It’s been an autumn filled with change at Deer Valley Resort. It announced the departure of President and Chief Operating Officer Todd Shallan in October, then welcomed his replacement with just a couple of months before the first full winter under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jeremy Levitt, who came to Deer Valley from another Alterra-owned company, CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures, said he is excited to lead the resort into an unprecedented period.

Levitt’s background is in the financial world. He began his career working in mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street, then shifted to private equity. He spent time in Austria managing investments for a bank there before returning to the States and attending business school in Philadelphia. He started working for a hedge fund in New York but after two days realized it wasn’t for him.

“In Austria, it seemed that most people worked to live versus living to work, which is primarily what I had been exposed to in New York City,” he said. “The seed was planted during my time in Europe, that perhaps I should work in an industry that I was truly passionate about.”

It was during his time in Austria, skiing the Alps on weekends, that Levitt said he fell back in love with skiing. While he was in business school, he spent his free time thinking of outdoor, resort and action companies he wanted to work for.

“I began cold calling and emailing executives at these companies and flying out to California, Colorado and Utah to have meetings,” he said. “I ended up connecting with executives at Intrawest Resorts.”

At the time, Intrawest, one of the firms that eventually became Alterra Mountain Company, owned six ski resorts in North America as well as CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures. He worked first at the company’s headquarters before moving to Banff in Canada to take over CMH. After five years there, he was approached this fall to take the reins at Deer Valley Resort.

“I saw a lot of parallels between Deer Valley and CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures,” Levitt said. “They each are the gold standard at what they do, both companies have a rich heritage and celebrate their founders’ vision, painstaking attention is paid to the details and the way the guests are taken care of and how the staff are treated all really resonated with me.”

Even with the opportunity coming only a couple of months before the season, Levitt did not hesitate to accept.

“It is rare in life that you get to work at a company that truly is the best at what they do,” he said. “And Deer Valley’s exhaustive list of awards certainly supports that notion. The pride you have in being a part of such a company makes getting up and going to work every morning that much more motivating.”

Also motivating for Levitt, he said, was the location.

“On a personal note, I have always wanted to live in Park City, having heard so many great things about the community,” he said. “My wife and I also wanted to get back to the U.S. to be closer to family, since we just had our second daughter and both girls are under the age of 2.”

Levitt has been at Deer Valley now for seven weeks, during which time he said he’s been getting to know the different departments and their people and hosting town hall-style meetings so the employees can get to know him and his leadership style and ask any questions they might have.

It’s an unprecedented winter ahead, but Levitt said Deer Valley, which was slated to open its season Saturday, is ready for it.

“The mountain is in fantastic shape for this time of year and we are excited to welcome our first guests this weekend,” he said. “The Deer Valley team has worked tirelessly during the last eight months, poring over every single aspect of the guest experience in order to develop protocols and procedures to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while maintaining their continuous dedication to providing an exceptional guest experience.”

The biggest obstacle facing Deer Valley now and for the immediate future is, of course, the coronavirus pandemic. After that, though, Levitt said ensuring a smooth transition and “alleviating the angst that accompanies a leadership change” is probably the biggest task for the resort.

“This is bound to happen, particularly so when there is a plethora of long-tenured staff that care deeply about the company, which Deer Valley has in spades,” he said. “People want to know the direction that you are planning on taking the company and what changes will be made.”

Levitt said it would be “presumptuous” of him to think he has those answers just two months into the job. He said Deer Valley’s staff has done “an amazing job” maintaining the resort’s reputation as a world-renowned destination, and his goal is to further that effort where he can.

“I look forward to working alongside the team to steward our founder Edgar Stern’s vision and continue building upon the storied legacy of Deer Valley.”

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Jamie Sheetz, Park City High School’s athletics and activities director, said prep sports in the time of COVID-19 has been a lesson in flexibility and adaptability.

“We’re writing a new story every day, that’s how we’re treating it,” he said. “The way things are going, we just don’t know what is going to change day to day.”

Case in point: Last week, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert announced new emergency measures to try to slow down the spread of the coronavirus in Utah, and among those orders was a two-week pause on extracurricular activities. Through Nov. 23, only fall sports playoff games will be held. No other athletics, including tryouts for winter sports, will take place.

“We’ll have the pause and then we’ll pick back up in a couple of weeks,” Sheetz said. “I think everyone is willing to give it a shot if it means getting us headed in the right direction.”

Sheetz said the pause didn’t affect any Miners fall sports, which had all completed their seasons. Winter sports tryouts will be delayed, however, and the swim team, which begins its season earlier than the rest, will have its season interrupted.

“They’re going to miss a meet or two, and the problem (with the timing) is that they’ll come back Thanksgiving week after two weeks off, have two days of doing stuff and then shut back down for four days for the holiday,” he said. “It’s weird, but I know it’s not easy. They’re trying to keep it simple for everyone. It really is such a mess.”

According to the Utah High School Activities Association, winter sports can begin Nov. 24, with the basketball and wrestling seasons starting in December.

“What they’ve done is erase a week or a week and a half from all the winter sports seasons, that’s all,” Sheetz said. “So in a couple of weeks we should be good to go. Everybody just wants to play, to be active and to keep life as close to normal as possible for these kids.”

The school year so far

Sheetz said looking back on the fall sports season, he is pleased with how well the coaches, players and community handled the changes.

“We had enough time to prep over the summer that I think all the coaches knew what they had to do. It just took some getting used to — COVID screening before every practice, every event — but once we did it was just the new routine.”

Sheetz said it helps that the athletes are so invested in keeping their seasons going.

“I think the kids are probably even more adaptable and flexible than the coaches,” he said. “I don’t know that they like all of this any better than we do, but they’re willing to put in their best efforts to make it work.

“No one wants to go back to where we were in March, April and May.”

The PCHS volleyball team did have to quarantine for two weeks about halfway through its season, and that’s one area where Sheetz said the school would have done things differently.

“If we had to do it over again, we probably would not let the freshman and JV teams hang around in the stands to watch the varsity team play,” he said. “You’ve got three levels of teams in the stands, we’re having to remind them to pull their masks up. If we could go back, having the younger players leave the gym after their games might have helped.”

The winter ahead

While most of the fall sports are played outdoors, all of the winter sports will be inside, and one of the biggest concerns around COVID-19 heading into the winter has been more people congregating indoors. Sheetz said he and the coaches share that concern and will keep attendance to 25% of capacity or perhaps even lower.

“I think in terms of mitigation, we might have only essential personnel for basketball games,” he said.

Regardless, family and friends will still be able to watch the games.

“We finally have our cameras installed, so people will be able to stream the basketball games and wrestling meets, for example,” he said. “That’s something we’d been wanting to do anyway, but COVID sort of fast-tracked that.”

‘Err on the side of caution’

Sheetz said the high school has been proactive when it’s gotten cases and cautious about ensuring student-athletes quarantine when necessary. He acknowledged that some in the community have said they are being too conservative but he rejects that idea.

“We have no idea what the long-term effects of this virus are,” he said. “We’ve only been studying this thing for what, 11 months? To not worry about kids getting it because (of the high survival rate) is just irresponsible. As an educator, I won’t do that. I don’t want to think about one of our athletes suffering lasting effects from this virus 20 years down the road because we weren’t careful.”

In fact, Sheetz said he can see leaning even further toward caution, as have some high school programs across the country, and even shutting down sports entirely.

“I can justify not doing anything at all right now,” he said. “You could make that argument.”

The reason, Sheetz said, is the upcoming holidays. He worries about a potential spike in cases and how the athletic department would deal with it.

“It’s going to be a trying time for us, this stretch from Thanksgiving to early January,” he said. “We’re going to find out a lot. There is going to be a lot of exposure, a lot of people wanting to see their families. We’re just going to have to put as many layers of mitigation in place as possible and try to continue to get back to normal.”

The bottom line is safety, Sheetz said, and that’s the message he and the coaches are trying to impress upon the student-athletes and the community at large.

“We’re just trying to stress to these kids how important it is to take the virus seriously,” he said. “Keep those masks on. Don’t go to friends’ houses and hang out during this two-week pause.

“We can’t keep kicking this thing down the road. The longer we do, the longer it’s going to take to come out the other side.”

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There is no shortage of Park City-area nonprofits deserving of the community’s support during this year’s Live PC Give PC. From protecting the outdoors to ensuring housing for all, Park City’s generosity runs the gamut. For those who wish to support the community’s children, seniors or would-be voters, here are three organizations to consider.

Park City Senior Citizens

Park City’s seniors have long called the Senior Center on Woodside Avenue home, but it was only this past September that they officially became a 501c(3) nonprofit organization called Park City Senior Citizens.

The mission of Park City Senior Citizens is to allow individuals over 60 to maintain a quality of life consistent with their personal abilities, and to provide a variety of creative, physical and social activities as well as interaction with the larger community.

Group member and former Park City Council member Marianne Cone said the seniors are excited for their first Live PC Give PC, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered their usual activities.

“While we are all missing our regular activities with family and friends, I don’t think there is a more isolated group than some of our 200 members of the Senior Center,” Cone said.

The Senior Citizens group is hopeful it can resume some form of operations and is hopeful the community’s support during this year’s fundraiser will help make that happen.

“We plan to use our building as the weather closes in,” Cone said. “Our hope is that the funds raised through our first Live PC Give PC will help us open the building on a limited and safe basis. We have a core group working to accomplish this, as well as to build our interaction through Zoom lectures and very socially distant ‘gatherings’ through the internet.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah

Just because the global coronavirus pandemic has put a halt to many nonessential activities does not mean Utah’s young people are in any less need of guidance and support. For Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah, whose mission is “to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth,” the COVID-19 has created new hurdles.

“COVID-19 may have stopped many things, but Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah hasn’t stopped fostering one-to-one mentoring relationships with children facing opportunity gaps and volunteer mentors,” said communications manager Lauren Judkins. “We recognize, now more than ever, it is so important to keep kids connected. We have continued to match ‘Littles’ and ‘Bigs’ over Zoom and encourage those who have already been matched in the program to meet virtually.”

Judkins said her organization’s goal for this year’s Live PC Give PC is chiefly to raise awareness.

“We are so excited to be participating in Live PC Give PC this year,” she said. “We hope to raise awareness about the importance of mentoring and inspire those in the community to become Bigs or donate.

“Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah will use the funds raised to continue to foster and create mentoring relationships. This year has been particularly hard financially and your donations will make a big impact.”

Beyond donating for Live PC Give PC, Judkins said those interested in getting involved can check out Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah’s 2020 Chef & Child virtual gala Nov. 14. This year’s event is free, she said, and features entertainment, an inside look at the matches made by BBBSU and a chance to win a trip to London among other prizes. For more information visit bbbsu.org/chefchild20.

Voterise

It’s no surprise that the 2020 election has been top of mind for most Utahns for months, or even since 2016. The nonprofit group Voterise, created ahead of the 2016 election by a group of Park City residents, has the simple-but-not-easy goal of capturing that interest and creating enthusiasm — and registering as many voters as possible.

Executive Director Hope Zitting-Goeckeritz said the nonprofit’s goal, specifically, is to turn out voters in demographics that don’t typically participate in very high numbers.

“(Our) mission is to increase voter registration and turnout by Utah’s 18- to 29-year-olds and underrepresented groups in order to build a more inclusive democracy where all voices are heard,” she said. “The more people that participate in our democracy, the stronger it will be.”

Zitting-Goeckeritz said it’s important to remember that the mission of Voterise didn’t end when the polls closed Tuesday. It’s an ongoing effort, she said, and funds raised from Live PC Give PC will allow it to continue their mission.

“Voter registration is year-round,” she said. “There’s always someone turning 18, someone moving homes, someone being released from jail, someone getting married and changing their name. Voterise educates, empowers and engages Utah’s voters through voter registration and informed voting. The more we raise, the more Utahns will vote and the stronger our democracy will be.”

For more information visit www.voterise.org.

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The economic impact of the novel coronavirus this past spring was swift and vicious, with the unemployment rate at one point spiking to 20.4% in Summit County and numerous businesses closing their doors, some permanently. Even when they were able to reopen, many businesses

had to do so under new safety precautions, in some cases limiting their capacity significantly or requiring major alterations to their operations.

Many months removed from that initial wave of upheaval, a clearer economic picture is beginning to take shape. Jeff Jones, Summit County’s economic development director, said the economy is still nowhere close to where it was pre-coronavirus, when Summit County was amid a decade-long stretch of prosperity after emerging from the Great Recession.

“The Summit County economy is probably operating at about 70-75% of where it was before the pandemic,” Jones said. “So, we are still a ways from getting back to normal. An economy operating that far below ‘normal’ still translates into economic hardship for a lot of folks.”

The travel, leisure and hospitality industries, Jones said, have been hit particularly hard. Restaurants are seating somewhere in the ballpark of
35% fewer customers than they did before the pandemic, while hotel occupancy was estimated to be down 23.4% for August. Airline deplanements at the Salt Lake International Airport, another key indicator for the resort-focused Summit County economy, were down 58.3% compared to 2019.

Bill Malone, president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau, said the premature end to the 2019-20 ski season resulted in $153 million in lost spending, a massive impact on “what was shaping up to be a spectacular season.” Malone described the current state of the local economy simply as “fragile.”

“It will be a challenging winter for most of us dependent on large amounts of ski visitation,” he said. “We are mostly dependent on long- haul customers who fly here to ski. The New York area and Southern California have been our major sources of destination visitors. A lot will depend upon the number of people who want to travel by air.”

The bad news, Malone said, is that international visitation is expected to be down significantly, and those visitors are usually big spenders who stay longer.

Jones said one major consideration going forward is that Summit County’s economic recovery is not entirely in our hands.

“Our continued economic recovery depends on two factors,” he said. “How effectively we manage and contain the spread of the virus and the fiscal policy of the federal government. I would like to see additional support for small business and those still unemployed.”

The post Mile Post 2020: Economic Uncertainty appeared first on Park Record.

When the novel coronavirus spread around the country in March, resulting in stay-at-home orders and fear and anxiety among the public, nearly every industry was hit hard. The Park City area was not spared. Restaurants closed their doors, concerts were can- celed, businesses shut down. One industry that remained sturdy, however, was real estate.

Mark Jacobson, president-elect of the Park City Board of Realtors, said that, with the exception of a brief slowdown in March and April, the real estate market in Park City has been strong throughout the pandemic.

“With the continuing ability for people to work remotely the market began picking up at a significant pace,” he said. “Mountain resorts across the West have shown significant interest including Park City. Sales progressed throughout the summer and the inventory is continuing to dwindle.”

Jacobson said Realtors are seeing interest from a variety of buyers, for a variety of reasons.

“Some are coming because their kids may be able to go to in-person school,” he said. “Some want to be able to enjoy the ability to work remotely and use our trail systems for biking, hiking and the upcoming ski season. We are also seeing people that may have wanted to move here in the next five years or so and have decided to make the change quicker.”

In her most recent updates to the Board of Realtors membership since the pandemic arrived in the spring, CEO Jamie Johnson Hoppe has described 2020 as “a banner year in sales in all areas.”

In mid-September, residential new listings year-to-date totaled 2,589 compared to 2,514 in the same period in 2019, which Johnson Hoppe said is still not enough to keep up with demand. During a 13-week stretch in the summer, for example, Park City Realtors closed 900 transactions, up from 638 during the same stretch in 2019.

And perhaps most tellingly, in mid-September, available inventory dipped to 1,468 units, an eight-year low.

Johnson Hoppe’s conclusion: “We need new listings.”

As for what the winter holds, Jacobson said he doesn’t see anything changing, with the caveat that the coronavirus pandemic could still change the situation.

“There are quite a few great projects coming out of the ground that are available and the developers will be fortunate,” he said. “The rest of our inventory is continuing to diminish and the interest in Park City is continuing to grow.”

The post Mile Post 2020: Virus can’t slow real estate market appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City area has long been an attractive destination for visitors, but for many years now it has also drawn those who want to call it home permanently. That growth has led to overcrowding in the Park City School District and the South Summit School District, both of which are looking to build new facilities to accommodate their new students.

For the Park City School District, the need for expansion has been clear since 2014, when efforts began to craft a $56 million bond that would have expanded Park City High School, created a new fifth- and sixth-grade school and paid for improvements at McPolin Elementary School. That bond went before voters in 2015 and failed, and the years since then have only seen the overcrowding issues continue.

Business Administrator Todd Hauber said the district is currently working on a master education and facilities plan that includes four priorities:

• Design for a four-year comprehensive high school with additional space for ninth-graders

• Expansion of middle grades to a sixth- through-eighth-grade format

• Ensuring early-learning opportunities for preschool at the elementary sites

• Enhancing or expanding career and technical education opportunities for students in grades six through 12

There is a need for additional learning space at every school, Hauber said.

“The district has had modular or ‘extra’ classroom spaces for many years,” he said. “The district’s early learning program gains more interest each year, and there is always a waiting list.”

The Park City Board of Education has said it hopes to have architectural work finished by the end of this year so the community can evaluate different options in the spring and summer.

In South Summit, the story is similar. Bond measures were put before voters in 2017 and 2019 and each time failed to garner enough support to pass. The $87 million bond in 2019 would have paid for a new 215,000-square-foot high school in Kamas.

Like the Park City School District, the South Summit School District has now had to turn to increased use of temporary, modular classrooms to accommodate its student body.

“Overcrowding will continue to be an is- sue,” Superintendent Shad Sorenson said last fall. “But we’ll do all we can to support, empower, and inspire individuals to promote and achieve academic and character excellence.”

The district was considering bringing another bond to the voters this year but decided against it after the coronavirus pandemic hit in March. Looking ahead, earlier this year the district gathered 50 volunteers serving on five different committees to help craft a roadmap for future growth in the district.

As it stands, every South Summit campus is at or near capacity, with one high school teacher describing the high school as “bulging at the seams.”

With growth in Park City and Summit County likely to continue, the issue of overcrowding in schools seems unlikely to disappear.

The post Mile Post 2020: Making the grade appeared first on Park Record.

Candidates for three seats on the Park City Board of Education met in a virtual forum hosted by the Park City Rotary Club Tuesday, touching on issues ranging from communication with the public to the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The forum was moderated by KPCW’s Carolyn Murray and was mostly subdued, no surprise given that two of the incumbent candidates — Anne Peters in District 1 and Wendy Crossland in District 3 — are unchallenged. The only contested race, in District 2, sees board President Andrew Caplan facing off against a write-in candidate, Thomas Cooke.

District 2

Caplan was running unopposed for reelection until late September, when Cooke, a member of the Snyderville Basin Planning Commission, announced he would launch a write-in campaign for the position.

Cooke started his campaign on the promise of greater transparency and making more information available to the public. He said the board can do a better job of explaining its thought processes to the community, and that starts with encouraging all of its members to speak to the media.

“My personal feeling is to build trust and transparency we should spread that around a bit,” Cooke said. “It shouldn’t always be one voice. I know that it’s common for the board president to speak on behalf of the board but I think our community would benefit from hearing more voices.”

On the subject of transparency and communication with the public, Caplan said there is “always something that can be improved upon.”

“We recognize that in a world where so much information is so readily available it can be hard to get through the noise,” he said.

Speaking to the district’s master planning process, Caplan said the board will continue to defer to the will of the public.

“If we look back at the last failed bond referendum in 2015, what we learned is that the community needs their voices to be heard,” he said.

Caplan said the board has no intention of moving forward with any major capital improvement projects without support of the public at the ballot box through a bond measure.

Cooke said he doesn’t think the community knows enough about the master planning process and that the board should do more to educate residents.

“As far as how the community feels about bonds, this might be an example of where the board thinks they’re doing a great job of communicating with the public but they are not,” he said.

Cooke also said he thinks the current master plan is “very facility-centric” and not enough about a vision for the future of education, as is the stated goal.

With respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, Caplan said the community should be proud of how it’s handled the adjustments that have been required to keep students and faculty safe.

“The amount of cases we’ve had at our schools has been minimal, and the vast majority of them have been kids getting sick at outside activities, not at school,” he said. “It speaks to the work our staff and teachers have done to keep our schools safe.”

Cooke said he wants to be sure the district is doing everything it can to prepare for any spikes in the community or outbreaks on campuses.

“I think when it comes to our low case count (in Summit County), I think we’ve been good but we’ve also been pretty lucky,” he said. “Park City is a tourist economy, and so there are things beyond our control when it comes to exposure to the virus. I wonder what happens when our luck runs out.”

District 1

Anne Peters has served on the board for nearly four years and called it “the greatest thing (she’s) ever done.” She said she’s running for reelection because the board “has started some incredible work” and she’s looking forward to continuing it.

On the subject of communication with the public, Peters was asked about the district’s lack of a communications director and whether that might be problematic. Peters said she doesn’t believe it is.

“I think we do a phenomenal job of communicating,” she said. “I have heard people say we’re not transparent enough, which I kind of scratch my head about. I can’t imagine what more we could possibly say, but I welcome feedback from the community if there are areas we could (do better).”

District 3

Wendy Crossland was appointed to her position on the board representing District 3 about a year and a half ago. This is her first election campaign, and she is running unopposed. Crossland, a former attorney and now a social studies teacher at Park City Day School, said she sees her service on the board as an “incredible opportunity” to give back to the community.

“I feel really passionate about having a chance to commit to some of these important initiatives that will impact all the students in our district,” she said.

Crossland said she is not so concerned with the board’s strategy of having a unified voice.

“Andrew speaks for the board, but I speak for myself as an individual,” she said. “Any constituent can reach out to me and I will talk to them. I don’t ask Andrew to talk to them for me.”

The post School board candidates meet in online forum appeared first on Park Record.

One quarter into the 2020-21 school year, Summit County’s East Side school districts are reporting a largely successful transition to the new normal of education under COVID-19 safety protocols.

South Summit School District

Jodi Jones, South Summit School District’s public relations head, said while things haven’t been perfect, they’ve gone better than district officials anticipated. The district adopted a blended-learning model that has students on campus four days a week, with either Wednesday or Friday instruction held remotely depending on the campus.

“I worried that students would be constantly not wearing masks and teachers would spend their time managing COVID and not being able to teach,” she said. “Yes, there are times when they have to remind and help students follow protocols, but overall they have been amazing at wearing masks and keeping social distance during the school day.”

Jones said it’s been a team effort to ensure school stays in session in South Summit.

“I attribute the success to everybody stepping up and coming together,” she said. “With the help of custodial, transportation, food service, teachers, paraeducators, administrators and support staff in the schools and in the district, we’re making it work the best way we can.

“The challenge lies in giving students the resources they need while not overburdening our faculty, which is our greatest resource.”

Jones said that as of Tuesday the district had fewer than five positive cases of COVID-19, including faculty, staff and students, while additional students have had to quarantine due to close contact.

“I believe the attentiveness of our staff to following our school reopening protocols and having the Wednesday blended-learning day for Kamas schools and Fridays for Silver Summit has been helpful in managing the balance between public health and academic success,” she said.

The biggest challenge the district has faced this first quarter back? Fear, Jones said.

“Students and parents fear schools closing and doing online learning again,” she said. “Some faculty fear for their personal safety and well-being or (the well-being of) those that live in their home or who they provide care for such as elderly parents. Concern that we are providing the learning experience our students need, despite the constraint of a pandemic.”

Over the summer the district underwent a “massive” technology upgrade to support blended learning, Jones said, and that, too, has been a challenge — as has the work of managing the pandemic itself.

“Contact tracing is very time and labor intensive,” she said. “Every positive case takes at least four hours of time to determine people near them that will need to be quarantined and then providing the most effective communication to those students and their parents. So far, our school nurse has personally contacted everybody to answer questions and provide health information.”

North Summit School District

The North Summit School District has returned with a typical schedule of in-person instruction five days a week as well as a fully remote option for students. So far, said Superintendent Jerre Holmes, the district has been “extremely pleased” with the results. Holmes said his district has had only one positive case of COVID-19, contracted by a teacher.

Holmes said the district appreciates parents who have shown a willingness to adapt to new and difficult circumstances. Teachers and students have also adapted well.

“Our teachers have been amazing with making this school year a success to this point,” he said. “The students have been great at wearing their masks at the elementary school and middle school. Overall, the high school students have been really good. We do have a small percentage of kids who need to be reminded to keep their masks up.”

The mask mandate at all Utah schools, Holmes said, has presented a challenge of its own, as the district has had to “see and understand” arguments for and against it in the community.

“Navigating that has been difficult,” he said. “Also, we run into things weekly that we didn’t necessarily think about when we put our plan (for reopening schools) together. Making those adjustments has been challenging.”

In a largely rural community, Holmes said, remote learning has been challenging for some families.

“We have tried to accommodate all of their individual needs, which has been quite a task,” he said. “At this point, the challenges have been worth what we have been able to accomplish.”

Holmes said the district plans to continue with fully in-person and fully remote learning options. A hybrid model, he said, is not currently on the table.

The post East Side school districts adjusting well to ‘new normal’ of coronavirus appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City Ski Swap and Sale, a beloved community tradition and an important fundraiser for Park City Ski & Snowboard, has been canceled, the latest popular local event to be nixed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Christie Hind, the club’s executive director, announced the decision late last week. She said Park City Ski & Snowboard “made every effort to find a way to responsibly host” the long-standing event, but with cases of COVID-19 in and around Summit County continuing to increase, organizers could not feasibly do so.

The decision came in stages, Hind said. By Sept. 25 it was clear to the club that the ski swap, typically held in early November, could not take place in a “business-as-usual” manner. The event is typically held indoors at the Basin Recreation Fieldhouse and draws huge crowds of people in search of deals on used ski and snowboard equipment over a period of several days. Proceeds from the swap are used to support programs, pay coach salaries and cover operating costs.

“Our team then quickly began to research other formats — outdoor, farmer’s market-style — and technologies such as a digital reservation system to manage crowds that could allow PCSS to hold some type of swap,” she said.

As organizers looked at different options over the past two weeks, Hind said they watched the coronavirus case count continue to rise.

“The swap draws attendees from across and beyond our community, and public health data is clearly showing surging positive cases in both Summit County and throughout the state,” Hind said. “The question we kept asking ourselves was, ‘Is it responsible to hold a mass gathering with attendees coming from communities where COVID case growth is so significant that it garners national attention?’”

The answer to that question was “no.”

“We ultimately decided that there was no responsible or safe way to hold the swap, and PCSS made the decision to cancel the event,” she said.

Hind said organizers had been monitoring the COVID-19 situation in and around Summit County for the past several months, knowing it would determine whether they could hold the ski swap. While the decision to cancel the club’s biggest and most visible fundraiser has financial ramifications, Hind said, “some things are more important than money.”

“We had to put the safety of our staff, volunteers and attendees above all other priorities, and PCSS recognizes it is the right decision for this year,” she said. “The Park City Ski Swap and Sale is a beloved community event, and we are proud that it has grown into one of the largest swaps in the nation, (and while we wish) we could’ve found a solution, there simply was not a way for us to safely manage such a large gathering this November.”

As of right now, Hind said there is no alternative event being planned. To hold the ski swap online would be challenging and cost-prohibitive given Park City Ski & Snowboard would have only a month to put it together. For now, eager skiers and snowboarders will have to look elsewhere to stock up on gear before the winter.

“We are proud of the swap we’ve run so successfully for the last 47 years and can’t wait to host it again once crowds can safely gather,” Hind said. “Like so many things in 2020, the Park City Ski Swap and Sale is taking a pause this year and we will be back again to host this community event.”

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In the spirit of competition — and since there isn’t yet any snow to slide around on — Park City Ski and Snowboard will play host in the coming weeks to a four-part running series and a truly one-of-a-kind bike race.

On select Friday evenings beginning Sept. 25, PCSS will host the Fall Trail Running Race Series. On Sept. 25 and Oct. 2, 9 and 23, participants will race along trails at Utah Olympic Park, with overall top finishers eligible for cash prizes. The cost to participate is $45 per race or $175 for the series, and the races are as follows:

• Sept. 25: Iron Bill to Lower Moose Puddle (4 miles, 800 feet of elevation gain)

• Oct. 2: Yeti’s to Moose Puddle (7 miles, 1,300 feet)

• Oct. 9: Lower Moose Puddle to Iron Bill (4 miles, 800 feet)

• Oct. 23: K120 Climb, 60-minute Crit (480 feet elevation gain per lap)

“These trails provide a wide range in gradient and technical challenge,” said Adam Loomis, head coach of ski jumping and Nordic combined programs. “From the smooth contours of Yeti’s to the rocky switchbacks of Iron Bill.”

The K120 climb, the finale of the series, involves climbing the largest ski jump at the park as many times as possible in one hour, or in other words, multiple Red Bull 400s.

Perhaps even more novel than the trail series is Bike The Bob, a two-part bike race that for qualifiers means the opportunity to race the Utah Olympic Park’s bobsled track. Racers must qualify in a time-trial race up the Utah Olympic Park “Bobsled Road” to determine which participants will advance to the bobsled track race. Racers can ride either a road, MTB, CX, or gravel bike, and the 50 men and 50 women with the fastest times across four age groups (16-18, 19-39, 40-49, 50-plus) will move on. Registration is $45, but those who just want to experience riding up the bobsled track without having to qualify can purchase a $250 VIP pass to do so.

All proceeds from the trail series and Bike the Bob will be used to support PCSS youth programs.

Loomis said PCSS began brainstorming ideas for smaller-scale events this summer, after the cancellation of the Red Bull 400 due to concerns around the spread of COVID-19. Loomis said the group included himself and fellow Nordic and jumping coaches Emma Garrard, Gordon Lange and Alan Alborn, as well as Director of Operations Katie Koemans and Executive Director Christie Hind.

While Bike The Bob may seem novel, this won’t actually be the first time the UOP bobsled track has been used in this way. Years ago, before USA Cycling took over as the national governing body overseeing cycling, there was the National Off Road Bicycle Association.

“Back then, NORBA organized mountain bike races up the bobsled.” Loomis said. “It was part of a ‘King of the Mountains’ overall competition which was reportedly a big hit. But this was a long time ago.”

As they brainstormed ideas for events to serve as fundraisers, the old NORBA races came up. Loomis credits Alborn, a former Olympic ski jumper, with the idea to revive it. First, though, they had to be sure it was still viable.

“To test it out, we sent one of the Nordic combined athletes up the track on his bike,” Loomis said. “He came back excited with the good news that it’s totally doable and a blast to ride up the bobsled track.”

Prizes will be awarded at each race in the trail series, though Loomis wouldn’t say what they are, just that PCSS is excited to show people what they have in store for them on race days. The fastest racers will be given gifts from Suunto and Jaybird, and the top three male and female finishers in the series will receive cash purses.

For Bike the Bob, prizes will be awarded across the four age categories for each gender.

“Given the cancellation of other events this year, these are a key aspect of PCSS’s fall fundraising,” Loomis said. “We’re fortunate to have a very supportive community in the Park City area, and we’re excited about this opportunity to pair fundraising and fun racing.”

Loomis said those who wish to participate should register as soon as possible, as the trail series and bike race are capped at 150 and 410 participants, respectively. Additionally, there will only be 50 VIP passes made available.

To register, visit parkcityss.org.

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