Utah Mountain Resort Improvements 2003-04

Skiing in Utah Credit: Lee Cohen / Ski Utah

DEER VALLEY RESORT: Deer Valley has invested $6 million in improvements for the 2003-04 winter ski season including a major expansion of the Resort’s Snow Park Lodge including additional space for the Rental Shop, Children’s Center, and Signatures store. Space for a new sundries shop has also been added. Empire Canyon Lodge will feature Fireside Dining every Thursday evening during the winter season. Guests will be treated to three courses, all served from the grand fireplaces, including: Raclette with all the trimmings; veal and wild mushroom stew, beef bourguignone or vegetarian stew served with a field green salad; and chocolate and caramel fondues for dessert. Additional glade skiing was added in the Empire Canyon mountain area and the Resort added six snowguns and replaced four existing snowcats and 12 existing snowmobiles. Snowmaking capacity was also expanded in the Empire Canyon area.

PARK CITY MOUNTAIN RESORT: Park City Mountain Resort celebrates its 40th anniversary during the 2003-04 season. This historic milestone will be documented with a commemorative book produced by Mountain Sports Press, the book publishing arm of SKI and SKIING magazines, and written by long-time Park City local, Larry Warren. New improvements for the upcoming anniversary season include the addition of a 5,000 square-foot deck to the Summit House Restaurant, offering natural warmth and spectacular views. In an effort to continually enhance their terrain the Resort purchased additional grooming machines, including a winch cat to groom steep black diamond runs like Double Jack. The Resort’s new Super Dragon will continue to cut the Olympic-quality Eagle Superpipe, where history was made when Americans swept the 2002 Olympic men’s halfpipe competition. Additional Fast Tracks access gates have been installed allowing special access to express lanes at the Resort’s most popular lifts for Fast Tracks access pass holders.

SNOWBASIN RESORT: Snowbasin will be operating a new terrain park this season, with separate areas provided for beginner/intermediate and advanced skiers/riders. Each of the two areas provides rails, table tops and jumps of various sizes and models.

SNOWBIRD SKI AND SUMMER RESORT: Snowbird’s snowmaking department used the summer to expand the resort’s snowmaking capacity to include the Regulator Johnson run on the upper mountain. The resort’s terrain parks went through a major expansion during the 2002-03 season, and it’s not over yet. Plans for The Baby Thunder Terrain Park for the season call for the addition of more features. The intermediate terrain park on Big Emma will expand with the addition of more rails, a mailbox, tabletops and jumps. To enable an earlier opening of the halfpipe and intermediate terrain park, the halfpipe was constructed of dirt. Snow permitting, the Big Emma Terrain Park and nearby halfpipe will open by late December. In conjunction with Utah’s Backcountry Awareness Week, Snowbird will host the first annual Backcountry Weekend Jan. 23-25, 2004. A fundraising dinner with a silent auction and backcountry presentation begins the weekend at Snowbird, and two days of classes, demonstrations and entertainment follow. Class topics include snow pack prediction, backcountry access points, equipment information and backcountry preparation. The resort has added a Kids’ Freeride camp to its Mountain School camps, providing kids the opportunity to improve their big mountain riding and sharpen their skills in the more technical park and pipe. Half of the camp is devoted to mountain riding and the other half to park and pipe. The camp features a night spent eating pizza, watching a movie, and discussing new gear with a high profile skier or rider. Lunch is included every day, and an avalanche presentation and video sessions are also scheduled. Youth ages 10-17 are invited to participate in the camp, which runs Feb. 18-20, 2004. A new handle tow has been installed on Snowbird’s Big Emma run. The handle tow will expand Snowbird’s beginner terrain and enable skiers and riders in the early stages of the sport to enjoy more of Snowbird’s 2,500 skiable acres.

«Previous Page · 1 2 3 · Next Page»