Park City Vacation Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Park City skiing’

What makes a classic ski town? According to the editors at National Geographic, it starts with skiing and snowboarding so good they attract people like youth-bestowing fountains. Then add an inviting mountain burg steeped in ski heritage, amenities and culture.

Those editors recently selected the world’s 25 best ski towns - a list that included Park City, Utah.

Home to the United States’ National Ski Team, Park City was cited for its three outstanding ski resorts andUtah’s feathery, desert-dry powder snow. One of the premiere ski towns in America, the 19^th century mining town has since established itself as a tourism boomtown, with a historic Main Street and a lineup of high-end restaurants, boutiques and art galleries. National Geographic also listed Park City for its vibrant and sophisticated bar scene and the annual Sundance Film Festival.

Just 45 minutes from the Salt Lake City airport, Park City also offers convenient and free bus service from the airport to the ski slopes.

The Park City listing offered this to say about the area’s three major ski destinations, each of which features more than 100 runs, ample high-speed lifts and nearly 3,000 feet of base-to-summit vertical skiing:

Park City Mountain Resort is the “right there” option, with access from town, four terrain parks for snowboarders and freestylers, night skiing, a cutting-edge ski school, and remarkably well-rounded terrain, from gentle beginner runs to powder-filled bowls.

Deer Valley, only one mile away, is unapologetically up-market. Its skier numbers are capped, grooming is scrupulous, on-mountain restaurants are gourmet, and snowboards are not allowed.

The Canyons, four miles from town, is the ever-expanding upstart that has quickly grown to become the largest ski area in Utah.

In addition to Park City, other Top 25 ski towns worldwide included Girdwood, Alaska; Fernie, British Columbia; Zermatt, Switzerland; Chamonix, France; Crested Butte, Colorado; Aspen, Colorado; Niseko, Japan; Kitzbuhel, Austria; Bend, Oregon; Mont Tremblant, Quebec; Taos, New Mexico; Truckee, California; Whistler, British Columbia; North Conway, New Hampshire; Banff, Canada; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Telluride, Colorado; Jackson, Wyoming; Wanaka, New Zealand; Stowe, Vermont; Ketchum, Idaho; Whitefish, Montana; Bozeman, Montana; Cortina, Italy.

For information on discount accommodations in Park City, including Westgate Park City Resort & Spa, visit http://www.westgatereservations.com/. Westgate Park City Resort & Spa was recently named for having the Best Timeshare Unit in North America by Perspective Magazine.

Thanks in part to having the “greatest snow on earth,” Park City, Utah played host to some of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Now the area is preparing to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of those Games with a number of special events and activities scheduled in February.

With its beautiful, world class ski slopes, Park City was selected as the primary site for the Olympic alpine events during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games. Now a decade later, that Olympic legacy still burns brightly and February will see three Olympic-sport competitions playing out on those same snow covered slopes.

It all starts Feb. 1 along Park City’s beautiful and historic Main Street with a kick off the celebration and a free concert by Robert Randolph and the Family Band plus other Olympic-related events on February 1.

Pre-concert activities will include a Torch Relay, a video board featuring 2002 Olympic highlight videos, and introductions of past Olympians, current Olympic hopefuls and other athletes. The official Olympic mascots - Coal, Copper and Powder - will also be on hand for photo opportunities. Olympics fans can also trade Olympic pins and memorabilia, attend Olympic athlete autograph sessions and enjoy various Olympic displays and exhibits.

The Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation has collaborated with a number of Olympic venues and host cities to schedule Olympic-sport competitions and a variety of Olympic-related activities throughout the month of February 2012.

Olympic sport competitions include:

• Freestyle World Cup at Deer Valley Resort (Feb 1-4)
• FIBT Skeleton Intercontinental Cup at Utah Olympic Park (Feb 6-11)
• US Snowboarding & Freeskiing Grand Prix at Canyons (Feb 9-12)