhoff also acknowledges that some residents may be skeptical of the Chamber/Bureau itself given its traditional role of promoting tourism to Park City. Some, she said, believe all the organization cares about is “more, more, more.” But she is quick to dispute that notion. 

She led a similar sustainable tourism effort in her prior role as the leader of the chamber of commerce in Sedona, Arizona, and said that experience taught her that an organization like the Chamber/Bureau has a responsibility to be a catalyst for positive action — especially when so many residents are clamoring for change. 

“I came in with eyes wide open, knowing that the community has been talking about these issues for a long time,” she said. “I knew that sustainable tourism was one of the pillars of the city’s visioning process, and I knew that the community was grappling with these questions of how much is too much.”

The business community more broadly, she said, is also supportive of taking steps to combat overtourism. There is a perception among some Parkites that business owners are only concerned with their bottom line, but the truth is that they also want to see Park City remain a community that residents still recognize a decade or two from now. 

“Our businesspeople are locals too,” she said. “… They live here, they care about Park City, they’re involved in schools and nonprofits and organizations that are ultimately making Park City a better place to live, work and play.”

The post ‘Finding the sweet spot’ appeared first on Park Record.

 Mayor Nann Worel, an ‘eternal optimist,’ hopes to make progress on community’s pressing issues

The problems confronting Park City stretch back years, if not decades. Traffic congestion, for instance, is not a recent phenomenon, while the origins of the affordable housing crisis predate even the 2002 Winter Olympics. 

But while the issues the community is grappling with are old, the institution that shoulders more responsibility than any other to address them — City Hall — is entering a new era under the leadership of Nann Worel, who captured the mayor’s office in November and was sworn in early this year. 

Worel, who served on the Park City Council for six years before rising to the Marsac Building’s top post, said she’s not naive about the challenges her administration will face over the next four years. She knows Parkites are frustrated with the amount of change the community has experienced and understands why they worry about the future given the pressures Park City faces from forces such as development, growth and tourism. 

“People are praying for a balance between our local way of life, our local population and our residents, and the visitors,” she said. “(I heard) somebody put it really well when they said the balance between the lifestyle residents want and what our tourists are demanding. And I think that is a real challenge for us to come up with some innovative ways to make sure that we do maintain our sense of community. And that’s getting more and more difficult.”

Yet, as a self-described “eternal optimist,” Worel insists it’s not too late for the community to chart a course where the things that drew many Parkites here in the first place — or kept them here — are still present decades into the future. 

“We’re all trying to say, ‘What is the city? What is it going to be going forward?’” she said. “And how do we preserve what’s really special about Park City, what makes us all love to get up every day and say, ‘Gosh, I’m glad I live here.’ That’s the challenge.”

As Worel and her administration embark on confronting that challenge, one of her first priorities will be looking outward — as in engaging with Park City’s neighboring communities. She said the growth in the places surrounding Park City, such as the Snyderville Basin and Jordanelle area, means the town does not control its fate by itself. 

Worel campaigned on the promise of ushering in a new approach to regional collaboration and said City Hall must find common cause with the County Courthouse and the municipalities along the Wasatch Back in order to make progress on the key issues. 

“You start by sitting down with all of our regional partners and talking about ‘How do we work together on this? How do we mitigate what you’re doing?’” she said. “I’ve had two municipalities reach out to me since I’ve been elected wanting to collaborate, wanting to sit down at the table. I’m looking forward to those conversations with our partners. We’ve got to start there. We can’t do it in a vacuum.”

Worel also hopes to harness the power of Parkites themselves. She said there is a tremendous amount of untapped “human capital” in Park City — people with work experience related to the community’s issues who have moved here in recent years. She’s betting many of those people are eager to be part of the local conversation. 

She pointed to affordable housing as one example. City Hall in 2016 set an ambitious goal of adding 800 affordable units to the housing stock by 2026 but has significant ground to cover over the next four years to meet that mark. According to the City Hall website, 133 units have been completed and 372 units are “upcoming,” leaving a shortfall of nearly 300 units that have not been identified or funded. 

“Let’s pull in people who’ve had careers in affordable housing in other parts of the country and involve them,” she said. “‘What’s new and creative, what have you seen happen in whatever part of the country you were in that was effective there? What can we learn from that and how can we use that?’”

Aiding Worel as she attempts to move the ball forward will be an eager group of elected officials by her side. Three of the five members of the Park City Council are new to their roles — Jeremy Rubell and Tana Toly were elected in November, while Ryan Dickey was appointed in January to fill the seat vacated by Worel — while another, Max Doilney, is in the middle of his first term. Only Becca Gerber, who was first elected in 2015, has served for longer than two years. 

For her part, Worel said she’s invigorated by the fresh perspectives the newcomers have brought to the Marsac Building and encouraged by some of the ideas the five city councilors have already offered. 

At the same time, she understands the pressure is on. Amid the rapid changes the community has endured, Parkites are looking to City Hall for answers and are growing increasingly impatient with the status quo. And the responsibility of ensuring the municipal government is successful as it attempts to preserve the community’s authenticity and the Park City way of life falls largely on her shoulders. 

It’s what she signed up for when she mounted a mayoral campaign and, later, took the oath of office. 

“I think people feel like the can has been kicked down the road,” she said, “and they’re ready to see some solutions.”

The post A new era dawns at City Hall appeared first on Park Record.

Leaders need to ‘approach the future differently’ to manage development’s impacts

People who have lived in the Park City area for decades — or maybe even just 10 or 15 years — marvel at the amount of development that has sprung up in the post-Olympic era. And in recent years, one question seems to be on the tip of every Parkite’s tongue: Are we at the breaking point?

That’s a question Pat Putt grapples with every day in his job as Summit County’s community development director. Like others, he has witnessed the startling amount of growth transform the community. But having been involved in planning matters since the 1990s — both at City Hall and the County Courthouse — he has a unique perspective on the topic, as well as how the community can maintain its core characteristics despite the ongoing development pressures. 

The bad news first: There’s no way to stop more growth from coming. For one, there are many projects in the Park City area that were approved long ago but have not yet been built. And the reality is that people still want to move here. 

Worse, Parkites can also stop hoping for quick fixes for the issues arising from the growth that is already here. The problem, Putt says, is multifaceted and has been building over the course of nearly a half-century. There’s simply not an ordinance change or a zoning tweak in the Snyderville Basin or Park City proper that will alleviate the challenges development has created. 

“We just didn’t all of a sudden wake up one day and there was a housing problem, or there was a traffic congestion problem,” he said. 

Now the good news: While Putt acknowledges that local officials can’t erect a wall to stop more people from coming, he believes it is possible to manage the growth in a way that preserves community priorities such as open space and connectivity and that prevents issues like traffic congestion from eroding the quality of life. 

But doing it, he said, will require a departure from the strategies that have failed in the past. 

“We are going to have to approach the future differently with our problem solving,” he said. “The reason we have the problems we do today, they are a direct result of decisions that have been made in the past — and made by good people with their hearts in the right spot. But if they resulted in the problems we have today, we need to rethink the solutions in the future.”

Most importantly, Putt believes the various communities within the Wasatch Back must view themselves as part of an interconnected web rather than as distinct hubs. And because what happens in one part of the Wasatch Back affects the other areas, leaders have to put their heads together and plan from a regional perspective.  

“It ain’t going to be with a zoning code amendment (that we fix things),” he said. “It’s going to be with hard work and willingness to collaborate on a level we haven’t done before, and interjurisdictionally like we haven’t done before.”

Fortunately for Putt, his counterpart in Park City, for one, agrees about the need for regional planning. Gretchen Milliken, the planning director at City Hall, said she sees opportunity for collaboration. 

“You don’t get things done by being on different sides of the fence,” she said. “You really need to be working together. And I think we share a lot of the same values between the county and the city, and I think we can work together on a lot of great projects that as a city we’re a little bit too little to do, but as … part of the county, we can help make those happen or help promote those or get involved in those.”

Putt said one of the specific solutions in the Snyderville Basin may be focusing new development in mixed-use neighborhoods where residents can access services such as grocery stores and trails without needing to venture onto, say, S.R. 224.

Milliken said that getting people out of their cars and steering them toward public transit or active modes of transportation will also go a long way toward alleviating growth’s impacts.

“We are a community in which people bike and walk and they’re active. And they’re open to other modes of transportation,” she said. “And so if our streets and our infrastructure, and how we’re getting from A to B, reflects that more, that’s going to be the biggest change for our city — that you don’t have to get into a car … that we have bus-rapid transit, that we have just a really reliable infrastructure that isn’t totally vehicular focused.”

Another part of the equation, Putt said, is engaging residents in order to allow the community to shape the solutions. One of the obstacles is that many Parkites, and particularly newcomers, aren’t familiar with the ins and outs of how the community arrived at the point it is today or the realistic options that are on the table to manage development. 

He also worries about the level of vitriol that has been present in many discussions about the community’s future over the last few years. He often thinks of something former Park City Mayor Dana Williams used to say: Be tough on the issues and easy on the people.

“Long before traffic and congestion and affordability gets us, it will be our inability to work together, to collaborate together, to think together, to debate and argue in a non-personal way,” he said. “We will lose our community because of that sooner than we will all of these other things.”

But even in the face of significant obstacles, Putt remains optimistic that the community will be able to protect its special character for future generations. 

“Being a union-card-carrying planner of hope, I believe in the people in this community that we call Summit County,” he said. “We’ve got incredible talent, we’ve got people who care enough that they want to be here to live their lives and they feel strongly about it.”

The post A growing problem appeared first on Park Record.

Summit County officials on Thursday announced a countywide mask mandate in response to a surge in coronavirus cases that has dwarfed the largest spikes seen earlier in the pandemic.

The mandate is slated to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The order requires people to wear masks inside public facilities, such as schools, grocery stores and retailers, or while waiting in line to enter an indoor space. There are limited exceptions, such as for people under 2 years old, those who have medical conditions that prevent mask-wearing and patrons eating or drinking at a restaurant.

“This was not an easy decision and certainly not an action we wanted to take at this stage of the pandemic,” said Phil Bondurant, the Summit County health director, in a press release. “I am especially concerned for our frontline workers, our children and staff in schools and the current strain on our healthcare system. Masks combined with vaccines are critical tools to help us weather this surge and protect our critical services.”

There has not been a community-wide mask mandate in place since April, when case counts were declining and the prospect of widespread vaccine availability offered hope that the worst of the pandemic was over. But the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant has sent case numbers skyrocketing and renewed worries about the coronavirus.

Summit County on Wednesday logged 244 cases, a new record and more than triple the single-day high of 79 prior to the current surge. There have been more than 79 cases nearly every day since Dec. 23, including several days that eclipsed 150 cases. The schools have been hit particularly hard, with Park City High School on Wednesday reporting 58 cases within the prior two weeks.

“Along with the health of our residents, workers and visitors, preserving and maintaining critical infrastructure services in our county is of the highest priority,” County Manager Tom Fisher said in the release. “As it stands, the omicron surge poses a significant threat to our ability to provide critical services, such as emergency response, snow removal, solid waste collection, medical services, and others. This health order helps protect those front-line workers and the important services they provide this community.”

Summit County officials anticipate that the coronavirus will continue to spread at a high rate for at least the next month, according to the health order, which also notes that there has been a significant demand for COVID-19 testing in recent weeks.

“Increased COVID-19 transmissions are expected for the next 30 to 45 days with the Omicron variant, risking stable continuation of essential services for all living in or visiting Summit County, and straining the local economy during a critical economic time of the year,” the order states.

The order is slated to expire Feb. 21.

The announcement of the mandate comes one day after the organizers of the Sundance Film Festival, scheduled later this month, canceled in-person events in Park City for the second straight year out of concern for the coronavirus. The cancellation is a significant blow to the Park City-area economy, which typically reaps tens of millions of dollars during the festival.

The post Countywide mask mandate slated to go into effect as coronavirus surges appeared first on Park Record.

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed a first-degree murder charge against the driver involved in a high-speed chase in the fall that ended in a fatal crash on U.S. 40 in Summit County.

Summit County Attorney’s Office prosecutors say Charles Dwight Caster, 22, is at fault in the Sept. 22 death of the passenger, Daisha Reynolds, of Salt Lake City, who was ejected from the vehicle when it crashed on U.S. 40 near the Silver Summit exit. Reynolds was 19.

According to charging documents filed in Summit County’s 3rd District Court, Caster stole the vehicle in Wasatch County and fled from law enforcement officers who were responding to reports of a vehicle burglary. He eventually drove onto westbound U.S. 40, where the Summit County Sheriff’s Office deployed spike strips in an attempt to stop the vehicle. Prosecutors say Caster swerved to avoid the strips and lost control of the vehicle, which went off the road and rolled several times.

The vehicle was traveling between 92 and 103 mph at the time of the crash, according to the documents. Caster was also ejected from the vehicle. Law enforcement officials said in September that Caster was airlifted to a Salt Lake Valley hospital in critical condition. The charging documents did not provide an update about his injuries.

Caster is also facing a second-degree felony charge of receiving or transferring a stolen motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer, as well as a third-degree felony count of failure to respond to an officer’s signal to stop.

The murder charge carries a possible punishment of five years to life in prison upon conviction.

A warrant for Caster’s arrest was also filed Wednesday.

The post Murder charge filed against driver in fatal September car crash on U.S. 40 near Park City appeared first on Park Record.

More than 160 guests were evacuated from a chairlift at Deer Valley Resort on Friday after the lift stopped due to a mechanical failure, the resort said.

The breakdown happened on the Carpenter Express chairlift at 2:38 p.m., according to the resort. Deer Valley decided a short while later to remove the guests from the lift, which is located near the Snow Park base area, after crews were unable to repair the problem. All the skiers were evacuated by 5:20 p.m.

“We sincerely apologize to our guests who were impacted by the chairlift failure today and thank them for trusting us to make the best decision for their safety by implementing our evacuation procedures,” the resort said in a statement. “To our staff that were involved in getting everyone off the chairlift safely, your efforts today were heroic. Your dedication, experience, and training for situations like this were apparent in your gallant effort today. We cannot thank you enough for all you did today, and every day.”

The resort said it planned to have the Carpenter Express chairlift working again by Saturday. More information about the status of lifts at the resort is available at deervalley.com.

The post Mechanical failure forces guests to be evacuated from lift at Deer Valley Resort appeared first on Park Record.

So you chose Park City for a ski vacation this winter but opted against renting a car to haul the family around. That might be a risky decision in other locales, but don’t worry — you made the right call. The Park City area has robust transportation options to help you get from A to B, ski gear in tow, without ever having to get behind the wheel of a car.

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

The Park City area’s public transportation systems will get riders to a number of destinations, from Main Street to the ski resorts and more. Given that the systems are free to use, eschewing an Uber and hopping on the bus is a deal that’s impossible to beat.

Park City Transit’s buses operate primarily within the Park City limits, while the new High Valley Transit covers the Snyderville Basin. And don’t worry — the two systems work well together, meaning riders will have a relatively seamless experience when they need to use both systems to reach their destination.

High Valley Transit is also offering a service that will be new to riders who have not been to Park City since last winter: microtransit. Similar to ridesharing firms like Uber and Lyft, the microtransit offering allows users to order a ride through an app. And like the bus system, it’s free.

The only caveat is that it only services areas in the Snyderville Basin, meaning you can’t use it to go from, say, Kimball Junction to Main Street. The app can be downloaded from the app store on iPhones and Androids by searching “High Valley Transit.”

Beyond being free, another reason to use Park City Transit and High Valley Transit is avoiding having to find, and pay for, parking. During peak times — think powder days at the resorts and weekend evenings in the Main Street core — parking can be hard to find.

Additionally, many places charge for parking, and the expense can add up quickly over the course of even a weeklong trip. Not to mention, you’ll be doing your small part to help Park City limit its carbon footprint.

More information about the transit systems, including bus routes and schedules, is available at parkcity.org/departments/ transit-bus and highvalleytransit.org.

PRIVATE TRANSPORTATION

People who don’t have the time or desire to ride the bus won’t be left out in the cold. Park City is serviced by a number of well-known transportation companies that are happy to pick up and drop off people all over the area.

In addition to offering a more private experience, these companies are the only option if you need to travel beyond the Park City region. They are only a Google search away and can take you to the airport, or to other popular destinations like Midway in the Heber Valley.

THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY

You don’t always need an engine to get from one place to another here. Park City prides itself on being a walkable town, and that’s even true during the winter. You’ll want to dress warm and wear comfortable shoes, but the hard-working snow removal crews should have the sidewalks clear of snow and ready to use. Many locations within city limits are within a 15- or 20-minute walk from each other, though it’s a good idea to pull out your phone and check your favorite map app to ensure you’re headed in the right direction.

Depending on the weather, it might even be possible to traverse town on a bike during the winter. But if you’re searching for the e-bike share program you enjoyed during your visit over the summer, you’re out of luck. It won’t be back until the snow melts in the spring.

The post Adventure Guide: From here to there appeared first on Park Record.

Are the perfectly groomed runs what make the experience at Deer Valley Resort so unforgettable? Or is it the luxurious amenities like complimentary ski and equipment storage and the delicious dining options scattered all over the mountain? Perhaps it’s the green-clad staff, armed with warm smiles and expertise that can elevate a ski vacation from good to great.

The answer, of course, is all of the above. Nailing every element of the skier experience is how Deer Valley has staked out a reputation as being one of the best — if not the very best — ski area in the world. From the time guests arrive to the moment they leave — whether they’re locals stopping by for a few laps in the afternoon or visitors staying on the mountain for a week — they’re treated to what the resort calls “the Deer Valley difference.”

That special touch is apparent in everything from the conditions on the slopes to the resort’s famed turkey chili, and it’s why skiers return to Deer Valley, in search of memories that will last a lifetime, year after year.

COVID-19 PROTOCOLS

While this will be the third ski season affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the good news is this: The experience on the slopes should be relatively normal. Deer Valley is not requiring guests to wear masks while skiing, waiting in line for a chairlift or riding a chairlift. The resort is also not requiring proof of vaccination against COVID-19, though it encourages guests to be vaccinated.

Some coronavirus fighting measures remain in place, however. Masks are mandatory indoors, except when actively eating or drinking, and guests are also asked to practice social distancing when possible.

The restrictions are subject to change as the health situation evolves. Visit deervalley.com/ about-us/covid-operations for the latest information.

SKI SCHOOL

Deer Valley’s ski school is known as one of the best around. Whether you’re a first-time skier or just looking to sharpen your skills after a few years away from the slopes, the friendly and knowledgeable instructors will quickly have you feeling confident on your skis.

The ski school boasts a number of offerings, from private sessions to lessons geared to younger age groups. It won’t be difficult to find the lesson that best fits your needs, but don’t dawdle — book your lesson early, as spots can fill up quickly. 

See deervalley.com/plan-your-trip/lessons for more information.

PASSES

There are a few ways to get on the mountain at Deer Valley.

Those who are visiting for a vacation may be best served by securing single- or multi-day lift tickets. But that comes with a caveat: The resort caps the number of lift tickets it sells each day, meaning buying tickets well in advance is the best way to ensure you aren’t left out in the cold.

The resort also offers a season pass, which is the option pursued by most locals who want to frequent the mountain, with the price for an adult pass set at $2,965 this winter.

Alternatively, skiers may want to check out the Ikon Pass from Deer Valley’s owner, Alterra Mountain Company. The Ikon Pass offers up to seven days at Deer Valley with no blackout dates, along with access to more than 40 other resorts. The Ikon Base Pass is similar but reduces the access to five days at Deer Valley, with blackout dates.

For more information, visit deervalley.com/plan-your-trip/tickets-and-passes.

FREESTYLE WORLD CUP

The annual Freestyle International Ski World Cup, one of the hallmark events of the year in Park City, was scaled down significantly last winter due to the pandemic. But rejoice — it is slated for a return to normal this January, offering winter sports fans an opportunity to gather with thousands of other spectators to witness the best moguls and aerials skiers in the world do their thing under the bright lights on Deer Valley’s Champion run.

And what’s more, this year’s event promises to be particularly special, as it will be a qualifier for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled for the following month. There’s a good chance the athletes standing atop the podium at Deer Valley will end up taking home medals in China.

For more information about the World Cup, which is scheduled Jan. 12-14, visit deervalley.com/things-to-do/activities/world-cup.

The post Adventure Guide: Groomed for a great time appeared first on Park Record.

SKI SCHOOL

Deer Valley’s ski school is known as one of the best around. Whether you’re a first-time skier or just looking to sharpen your skills after a few years away from the slopes, the friendly and knowledgeable instructors will quickly have you feeling confident on your skis.

The ski school boasts a number of offerings, from private sessions to lessons geared to younger age groups. It won’t be difficult to find the lesson that best fits your needs, but don’t dawdle — book your lesson early, as spots can fill up quickly.

See deervalley.com/plan-your-trip/lessons for more information.

PASSES

There are a few ways to get on the mountain at Deer Valley.

Those who are visiting for a vacation may be best served by securing single- or multi- day lift tickets. But that comes with a caveat: The resort caps the number of lift tickets it sells each day, meaning buying tickets well in advance is the best way to ensure you aren’t left out in the cold.

The resort also offers a season pass, which is the option pursued by most locals who want to frequent the mountain, with the price for an adult pass set at $2,965 this winter.

Alternatively, skiers may want to check out the Ikon Pass from Deer Valley’s owner, Alterra Mountain Company. The Ikon Pass offers up to seven days at Deer Valley with no blackout dates, along with access to more than 40 other resorts. The Ikon Base Pass is similar but reduces the access to five days at Deer Valley, with blackout dates.

For more information, visit deervalley.com/plan-your-trip/tickets-and-passes.

The post Adventure Guide: Deer Valley Resort appeared first on Park Record.