Podcasts about utah olympic park

Park City officials finalize golf course fees and add 5-play punch pass, Summit Community Gardens readies as growing season approaches, Park City School District athletics master plan faces layout and turf setbacks, Utah Olympic Park's Kole Nordmann shares details on summer season activities, Karl Hunt from the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands discusses the state's wildfire season preparations, Park City Mayor Nann Worel recaps Thursday's council meeting, Lawyer Janet Conway explains West Hills incorporation lawsuit and Recycle Utah's future remains uncertain after September 2026 eviction date.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 23. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 30. To receive future episodes as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:What is this?Every autumn, ski associations and most of the large pass coalitions host media events in New York City. They do this because a) NYC is the media capital of the world; b) the city is a lot of fun; and, c) sometimes mountain folks like something different too, just like us city folks (meaning me), like to get to the mountains as much as possible. But I spend all winter traveling the country in search of ski areas of all sizes and varieties. This is the one time of year skiing comes to me. And it's pretty cool.One of the associations that consistently hosts an NYC event is Ski Utah. This year, they set up at the Arlo Soho, a chic Manhattan hotel. Longtime President Nathan Rafferty asked if I would be interested in setting up an interview station, talking to resort reps, and stringing them together into a podcast. It was a terrific idea, so here you go.Who* Nathan Rafferty, President of Ski Utah* Sara Huey, Senior Manager of Communications at Park City Mountain Resort* Sarah Sherman, Communications Manager at Snowbird* Nick Como, VP of Marketing at Sundance* Rosie O'Grady, President and Innkeeper of Alta Lodge* Jessica Turner, PR Manager for Go Heber Valley* Taylor Hartman, Director of Marketing and Communications at Visit Ogden* Brooks Rowe, Brand Manager at Snowbasin* Riley Elliott, Communications Specialist at Deer Valley* Andria Huskinson, Communications and PR Manager at Solitude* Anna Loughridge, PR Manager for Visit Utah* Courtney Ryan, Communications Manager for Visit Park City* Ryan Mack, VP of Communications for Visit Salt LakeRecorded onOctober 3, 2024About Ski UtahMost large ski states have a statewide trade group that represents its ski areas' interests. One of the best of these is Ski Utah, which is armed with a large staff, a generous budget, and some pretty good freaking skiing to promote (Buckskin, Utah Olympic Park, and Wasatch Peaks Ranch are not members of Ski Utah):What we talked aboutSKI UTAHTopicsWhy NYC; the Olympics return to Utah; why the state is such a great place to host the games (besides, you know, the awesome skiing); where we could potentially see future ski area development in Utah; Pow Mow's shift toward public-private hybrid; Deer Valley's expansion and ongoing snowboard ban; and the proposed LCC Gondola – “Little Cottonwood Canyon is not a great place for rubber-wheeled vehicles.”On Utah skier visits and population growth over timeOn chairlifts planned in Utah over the next three yearsUtah is on a chairlift-building binge, with the majority slated for Deer Valley's massive expansion (11) and Powder Mountain (4 this year; 1 in 2025). But Snowbird (Wilbere quad), Park City (Sunrise Gondola), and Snowbasin (Becker high-speed quad) are also scheduled to install new machines this year or next. The private Wasatch Peaks Ranch will also add two lifts (a gondola and a high-speed quad) this year. And Sundance is likely to install what resort officials refer to as the “Flathead lift” some time within the next two years. The best place to track scheduled lift installations is Lift Blog's new lifts databases for 2024, 2025, and 2026.On expansion potential at Brian Head and Nordic ValleyUtah's two largest expansion opportunities are at Brian Head and Nordic Valley, both operated by Mountain Capital Partners. Here's Brian Head today:The masterplan could blow out the borders - the existing ski area is in the lower-right-hand corner:And here's Nordic Valley:And the masterplan, which could supersize the ski area to 3,000-ish acres. The small green blob represents part of the existing ski area, though this plan predates the six-pack installation in 2020:PARK CITY MOUNTAIN RESORTStats: 3,226 vertical feet | 7,300 skiable acres | 355 inches average annual snowfallTopicsSnowmaking upgrades; the forthcoming Sunrise Gondola on the Canyons side; why this gondola didn't face the opposition that Park City's last lift upgrades did; Olympic buzz in Park City; and which events PCMR could host in the 2034 Olympics.On the Great Lift Shutdown of 2022Long story short: Vail tried to upgrade two lifts in Park City a couple of years ago. Locals got mad. The lifts went to Whistler. Here's the longer version:More Park City Mountain ResortSNOWBIRDStats: 3,240 vertical feet | 2,500 skiable acres | 500 inches average annual snowfallTopicsThe new Wilbere lift; why Snowbird shifted the chairlift line; the upside of abandoning the old liftline; riding on top of the new tram; and more LCC gondola talk.On the new Wilbere lift alignmentHere's where the new Wilbere lift sits (right) in comparison to the old lift (left):On inter-lodgeIf you happen to be at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon when avalanche danger spikes, you may be subject to something called “inter-lodge.” Which means you stay in whatever building you're in, with no option to leave. It's scary and thrilling all at once.Inter-lodge can last anywhere from under an hour to several days.On the LCC gondola and phase-in planAnother long story short: UDOT wants to build a gondola up Little Cottonwood Canyon. A lot of people would prefer to spend four hours driving seven miles to the ski areas. Here's a summary of UDOT's chosen configuration:As multiple lawsuits seeking to shut the project down work through the courts, UDOT has outlined a phased traffic-mitigation approach:More SnowbirdSUNDANCE Stats: 2,150 vertical feet | 450 skiable acres | 300 inches average annual snowfallTopicsThe importance of NYC to the wider skiing world; how the Wildwood terrain helped evolve Sundance; Epkon refugees headed south; parking improvements; options for the coming Flathead terrain expansion; and potential lift switcheroos. More SundanceSundance's new owners have been rapidly modernizing this once-dusty ski area, replacing most of the lifts, expanding terrain, and adding parking. I talked through the grand arc of these changes with the mountain's GM, Chad Linebaugh, a couple of years ago:ALTA LODGEAlta stats: 3,240 vertical feet | 2,500 skiable acres | 500 inches average annual snowfallTopics65 years of Levitt family ownership; Alta's five lodges; inter-lodge; how Alta has kept its old-school spirit even as it's modernized; and an upcoming women's ski event. On Alta's lift evolutionIt wasn't so long ago that Alta was known for its pokey lift fleet. As recently as the late ‘90s, the mountain was a chutes-and-ladders powder playground:Bit by bit, Alta consolidated and updated its antique lift fleet, beginning with the Sugarloaf high-speed quad in 2001. The two-stage Collins high-speed quad arrived three years later, replacing the legacy Collins double and Germania triple lines. The Supreme high-speed quad similarly displaced the old Supreme triple and Cecret double in 2017, and the Sunnyside sixer replaced the Albion double and Sunnyside high-speed triple in 2022. As of 2024, the only clunker left, aside from the short hotel lifts and the long transfer tow, is the Wildcat double.GO HEBER VALLEYTopicsWhy Heber Valley makes sense as a place to crash on a ski trip; walkable sections of Heber; ease of access to Deer Valley; and elevation.VISIT OGDENConsidering “untamed and untouched” Ogden as ski town; “it's like skiing in 2005”; Pow Mow, Snowbasin; accessing the mountains from Ogden; Pow Mow's partial privatization; art on the mountain; and Nordic Valley as locals' bump.  On Powder Mountain size claimsPow Mow has long claimed 8,000-ish acres of terrain, which would make it the largest ski area in the United States. I typically only count lift-served skiable acreage, however, bringing the mountain down to a more average-for-the-Wasatch 3,000-ish acres. A new lift in Wolf Canyon next year will add another 900 lift-served acres (shaded with stripes on the right-hand side below).On Nordic Valley's fire and the broken Apollo liftLast December, Nordic Valley's Apollo chairlift, a 1970 Hall double, fell over dead, isolating the mountain's glorious expansion from the base area. The next month, a fire chewed up the baselodge, a historic haybarn left over from the property's ranching days. Owner MCP renovated the chairlift over the summer, but Nordic will operate out of “temporary structures,” GM Pascal Begin told KSL.com in June, until they can build a new baselodge, which could be 2026 or '27.SNOWBASINStats: 3,015 vertical feet | 3,000 skiable acres | 300 inches average annual snowfallTopicsBreaking down the coming Becker lift upgrade; why Becker before Porcupine; last year's DeMoisy six-pack installation; where is everyone?; where to ski at Snowbasin; the 2034 Olympics plan; when will on-mountain lodging arrive?; and RFID.More SnowbasinDEER VALLEYStats: 3,040 vertical feet | 2,342 skiable acres | 300 inches average annual snowfallTopicsMassive expansion; avoiding Park City; and snowmaking in the Wasatch Back.On Expanded ExcellenceDeer Valley's expansion plans are insane. Here's a summary:More Deer ValleySOLITUDEStats: 2,030 vertical feet | 1,200 skiable acres | 500 inches average annual snowfallTopicsAlterra; Big versus Little Cottonwood Canyons; and Alta.More SolitudeVISIT UTAHTopicsWatching the state's population explode; the Olympics; comparing 2002 to 2034; RIP three percent beer; potential infrastructure upgrades to prepare for the Olympics; and SLC airport upgrades.VISIT PARK CITYTopicsPark City 101; Main Street; the National Ability Center; mining history everywhere; Deer Valley's trail names; Silver to Slopes at Park City; Deer Valley's East Village; public transit evolution; Park City Mountain Resort lift drama; paid parking; and why “you don't need a car” in Park City.On Silver to SlopesThe twice-daily guided ski tour of on-mountain mining relics that we discuss on the podcast is free. Details here.On Park City and Deer Valley's shared borderPark City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley share a border, but you are forbidden to cross it, on penalty of death.* Alta and Snowbird share a crossable border, as do Solitude and Brighton. All four have different operators. I'm not sure why PCMR and Deer Valley can't figure this one out.*This is not true.^^Though actually it might be true.VISIT SALT LAKETopicsThe easiest ski access in the world; why stay in SLC during a ski trip; walkable downtown; free transit; accessing the ski areas without a car; Olympic buzz; and Olympic events outside of the ski areas.What I got wrong* I said that former mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to bring the Olympics to NYC “around 2005 or 2006.” The city's bid was for the 2012 Summer Olympics (ultimately held in London). I also said that local opposition shut down the bid, but I confused that with the proposed stadium on what is now Manhattan's Hudson Yards development.* I said you had to drive through Park City to access Deer Valley, but the ski area has long maintained a small parking lot at the base of the Jordanelle Gondola off of US 40.The robots aren't readyEveryone keeps telling me that the robots will eat our souls, but every time I try to use them, they botch something that no human would ever miss. In this case, I tried using my editing program's AI to chop out the dead space and “ums,” and proceeded to lose bits of the conversation that in some cases confuse the narrative. So it sounds a little choppy in places. You can blame the robots. Or me for not re-doing the edit once I figured out what was happening.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 78/100 in 2024, and number 578 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

This past weekend, Jill and Producer Ben found herself in Salt Lake City for a few days, which gave her the opportunity to visit some of the Salt Lake City 2002 venues to see how the legacy of those Games continues on. In this episode, hear what it's like at Utah Olympic Park, home of the 2002 ski jumping, Nordic combined and sliding competitions. Currently, the park is a training and competition site, with a learn to ski program for kids. It also has a number of additional activities, including summer and winter bobsled rides, guided tours, zip lines, and trails for mountain biking. The facility also houses the Alf Engen Ski Museum and Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum. Hear whether the museums and tour are worth the price of admission, as well as what it's like at the Olympic & Paralympic Plaza. And a side note, an NHL hockey team just came to town, making a winter sports town even more winter sports happy. Also on this episode, Milan-Cortina 2026 has released its ticket prices, and the teams for the men's ice hockey tournament are set--pending a decision on whether the International Ice Hockey Federation will allow Russia to compete. Plus we have news from TKFLASTANIs Grace Norman, Katie Moon, Monica Quimby, and Listener Dan. For a transcript of this episode, please visit http://flamealivepod.com. To get exclusive content about Jill's trip to Salt Lake City, become a patron today!  Thanks so much for listening, and until next time, keep the flame alive!   *** Keep the Flame Alive: The Olympics and Paralympics Fan Podcast with hosts Jill Jaracz & Alison Brown. New episodes released every week and daily during the Olympics and Paralympics. Also look for our monthly Games History Moment episodes in your feed.   Support the show: http://flamealivepod.com/support Bookshop.org store: https://bookshop.org/shop/flamealivepod   Hang out with us online: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flamealivepod Insta: http://www.instagram.com/flamealivepod Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/flamealivepod Facebook Group: hhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/flamealivepod Newsletter: Sign up at https://mailchi.mp/ee507102fbf7/flamealivepod VM/Text: (208) FLAME-IT / (208) 352-6348      

It's now official! The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are returning to Utah in 2034. The International Olympic Committee made the call on July 24. In this episode of Last Chair, we'll explore the games to come looking at a few venues outside of the traditional skiing and snowboarding realm.With all of the 2002 Olympic venues still in place and operating, the 2034 edition will require no permanent venue construction. The IOC welcomed this sustainable approach. In 2034, around a dozen venues will be used—all within an hour's drive of the Athlete Village on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City.The caretaker of many of the venues is the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. President and CEO Colin Hilton talks about the Utah Olympic Park, with its bobsled, skeleton, and luge sliding track, as well as the towering ski jumps. Hilton also oversaw the assembling of all venues for the 2034 bid and will give an overview of what we can expect.One of the most popular Olympic sports today is biathlon – an unusual combination of cross country skiing and marksmanship. Utah native Vincent Bonacci, a member of the U.S. Biathlon Team, will talk about the sport, its uniqueness and why the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center is such a vital venue.We'll then head to the sliding track at the Utah Olympic Park – known as one of the fastest in the world. Utah native Kaysha Love will talk about how she went from a top-tier high school and collegiate sprinter to becoming one of the best bobsledders in the world in just a few years.Finally, we'll talk about winning Olympic gold with 500m long-track speedskating star Erin Jackson. A Florida native, Jackson talks about her transition from inline skating to ice, tells the story about her improbable journey to Beijing to win gold, and relates (with a smile) her weekend ski experience at Deer Valley Resort.

It's now official! The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are returning to Utah in 2034. The International Olympic Committee made the call on July 24. In this episode of Last Chair, we'll explore the games to come looking at a few venues outside of the traditional skiing and snowboarding realm.With all of the 2002 Olympic venues still in place and operating, the 2034 edition will require no permanent venue construction. The IOC welcomed this sustainable approach. In 2034, around a dozen venues will be used—all within an hour's drive of the Athlete Village on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City.The caretaker of many of the venues is the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation. President and CEO Colin Hilton talks about the Utah Olympic Park, with its bobsled, skeleton, and luge sliding track, as well as the towering ski jumps. Hilton also oversaw the assembling of all venues for the 2034 bid and will give an overview of what we can expect.One of the most popular Olympic sports today is biathlon – an unusual combination of cross country skiing and marksmanship. Utah native Vincent Bonacci, a member of the U.S. Biathlon Team, will talk about the sport, its uniqueness and why the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center is such a vital venue.We'll then head to the sliding track at the Utah Olympic Park – known as one of the fastest in the world. Utah native Kaysha Love will talk about how she went from a top-tier high school and collegiate sprinter to becoming one of the best bobsledders in the world in just a few years.Finally, we'll talk about winning Olympic gold with 500m long-track speedskating star Erin Jackson. A Florida native, Jackson talks about her transition from inline skating to ice, tells the story about her improbable journey to Beijing to win gold, and relates (with a smile) her weekend ski experience at Deer Valley Resort.

Egyptian Theatre not on venue list for 2025 Sundance Film Festival, global tech outage delays travelers at Salt Lake City International Airport, Summit Mosquito Abatement District tells us what's buzzing around, Parkites share favorite memories of Tina Lewis at celebration of life, Park City Extreme Cup soccer tournament expected to bring large crowds to Wasatch Back, Gov. Cox outlines Olympic priorities if Utah awarded 2034 Game, how to ''Celebrate 2034!'' at the Utah Olympic Park, Sundance offering first-ever early ticket sale for January festival, Deepak Chopra, Midway leaders share holistic wellness focus at Ameyalli groundbreaking, Camp Roger celebrates 75 years in the Uintas and a Park City teen joins youth delegation to represent Utah at French Festival 24 de Sport.

President of the Salt Lake City Utah Committee for the Games... Fraser Bullock joins us to discuss the Salt Lake City-Committee for the Olympic Games welcoming representatives from France... to Utah Olympic Park today. 

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 2. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 9. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoDeirdra Walsh, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Park City, UtahRecorded onOctober 18, 2023About Park CityClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Vail ResortsLocated in: Park City, UtahYear founded: 1963Pass affiliations:* Epic Pass: unlimited* Epic Local Pass: unlimited with holiday blackouts* Tahoe Local: five non-holiday days combined with Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Keystone* Epic Day Pass: access with All Resorts tierClosest neighboring ski areas: Deer Valley (:04), Utah Olympic Park (:09), Woodward Park City (:11), Snowbird (:50), Alta (:55), Solitude (1:00), Brighton (1:08) – or just ski between them all; travel times vary massively pending weather, traffic, and time of yearBase elevation: 6,800 feetSummit elevation: 9,998 feet at the top of Jupiter (can hike to 10,026 on Jupiter Peak)Vertical drop: 3,226 feetSkiable Acres: 7,300 acresAverage annual snowfall: 355 inchesTrail count: 330+ (50% advanced/expert, 42% intermediate, 8% beginner)Lift count: 41 (2 eight-passenger gondolas, 1 pulse gondola, 1 cabriolet, 6 high-speed six-packs, 10 high-speed quads, 5 fixed-grip quads, 7 triples, 4 doubles, 3 carpets, 2 ropetows – view Lift Blog's inventory of Park City's lift fleet)View historic Park City trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed herAn unfortunate requirement of this job is concocting differentiated verbiage to describe a snowy hill equipped with chairlifts. Most often, I revert to the three standbys: ski area, mountain, and resort/ski resort. I use them interchangeably, as one may use couch/sofa or dinner/supper (for several decades, I thought oven/stove to be a similar pairing; imagine my surprise to discover that these words described two separate parts of one familiar machine). But that is problematic, of course, because while every enterprise that I describe is some sort of ski area, only around half of them are anywhere near an actual mountain. And an even smaller percentage of those are resorts. Still, I swap the trio around like T-shirts in the world's smallest wardrobe, hoping my readers value the absence of repetition more than they resent the mental gymnastics required to consider 210-vertical-foot Snow Snake, Michigan a “ski resort.”But these equivalencies introduce a problem when I get to Park City. At 7,300 acres, Park City sprawls over 37 percent more terrain than Vail Mountain, Vail Resorts' second-largest U.S. ski area, and the fourth-biggest in the nation overall. To call this a “ski area” seems inadequate, like describing an aircraft carrier as a “boat.” Even “mountain” feels insubstantial, as Park City's forty-some-odd lifts shoots-and-ladder their way over at least a dozen separate summits. “Ski resort” comes closest to capturing the grandeur of the whole operation, but even that undersells the experience, given that the ski runs are directly knotted to the town below them – a town that is a ski town but is also so much more.In recent years, “megaresort” has settled into the ski lexicon, usually as a pejorative describing a thing to be avoided, a tourist magnet that has swapped its soul for a Disney-esque welcome mat. “Your estimated wait time to board the Ultimate Super Summit Interactive 4D 8K Turbo Gondola is [one hour and 45 minutes]”. The “megas,” freighted with the existential burden of Epic and Ikon flagships, carry just a bit too much cruise ship mass-escapism and Cheesecake Factory illusions of luxe to truly capture that remote wilderness fantasy that is at least half the point of skiing. Right?Not really. Not any more than Times Square captures the essence of New York City or the security lines outside the ballpark distill the experience of consuming live sports. Yes, this is part of it, like the gondola lines winding back to the interstate are part of peak-day Park City. Those, along with the Epic Pass or the (up to) $299 lift ticket, are the cost of admission. But get through the gates, and a sprawling kingdom awaits.I don't know how many people ski Park City on a busy day. Let's call it 20,000. The vast majority of them are going to spend the vast majority of their day lapping the groomers, which occupy a small fraction of Park City's endless varied terrain. With its cascading hillocks, its limitless pitch-perfect glades, its lifts shooting every which way like hammered-together contraptions in some snowy realm of silver-miners - their century-old buildings and conveyor belts rising still off the mountain – Park City delivers a singular ski experience. Call it a “mountain,” a “ski area,” a “ski resort,” or a “megaresort” – all are accurate but also inadequate. Park City, in the lexicon of American skiing, stands alone.What we talked aboutPark City's deep 2022-23 winter; closing on May 1; skiing Missouri; Lake Tahoe; how America's largest ski area runs as a logistical and cultural unit; living through the Powdr-to-Vail ownership transition; the awesome realization that Park City and Canyons were one; Vail's deliberate culture of women's empowerment; the history and purpose of those giant industrial structures dotting Park City ski area; how you can tour them; the novel relationship between the ski area and the town at its base; Park City's Olympic legacy; thoughts on future potential Winter Olympic Games in Utah and at Park City; why a six-pack and an eight-pack chairlift scheduled for installation at Park City last year never happened; where those lifts went instead; whether those upgrades could ever happen; the incoming Sunrise Gondola; the logic of the Over And Out lift; Red Pine Gondola improvements; why the Jupiter double is unlikely to be upgraded anytime soon; Town Lift; reflecting on year one of paid parking; and the massive new employee housing development at Canyons.      Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewIf only The Storm had existed in 2014. Because wouldn't that have been fun? Hostile takeovers are rare in skiing. You normally can't give a ski area (sorry, a super-megaresort) away. Vail taking this one off Powdr's lunch tray is kind of amazing, kind of sad, kind of disturbing, and kind scary. Like, did that really happen? It did, so onward we go.Walsh, as it happened, worked at Park City at the time, though in a much different role, so we talked about what is was like to live through the transition. But two other events shape our modern perception of Park City: The Olympics and The Lifts.The Olympics, of course, came to Park City in 2002. On this podcast a few weeks back, Snowbird General Manager Dave Fields outlined the dramatic changes the Games wrought on Utah skiing. Suddenly, everyone on the planet realized that a half dozen ski resorts that averaged between 300 and 500 inches of snow per winter were lined up 45 minutes from a major international airport on good roads. And they were like, “Wait that's real?” And they all starting coming – annual Utah skier visits have more than doubled since the Olympics, from around 3 million in winter 2001-02 to more than 7 million in last year's amazing ski season. Which is cool. But the Olympics are (probably) coming back to Salt Lake, in 2030 or 2034, and Park City will likely be a part of them again. So we talk about that.The Lifts refers to this story that I covered last October:Last September, Vail Resorts announced what was likely the largest set of single-season lift upgrades in the history of the world: $315-plus million on 19 lifts (later increased to 21 lifts) across 14 ski areas. Two of those lifts would land in Park City: a D-line eight-pack would replace the Silverlode six, and a six-pack would replace the Eagle and Eaglet triples. Two more lifts in a town with 62 of them (Park City sits right next door to Deer Valley). Surely this would be another routine project for the world's largest ski area operator.It wasn't. In June, four local residents – Clive Bush, Angela Moschetta, Deborah Rentfrow, and Mark Stemler – successfully appealed the Park City Planning Commission's previous approval of the lift projects.“The upgrades were appealed on the basis that the proposed eight-place and six-place chairs were not consistent with the 1998 development agreement that governs the resort,” SAM wrote at the time. “The planning commission also cited the need for a more thorough review of the resort's comfortable carrying capacity calculations and parking mitigation plan, finding PCM's proposed paid parking plan at the Mountain Village insufficient.”So instead of rising on the mountain, the lifts spent the summer, in pieces, in the parking lot. Vail admitted defeat, at least temporarily. “We are considering our options and next steps based on today's disappointing decision—but one thing is clear—we will not be able to move forward with these two lift upgrades for the 22-23 winter season,” Park City Mountain Resort Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Deirdra Walsh said in response to the decision.One of the options Vail apparently considered was trucking the lifts to friendlier locales. Last Wednesday, as part of its year-end earnings release, Vail announced that the two lifts would be moved to Whistler and installed in time for the 2023-24 ski season. The eight-pack will replace the 1,129-vertical-foot Fitzsimmons high-speed quad on Whistler, giving the mountain 18 seats (!) out of the village (the lift runs alongside the 10-passenger Whistler Village Gondola). The six-pack will replace the Jersey Cream high-speed quad on Blackcomb, a midmountain lift with a 1,230-foot vertical rise. These will join the new Big Red six-pack and 10-passenger Creekside Gondola going in this summer on the Whistler side, giving the largest ski area on the continent four new lifts in two years. …Meanwhile, Park City skiers will have to continue riding Silverlode, a sixer dating to 1996, and Eagle, a 1993 Garaventa CTEC triple (the Eaglet lift, unfortunately, is already gone). The vintage of the remaining lifts don't sound particularly creaky, but both were built for a different, pre-Epic Pass Park City, and one that wasn't connected via the Quicksilver Gondola to the Canyons side of the resort. Vail targeted these choke points to improve the mountain's flow. But skiers are stuck with them indefinitely.On paper, Vail remains “committed to resolving our permit to upgrade the Eagle and Silverlode lifts in Park City.” I don't doubt that. But I wonder if the four individuals who chose to choke up this whole process understand the scale of what they just destroyed. Those two lifts, combined, probably cost somewhere around $50 million. Minimum. Maybe the resort will try again. Maybe it won't. Surely Vail can find a lot of places to spend its money with far less friction.All of which I thought was rather hilarious, for a number of reasons. First, stopping an enormous project on procedural grounds for nebulous reasons is the most U.S. American thing ever. Second, the more these sorts of over-the-top stall tactics are wielded for petty purposes (ski areas need to be able to upgrade chairlifts), the more likely we are to lose them, as politicians who never stop bragging about how “business-friendly” Utah is look to streamline these pesky checks and balances. Third, Vail unapologetically yanking those things out of the parking lot and hauling them up to BC was the company's brashest move since it punched Powdr in the face and took its resort away. It was harsh but necessary, a signal that the world keeps moving around the sun even when a small group of nitwits want it to stop on its axis.Questions I wish I'd askedOn Scott's Bowl accessI wanted to ask Walsh about the strange fact that Scott's Bowl and West Scott's Bowl – two high-alpine sections off Jupiter, suddenly closed in 2018 and stayed shut for four years. This story from the Park Record tells it well enough:Park City Mountain Resort on Tuesday said a high-altitude swath of terrain has reopened more than three years after a closure caused by the inability of the resort and the landowner to reach a lease agreement. …PCMR in December of 2018 indefinitely closed the terrain. The closure also included terrain located between Scott's Bowl and Constellation, a nearby ski run. The resort at the time of the closure said the landowner opted not to renew a lease. There had been an agreement in place for longer than 14 years, PCMR said at the time.A firm called Silver King Mining Company, with origins dating to Park City's silver-mining era, owns the land. The lease and renewals had been struck between the Gallivan family-controlled Silver King Mining Company and Powdr Corp., the former owner of PCMR. A representative of Silver King Mining Company in late 2018 indicated the firm traditionally accepted lift passes as compensation for the use of the land.The lease went to Vail Resorts when it acquired PCMR. The two sides negotiated a one-year extension but were unable at the time to reach a long-term agreement, the Silver King Mining Company side said in late 2018.Land ownership, particularly in the west, can be a wild patchwork. The majority of large western ski areas sit on National Forest Service land, but Park City (and neighboring Deer Valley), do not. While this grants them some developmental advantages over their neighbors in the Cottonwoods, who sit mostly or entirely on public land, it also means that sprawling Park City has more landlords than it would probably like.On Park City Epic Pass accessThis is the first Vail Resorts interview in a while where I haven't asked the question about Epic Pass access. I don't have a high-minded reason for that – I simply ran out of time.On the strange aversion to safety bars among Western U.S. skiersWhen you ski in Europe or, to a lesser-extent, the Northeastern U.S., skiers lower the chairlift safety bar reflexively, and typically before the carrier has exited the loading terminal. While I found this jarring when I first moved to New York from the Midwest – where safety bars remain rare – I quickly adapted, and now find it disconcerting to ride a chair without one.This whole dynamic is flipped in the West, where a sort of tough-guy bravado prevails, and skiers tend to ride with the safety bar aloft as a matter of stubborn pride. Many seem shocked, even offended, when I announce that I'm lowering it (and I always announce it, and bring it down slowly). Perhaps they are afraid their friends will see them riding with a lame tourist. It's all a bit tedious and stupid. I've had a few incidents where I've passed out for mysterious reasons. If that happens on a chairlift, I'd rather not die before I regain consciousness. So I like the bar. Vail Resorts, however, mandates that all employees lower the safety bar when in uniform. That doesn't mean they always do it. This past January, a Park City ski patroller died when a tree fell on the Short Cut liftline, flinging him into a snowbank, where he suffocated. Utah Occupational Safety and Health (UOSH) fined the resort a laughably inadequate sum of $2,500 for failing to clear potential hazards around the lift. UOSH's report did not indicate whether the patroller, 29-year-old Christian Helger, had lowered his safety bar, and experts who spoke to Fox 13 in Salt Lake City said that it may not have mattered. “With that type of hit from the weight of that type of a tree with that much snow on it, I don't know that the safety bar would have prevented this incident,” Travis Heggie, a Bowling Green State University professor, told the station.Fair enough. But a man is dead, and understanding the exact circumstances surrounding his death may help prevent another in the future. This is why airplane travel is so safe – regulators consider every factor of every tragedy to engineer similar failures out of future flights. We ought to be doing the same with chairlifts.Chairlifts are, on the whole, very safe to ride. But accidents, when they do happen, can be catastrophic. Miroslava “Mirka” Lewis, a former Stevens Pass employee, recently sued Vail Resorts after a fall from one of Stevens Pass' antique Riblet chairs in January of 2022 left her permanently disabled. From a local paper out of Everett, Washington:The lawsuit claims the ski lift Lewis was operating was designed in the 1960s by Riblet Tramway Company and lacked several safety precautions now considered standard in modern lifts. The lift suspended two chairs from a single pole in the center, with no safety bars or bails on the outside to confine passengers.Lewis suffered a traumatic brain injury, collapsed lung, four fractured vertebrae and other severe injuries, according to the complaint. She required multiple surgeries on her breasts and knees.The plaintiff also reportedly had to relearn how to speak, walk and write due to the severity of her injuries.It is unclear which lift Lewis was riding, but two centerpole Riblets remained at the resort last January: Kehr's and Seventh Heaven. Kehr's has since been removed. Vail Resorts, as a general policy, retrofits all of its chairlifts with safety bars, but these chairs' early-1960s recessed centerpole design is impossible to retrofit. So the lifts remain in their vintage state. It's a bit like buying a '57 Chevy – damn, does that thing look sweet, but if you drive it into a tree, you're kinda screwed without that seatbelt.Vail Resorts, by retrofitting its chairlifts and mandating employee use, has done more than probably any other entity to encourage safety bar use on chairlifts. But the industry, as a whole, could do more. In the east, safety bar use has been normalized by aggressive enforcement from lift crews and ski patrol and, in some cases (Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York), state laws mandating their use. Yet, across the West and the Midwest, hundreds of chairlifts still lack safety bars, let alone enforcement. That, in turn, discourages normalization of their use, and contributes to the blasé and dismissive attitude among western skiers, many of whom view the contraptions as extraneous.Technology can eventually resolve the issue for us – the new Burns high-speed quad at Deer Valley and the new Camelot six-pack at The Highlands in Michigan both drop the bar automatically, and raise it just before unload. But that's two chairlifts, at two very high-end resorts, out of 2,400 or so spinning in America. That technology is too expensive to apply at scale, and will be for the foreseeable future.So what to do? I think it starts with dismantling the tough-guy resistance. There are echoes here of the shift to widespread helmet use. Twenty years ago, almost no one, including me, wore helmets when skiing. I held out for a particularly long time – until 2016. But wearing them is the norm now, even among Western Bro Brahs. As the leader of a major Vail ski area who has watched the resort evolve first-hand, I think Walsh would have some valuable insights here into the roots of bar resistance and how Vail is tackling it, but we just didn't have the time to get into it.What I got wrongI noted that Nadia Guerriero, who appeared on this podcast last year as the VP/COO of Beaver Creek, had “transitioned to a regional leadership role.” That role is senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Resorts' Rockies Region.Park City personnel also provided a few clarifications following our conversation:* When discussing our 2023 closing date and “All the Way to May!” Deirdra said we had already extended our season by a week. In fact, our first extension was for two weeks: from April 9 to April 23. On April 12, we announced an additional eight days.* When discussing how we memorialize our Olympic legacy, Deirdra stated, “We have a mountain in the base area.” That should have been “monument.”* When discussing our lift upgrade permit, Deirdra said, “Our permit was upheld.” This should have been EITHER withheld, OR “The appeal was upheld.”Why you should ski Park CityPark City is a version of something that America needs a lot more of: a walkable community integrated with the ski area above it in a meaningful and seamless way. In Europe, this is the norm. In U.S. America, the exception. Only a few towns give you that experience: Telluride, Aspen, Red River. Park City is worth a visit for that experience alone – of sliding to the street, clicking out of your skis, and walking to the bar. It's novel and unexpected here in the land of King Car, but it feels very natural and right when you do it.The skiing, of course, is outstanding. There's less chest-thumping here than up in the Cottonwoods – less snow, too – but still plenty of steep stuff, plenty of glades, plenty of tucked-away spots where you look around and wonder where everyone went. Zip around off McConkey's or Jupiter or Tombstone or Ninety-Nine 90 or Super Condor and you'll find it. This is not Snowbird-off-the-Cirque stuff, but it's pretty good.But what Park City really is, at its core, is one of the world's great intermediate ski kingdoms. I'm talking here about King Con and Silverlode, the amazing jumble of blues skier's right off Tombstone, Saddleback and Dreamscape and Iron Mountain. You can ride express lifts pretty much everywhere as you skip around the low-angle glory. The mountain does not shoot skyward with the drama of Jackson or Palisades or Snowbird or Aspen. It rises and falls, rolls on forever, gifting you, off each summit, another peak to ride to.Before Vail bought it and stapled the resort together with the Canyons, no one talked about Park City in such epic – no pun intended – terms. It was just another of dozens of very good western ski areas. But that combination with its neighbor created something vast and otherworldly, six-and-a-half miles end-to-end, a scale that cannot be appreciated in any way other than to go ski it.Podcast NotesOn Vail's target opening and closing datesIn previous seasons, Vail Resorts would release target opening and closing dates for all of its ski areas. Perhaps traumatized by short seasons, particularly in the Midwest, the company released only target opening dates, and only for its largest ski areas, for 2023:The remainder of its ski areas, “expect to open consistent with target dates shared in years past,” according to a Vail Resorts press release.On Hidden Valley, MissouriWalsh's first ski experience was at Hidden Valley, a 320-footer just west of St. Louis. It's one of just two ski areas in Missouri (both of which Vail owns). Vail happened to acquire this little guy in the 2019 Peak Resorts acquisition. Here's a trailmap:Not to be confused, of course, with Vail's other Hidden Valley, which is stashed in Pennsylvania:Rather than renaming one or the other of these, I am actually in favor of just massively confusing everything by renaming every mountain in the portfolio “Vail Mountain” followed by its zip code. On the Vail-Powdr transitionI'll reset this 2019 story from the Park Record that I initially shared in the article accompanying my podcast conversation with Mount Snow GM Brian Suhadolc in August, who also worked at Park City during Vail's takeover from Powdr:In some circles, though, the whispers had already started that something was afoot, and perhaps not right, at PCMR. Powdr Corp. for some unknown reason was negotiating a sale of its flagship resort, the most prevalent of the rumblings held. The CEO of Powdr Corp., John Cumming, late in 2011 had publicly stated there was not a deal involving PCMR under negotiation, telling Park City leaders during a Marsac Building appearance in December of that year the resort was “not for sale.” Later that evening, he told The Park Record the rumors “always amuse me.”The reality was far more astonishing and something that would define the decade in Park City in a similar fashion as the Olympics did in the previous 10-year span and the population boom did in the 1990s.The corporate infrastructure in the spring of 2011 had inadvertently failed to renew two leases on the land underlying most of the PCMR terrain, propelling the PCMR side and the landowner, a firm under the umbrella of Talisker Corp., into what were initially private negotiations and then into a dramatic lawsuit that unfolded in state court as the Park City community, the tourism industry and the North American ski industry watched in disbelief. As the decade ends, the turmoil that beset PCMR stands, in many ways, as the instigator of a changing Park City that has left so many Parkites uneasy about the city's future as a true community.The PCMR side launched the litigation in March of 2012, saying the future of the resort was at stake in the case. PCMR might be forced to close if it did not prevail, the president and general manager of the resort at the time said at the outset of the case. Talisker Land Holdings, LLC countered that the leases had expired, suddenly leaving doubts that Powdr Corp. would retain control of PCMR. …Colorado-based Vail Resorts, one of Powdr Corp.'s industry rivals, would enter the case on the Talisker Land Holdings, LLC side in May of 2013 with the aim of wresting the disputed land from Powdr Corp. and coupling it with nearby Canyons Resort, which was branded a Vail Resorts property as part of a long-term lease and operations agreement reached at the same time of the Vail Resorts entry into the case. Vail Resorts was already an industry behemoth with its namesake property in the Rockies and other mountain resorts across North America. The addition of Canyons Resort would advance the Vail Resorts portfolio in one of North America's key skiing states.It was a deft maneuver orchestrated by the chairman and CEO of Vail Resorts, Rob Katz. The agreement was pegged at upward of $300 million in long-term debt. As part of the deal, Vail Resorts also seized control of the litigation on behalf of Talisker Land Holdings, LLC. …The lawsuit itself unfolded with stunning developments followed by shocking ones over the course of two-plus years. In one stupefying moment, the Talisker Land Holdings, LLC attorneys discovered a crucial letter from the PCMR side regarding the leases had been backdated. In another such moment, PCMR outlined plans to essentially dismantle the resort infrastructure, possibly on an around-the-clock schedule, if it was ordered off the disputed land.What was transpiring in the courtroom was inconceivable to the community. How could Powdr Corp., even inadvertently, not renew the leases on the ground that made up most of the skiing terrain at PCMR, many asked. Why couldn't Powdr Corp. and Talisker Land Holdings, LLC just reach a new agreement, others wondered. And many became weary as businessmen and their attorneys took to the courtroom with the future of PCMR, critical to a broad swath of the local economy, at stake. The mood eventually shifted to exasperation as it appeared there was a chance PCMR would not open for a ski season if Talisker Land Holdings, LLC moved forward with an eviction against Powdr Corp. from the disputed terrain.The lawsuit wore on with the Talisker Land Holdings, LLC-Vail Resorts side winning a series of key rulings from the 3rd District Court judge presiding over the case. Judge Ryan Harris in the summer of 2014 signed a de facto eviction notice against PCMR and ordered the sides into mediation. Powdr Corp., realizing there was little more that could be accomplished as it attempted to maintain control of PCMR, negotiated a $182.5 million sale of the resort to Vail Resorts that September.Incredible. Here, if you're curious, was Park City just before the merger:And Canyons:Now, imagine if someone, someday, merged this whole operation with the expanded version of Deer Valley, which sits right next door to Park City on Empire Peak:Here's a closer look at the border between the two, which is separated by ropes, rather than by any geographic barrier:Right around the time Vail took over Park City, all seven major local ski areas discussed a “One Wasatch” interconnect, which could be accomplished with a handful of lifts between Brighton and Park City and between Solitude and Alta (the Canyons/Park City connection below has since been built; Brighton and Solitude already share a ski link, as do Alta and Snowbird):This plan died under an avalanche of external factors, and is unlikely to be resurrected anytime soon. However, the mountains aren't getting any farther apart physically, and at some point we're going to accept that a few aerial lifts through the wilderness are a lot less damaging to our environment than thousands of cars cluttering up our roads.On the Park City-Canyons connector gondolaWe talked a bit about the Quicksilver Gondola, which, eight years after its construction, is taken for granted. But it's an amazing machine, a 7,767-foot-long connector that fused Park City to the much-larger Canyons, creating the largest interconnected ski resort in the United States. The fact that such a major, transformative lift opened in 2015, just a year after Vail acquired Park City, and the ski area is now having trouble simply upgrading two older lifts, speaks to how dramatically sentiment around the resort has changed within town.On Park City's mining historyAn amazing feature of skiing Park City is the gigantic warehouses, conveyor belts, and other industrial artifacts that dot the landscape. Visit Park City hosts free daily tours of these historic structures, which we discuss in the podcast. You can learn more here.On the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining HistoryWalsh mentions an organization called “Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History.” This group assumes the burden of restoring and maintaining all of these historic structures. From their website:More than 300 mines once operated in Park City, with the last silver mine closing in 1982. Twenty historic mine structures still exist today, many can been seen while skiing, hiking or mountain biking on our mountain trails. Due to the ravages of time and our harsh winters, many of the mine structures are dilapidated and in critical need of repair. We are committed to preserving our rich mining legacy for future residents and visitors before we lose these historic structures forever.Over the past seven years, our dedicated volunteers have completed stabilization of the King Con Counterweight, California Comstock Mill, Jupiter Ore Bin, Little Bell Ore Bin, two Silver King Water Tanks, the Silver Star Boiler Room and Coal Hopper, the Thaynes Conveyor and the King Con Ore Bin. Previous projects undertaken by our members include the Silver King Aerial Tramway Towers and two Silver King Water Tanks adjacent to the Silver Queen ski run. Our lecture with Clark Martinez, principal contractor on our projects and Jonathan Richards who is our structural engineer, will provide you insight as to how we saved these monuments to our mining era.Preserving our mining heritage is expensive. Our next challenge is to save the Silver King Headframe located at the base of the Bonanza lift and Thaynes Headframe near the Thaynes lift at Park City Mountain Resort. These massive buildings and adjacent structures will take 6 years to stabilize with an expected cost of $3 million. We are embarking on a capital campaign to raise the funds required to save these iconic structures. You can learn more about our campaign here.Here's a cool but slow-paced video about it:On the 2030/34 Winter OlympicsWe talk a bit about the potential for Salt Lake City – and, by extension, host mountains Park City, Deer Valley, and Snowbasin – to host a future Olympic Games. While both 2030 and 2034 are possibilities, the latter increasingly looks likely. Per an October Deseret News article:It looks like there's no competition for Salt Lake City's bid to host the 2034 Winter Games.International Olympic Committee members voted Sunday to formally award both the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games together next year after being told Salt Lake City's preference is for 2034 and the other three candidates still in the race are finalizing bids for 2030.“I think it's everything we could have hoped for,” said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, describing the decision as “a tremendous step forward” now that Salt Lake City was identified as the only candidate for 2034.Salt Lake City is bidding to host the more than $2.2 billion event in either 2030 or 2034, but has made it clear waiting until the later date is better financially, because that will avoid competition for domestic sponsors with the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.The next step for the bid that began more than a decade ago is a virtual presentation to the IOC's Future Host Commission for the Winter Games during the week starting Nov. 19 that will include Gov. Spencer Cox and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. IOC Executive Board members will decide when they meet from Nov. 30 through Dec. 1 which bids will advance to contract negotiations for 2030 and 2034, known as targeted dialogue under the new, less formal selection process. Their choices to host the 2030 and 2034 Winter Games will go to the full membership for a final ratification vote next year, likely in July just before the start of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. The Summer Olympics have evolved into a toxic expense that no one really wants. The Winter Games, however, still seem desirable, and I've yet to encounter any significant resistance from the Utah ski community, who have (not entirely but in significant pockets) kind of made resistence to everything their default posture.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 96/100 in 2023, and number 482 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

It was a typical day at the USANA Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah as Olympic and Paralympic athletes were sweating it out on the training center floor, preparing for their winter competition seasons ahead. Sophie Goldschmidt, the president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, talked to Last Chair from a meeting room looking out at some of the greatest ski and snowboard athletes in America.The U.S. Ski Team moved to Park City in 1974, initially setting up shop in the old Silver King mine buildings at the base of what is now the Bonanza six-pack at Park City Mountain. Today, the team is based at the USANA Center of Excellence with elite skiers and riders from across America making their training home in Utah. The centerpiece training center is just a short distance from sport training facilities including Soldier Hollow, the Utah Olympic Park and a host of ski resorts.Goldschmidt came to the team in 2021, just prior to the Beijing 2022 Olympics. A modern sport leader, she honed her management skills working for global retailer adidas, helping grow the NBC in Europe and Africa and running the World Surf League.Today, oversees one of the largest and most complex of the 50+ Olympic organizations in America with programs touching on XX different ski and snowboard sports programs – and now also included Paralympic sport.Last Chair covered myriad topics with Goldschmidt from her global experience to funding a team with no government support and, of course, the stars of skiing and snowboarding. 

It was a typical day at the USANA Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah as Olympic and Paralympic athletes were sweating it out on the training center floor, preparing for their winter competition seasons ahead. Sophie Goldschmidt, the president and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, talked to Last Chair from a meeting room looking out at some of the greatest ski and snowboard athletes in America.The U.S. Ski Team moved to Park City in 1974, initially setting up shop in the old Silver King mine buildings at the base of what is now the Bonanza six-pack at Park City Mountain. Today, the team is based at the USANA Center of Excellence with elite skiers and riders from across America making their training home in Utah. The centerpiece training center is just a short distance from sport training facilities including Soldier Hollow, the Utah Olympic Park and a host of ski resorts.Goldschmidt came to the team in 2021, just prior to the Beijing 2022 Olympics. A modern sport leader, she honed her management skills working for global retailer adidas, helping grow the NBC in Europe and Africa and running the World Surf League.Today, oversees one of the largest and most complex of the 50+ Olympic organizations in America with programs touching on XX different ski and snowboard sports programs – and now also included Paralympic sport.Last Chair covered myriad topics with Goldschmidt from her global experience to funding a team with no government support and, of course, the stars of skiing and snowboarding. 

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on April 20. It dropped for free subscribers on April 23. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:WhoTodd Bennett, President and Chief Operating Officer of Deer Valley Resort, UtahRecorded onApril 19, 2023About Deer ValleyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Alterra Mountain CompanyLocated in: Park City, UtahYear founded: 1981Pass affiliations: 7 unrestricted days on Ikon Pass, five days with blackouts on Ikon Base Pass PlusReciprocal partners: Unlimited Deer Valley season passholders receive one day each at Alta, Brighton, and SnowbirdClosest neighboring ski areas: Park City Mountain Resort (5 minutes), Utah Olympic Park (18 minutes), Woodward Park City (20 minutes), Solitude (1 hour), Snowbird (1 hour), Brighton (1 hour, 8 minutes), Alta (1 hour, 8 minutes) – travel times vary considerably with weather and traffic; if U.S. Americans could summon a worldview that extends beyond their dashboards, they would understand that this entire megaplex could be connected with a handful of gondolas, reducing traffic and emissions in the Wasatch by about 40 billion percent.Base elevation: 6,570 feet at Jordanelle baseSummit elevation: 9,570 feet at top of EmpireVertical drop: 3,000 feet, though this cannot be skied contiguously – the longest high-quality continuous vertical drops are on Bald Mountain, at around 1,750 vertical feet.Skiable Acres: 2,026Average annual snowfall: 300 inchesTrail count: 103Lift count: 27 (1 six-passenger gondola, 14 high-speed quads, 5 triples, 1 double, 1 platter serving private homes, 5 conveyors)Deer Valley's trailmap is a little confusing, as it looks as though you can ski from the top of Empire to the bottom of Jordanelle. The resort sits on a series of adjacent hillocks, however, which you can see on this topographic map on ikonpass.com:Why I interviewed himThere's a version of reality in which Deer Valley is nothing special. A 2,000-ish-acre bump neighboring Park City, which sprawls more than three times as large. A 300-inch bucket of snow standing meekly against the 500-inch-plus dumptrucks stacking up each winter in the nearby Cottonwoods. Three thousand feet of vertical is compelling, but you can't ski it all at once, like you can at Snowbird or Park City. Deer Valley could be the Pico of Utah, a pretty good ski area made average by its address among amazing ski areas.But that's not how we view the place, because that's not what Deer Valley is. Deer Valley is an Alterra flagship, so singular that it is the only one of the company's 16 ski areas excluded from the Ikon Base Pass. The mountain's $2,890 season pass is the most expensive in America. It has landed in the top three of Ski Magazine's reader resort rankings for 25 consecutive seasons.Why? Why is this place so exceptional, so expensive and yet so treasured? Go ahead and list the superficial and the obvious: a fleet of groomers expansive enough to invade Newfoundland, 14 high-speed quads, ski valets, staff to escort your skis onto snow like a prized dachshund. It's still not so obvious why DV is it. The armada of high-speed lifts, once so novel, are standard-issue Wasatch utilities now. Even Alta has them. Every large ski area grooms widely and well. And slopeside ski check is not so rare as to be a differentiator. At least not in 2023. There are lots of fancy ski areas. Sun Valley would gladly throw down in a groom-off. You could coronate the next queen of England in a Snowbasin bathroom stall. And Beaver Creek gives you a warm cookie at the end of the day. Match that, Deer Valley.So there is something more subtle than lifts and grooming going on here. Something that has transcended generations of owners and survived the oft-rough entry into corporate Skidom. The place has an essence. Something as pronounced as Little Cottonwood chest-thumping or parkbrah tumbling over Brighton kickers or party-town Park City. Something fiercely distinct yet hard to define.Have you ever visited the Palace of Versailles? A sprawling and ornate palace rising off 2,500 acres of immaculate grounds a few miles outside of Paris. Built for royals, it is now open to all. To tour the place is to feel both humbled and empowered. Here is this triumph of the human imagination, actualized into a thing too spectacular to comprehend. Yet plain old you can wander and wonder and admire and absorb. And skiing Deer Valley is a little bit like that. Like stumbling into a palace of skiing, unsure what you're looking at, but amazed at the whole scene.What we talked aboutDoubling Deer Valley's average annual snowfall; extending the season and why April 23 will be the last day; what it's like to live among all that snow every single day; where Deer Valley has to do avalanche mitigation; New York ski roots; Vail Mountain in the ‘90s; the vast options for the SoCal skier; how a 20-year career at Disney led to a job running one of America's best ski resorts; how Disney Bro resembles Ski Bro; the making of The Man Behind the Maps: Legendary Ski Artist James Niehues; how the book was born out of luck at Tamarack, Idaho; blowing away expectations on Kickstarter; why Alterra treats Deer Valley differently than its other resorts from an Ikon Pass access standpoint; going deep on Burns Express; why Deer Valley reoriented the liftline uphill and how that's changed the skier flow on the mountain; the thrill of flying towers; the reconfigured Snowflake lift; why Burns is and likely always will be more of a transit lift; auto-down restraint bars are here; you're probably raising the safety bar too early; why Burns got the upgrade before any of Deer Valley's older high-speed quads; Deer Valley's huge base-area redevelopment plans; the higher-capacity lifts that could replace the Carpenter and Silver Lake high-speed quads; employee housing; why a base area development isn't necessarily a play for more skier visits; which lifts could be in line for upgrades next; whether Deer Valley would consider upgrading any of its fixed-grip triples; why there isn't a ski connection between Deer Valley and Park City, even though they meet at Empire; a potential Deer Valley connection with the rising Mayflower resort; the impact of removing Deer Valley from the Ikon Base Pass; the surprising number of daily lift tickets that Deer Valley still sells, even at $250-plus; and why the resort continues to ban snowboarding.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewDeer Valley spent their offseason planting this beauty on the mountainside:The 190-vertical-foot Doppelmayr high-speed quad was the cornerstone Deer Valley's re-imagined Snow Park beginner terrain. Last year, the small terrain pod looked like this:The old Burns lift, a Yan double that dated to the resort's 1981 opening, ran straight up the fall line. It paralleled the shorter Snowflake lift, which loaded halfway up the trail. A series of magic carpets sat below Snowflake.That's all changed. Old Burns is gone, clearing a beginner-friendly skiway. Deer Valley used parts from Burns to lengthen Snowflake all the way to the base. They then moved the existing carpets looker's left, along the old Burns line. A series of four progression carpets now climb the incline.New Burns serves an entirely different purpose from Old Burns. Rather than simply hauling beginners up Wide West, as the old lift did, it transports them up to the Deer Hollow trail, which they can then ski down to Mountaineer Express to access the Little Baldy Peak pod. Prior to this change, beginners had no easy way to access Little Baldy – they had to either ride the Carpenter high-speed quad to the summit of Bald Eagle Mountain and take the Big Stick and Little Stick trails to Deer Hollow; ride Silver Lake Express and ski down to the Crown Point triple and then up to blue-square Kimberly and green-circle Navigator; or catch a ride over to the Jordanelle ticket office and ride the gondola up. Mostly, they didn't do that, and since that terrain holds less appeal to more advanced skiers, it was largely underutilized.Bennett admitted that New Burns is mostly a transit lift to get skiers up to the Little Baldy terrain. Skiers can lap Gnat's Eye, but it's a narrow and not very interesting trail, and so most don't. But as another brick in Palace DV, the lift accomplishes exactly what it's supposed to. And it's a gorgeous machine:I suspect, however, that Burns is simply an anchor for Deer Valley's far larger proposed redevelopment of its Snow Park Base area. Right now, skiers arrive to parking lots, as they do in most of U.S. America, and walk up to a handful of base buildings and a pair of high-speed quads. It's an bland entrance to a remarkable ski resort:Deer Valley would cover these parking lots with a ski-in-ski-out mixed-use village. Cars would go underground. Retail, restaurants, residences, and rental units would rise above pedestrian streets. Carpenter and Silver Lake would extend into the village, the former replaced by a new high-speed quad or six-pack, the latter by a gondola:Here's a clearer image of where the lifts could sit in relation to their current load points:We're a long way out from this transformation. The estimated project completion date is 2029. But this development would transform Deer Valley, infusing it with a sense of place beyond the trail footprint. The resort happens to reside in Park City, one of the liveliest ski towns in North America. For decades, Deer Valley has ceded streetlife to the municipality. But there's no reason it has to. Like sister resorts Steamboat, Winter Park, Palisades Tahoe, and Crystal, the Wasatch fancypants is evolving into something better connected to the community around it and anchored in the current moment, in which we are at long last deprioritizing the personal vehicle and building people-first places that we can all enjoy.What I got wrongI noted that Park City Mountain Resort was “twice as large” as Deer Valley, but it's actually quite a bit bigger: 7,300 acres to Deer Valley's 2,026 – that's 2.3 times as big.Why you should ski Deer ValleyYes groomers blah blah whatever. Honestly this is not a thing I care about when I travel West. But I do like this:And this:And this:Not so much this, but it's here if you're psychotic:No, it's not Snowbird. But it's Utah. The snow is light and fine. The trail network sprawls. If you can't find something fun in 2,000 acres, the problem is not the mountain. Plus, look again at the trailmap – every peak has like four high-speed lifts stringing you to the top. The potential to rack vert here is amazing.Podcast NotesOn the long seasonBennett and I briefly discussed a Snowbasin tweet calling out skiers for not showing up after the resort extended its season. Here it is:On The Man Behind the MapsIf you're reading this newsletter, there's a better than 80 percent chance that someone has stuffed a copy of The Man Behind the Maps, a tome archiving the trailmap art of James Niehues, into your Christmas stocking at some point over the last four years. Bennett, as it turns out, was the muscle behind the book, reaching out to Niehues and convincing him to compile the work, then pulling together a global network to print and distribute it. If you're not familiar with this work of art, check it out:On Mayflower ResortDid you know that a major new public U.S. ski resort is under construction at this moment? And that this resort will cover 4,300 acres on a 3,200-foot vertical drop served by 18 aerial lifts? And that this resort is exactly next door to Deer Valley? And that this is all amazingly getting absolutely no coverage while a couple of dingbats in Park City spin themselves into a hissyfit over Vail's attempts to upgrade two chairlifts and a considerably larger contingent of dingbats fights the most serious attempt to untangle traffic in Little Cottonwood Canyon in decades by assaulting a gondola proposal as though they were defending the Alamo? It's true. It's called Mayflower. Watch this video full of hyperbole that's clearly made for people who know almost nothing about skiing to see for yourself:That this is actually happening - that we are really about to have a brand-new, major ski resort in an over-skied slice of U.S. America that desperately needs more capacity - is a freaking miracle. Bennett and I don't dig too deeply into this project, but we do discuss it in this context: when Mayflower goes live, there is a very good chance that Deer Valley could operate it. And if that happens, well, no snowboarding Brah. Because Deer Values or something. I'm not a fan of snowboarding bans, but I am a fan of building more ski resorts, so I'll take the win.On the lack of a Deer Valley/Park City ski ConnectionYou can ski between Snowbird and Alta, even though one is owned by Powdr Corp and the other is owned by a clandestine group of snow ninjas. You can ski between Brighton and Solitude, even though one is owned by Boyne Resorts and the other is owned by Alterra. But you cannot ski between Deer Valley and Park City, even if you have an Epic Pass and an Ikon Pass, even though they boundary up to one another on Empire Peak:A patrol shack sits atop Empire, halting all who would pass. Locals call this the “Berlin Wall.” I'm not sure what the sense of it is. Deer Valley has done a pretty solid job of restricting ticket availability. I'm pretty sure the number of folks who would add on a DV ticket just for a few runs is nominal. However, there could be enormous environmental benefits to such a connection. When I was skiing Deer Valley, I had to take a long shuttle ride through congested weekend traffic both ways to ski half a day at Park City. Imagine if I could have eliminated two surface transit trips by simply skiing over the pass? Not that this would have eliminated these shuttles, necessarily, as other folks rode them as well, but if a critical mass of people decided to use skis and already-spinning lifts to move across the megaplex rather than surface transit, that could have a material impact on the town's notorious congestion.And imagine skiing all of this in one go:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 37/100 in 2023, and number 423 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Feb. 1. It dropped for free subscribers on Feb. 4. To receive future pods as soon as they're live and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoDavy Ratchford, Vice President and General Manager of Snowbasin Resort, UtahRecorded onJanuary 31, 2023About SnowbasinClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The R. Earl Holding FamilyPass affiliations: Ikon Pass, Mountain CollectiveLocated in: Huntsville, UtahYear founded: 1940Closest neighboring ski areas: Nordic Valley (30 minutes), Powder Mountain (35 minutes), Woodward Park City (1:05), Utah Olympic Park (1:08), Park City (1:15), Deer Valley (1:15), Snowbird (1:15), Alta (1:20), Solitude (1:20), Brighton (1:25), Sundance (1:40), Cherry Peak (1:45), Beaver Mountain (2:00) – travel times vary considerably based upon weather and trafficBase elevation: 6,450 feetSummit elevation: 9,350 feetVertical drop: 2,900 feetSkiable Acres: 3,000Average annual snowfall: 300 inchesTrail count: 111Lift count: 12­­ (One 15-passenger tram, 2 eight-passenger gondolas, 2 six-packs, 2 high-speed quads, 2 triples, 1 ropetow, 2 carpets) – Snowbasin will add a third six-pack on an all-new line this summer (more on this below).Why I interviewed himFor 60 years it sat there, empty, enormous, unnoticed. Utah skiing was Park City and Alta; Snowbird in the ‘70s; Deer Valley in the ‘80s; sometimes Solitude and Brighton. No need to ski outside that powder pocket east of SLC: in 1995, an Alta lift ticket cost $25, and the area resorts frequently landed on ski magazine “least-crowded” lists.The November 2000 issue of Ski distilled Snowbasin's malaise:Though skiers were climbing the high ridgeline that overlooks the small city of Ogden as far back as the Thirties, Alta founder Alf Engen officially discovered Snowbasin in 1940. At that time the high, sunny basin was used for cattle range, but it was so overgrazed that eroded topsoil and bloated carcasses of dead cows were tainting Ogden's water supply. Working with the U.S. Forest Service, Ogden's town fathers decided that a ski resort would provide income and recreation while also safeguarding the water supply. A deal was struck with the ranch owner, and Snowbasin opened for business.In the 60 years since, the resort has struggled under five owners, including Vail-founder Pete Seibert, who owned it in the mid-Eighties. The problem was a lack of lodging. Snowbasin was too far from Salt Lake City to attract out-of-state skiers and too far from Ogden to use the city's aging railroad center as a resort base. Successive owners realized that to succeed, Snowbasin needed a base village, but building one from scratch is a costly proposition. So for half a century, the resort has remained the private powder stash of Ogden locals and the few lucky skiers who have followed rumors of deep snow and empty lifts up Ogden Canyon.In 1984, Earl Holding, an oil tycoon who had owned Sun Valley since 1978, purchased the resort from Seibert (process the fact that Snowbasin was once part of the Vail portfolio for a moment). For a long time, nothing much changed. Then came the 2002 Olympics. In a single offseason in 1998, the resort added two gondolas, a tram, and a high-speed quad (John Paul), along with the thousand-ish-acre Strawberry terrain pod. A new access road cut 13 miles off the drive from Salt Lake City. Glimmering base lodges rose from the earth.Still, Snowbasin languished. “But despite the recent addition of modern lifts, it has still failed to attract more than 100,000 skier visits the past two seasons,” Ski wrote in 2000, attributing this volume partly to “the fact that the Olympics, not today's lift ticket revenue, is the management's priority.” Holding, the magazine reported, was considering a bizarre name change for the resort to “Sun Valley.” As in, Sun Valley, Utah. Reminder: there was no social media in 2000.That's all context, to make this point: the Snowbasin that I'm writing about today – a glimmering end-of-the-road Ikon Pass jewel with a Jetsonian lift fleet – is not the Snowbasin we were destined to have. From backwater to baller in a generation. This is the template, like it or not, for the under-developed big-mountain West. Vail Mountain, Park City, Snowbird, Palisades Tahoe, Breckenridge, Steamboat: these places cannot accommodate a single additional skier. They're full. The best they can do now is redistribute skiers across the mountain and suck more people out of the base areas with higher-capacity lifts. But with record skier visits and the accelerating popularity of multi-mountain passes that concentrate more of them in fewer places, we're going to need relief valves. And soon.There are plenty more potential Snowbasins out there. Mountains with big acreage and big snowfall but underdeveloped lift and lodging infrastructure and various tiers of accessibility issues: White Pass, Mission Ridge, Silver Mountain, Montana Snowbowl, Great Divide, Discovery, Ski Apache, Angel Fire, Ski Santa Fe, Powder Mountain, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Loveland. There are dozens more.Snowbasin's story is singular and remarkable, a testament to invested owners and the power of media magnification to alter the fate of a place. But the mountain's tale is instructive as well, of how skiing can reorient itself around something other than our current version of snowy bunchball, the tendency for novice soccer players to disregard positions and swarm to wherever the ball moves. Snowbasin didn't matter and now it does. Who's next?What we talked aboutUtah's amazing endless 2022-23 snow season; an Irish fairytale; skiing Beaver Mountain in jeans; helping to establish Utah's Major League Soccer team and then leaving for the ski industry; “if you have a chance to raise your family in the mountains, you should do that”; the unique characteristic of a ski career that helps work-life balance; much love for the Vail Fam; the Holding family legacy; “Snowbasin is a gift to the world”; the family's commitment to keeping Snowbasin independent long-term; “they're going to put in the best possible things, all the time”; amazing lodges, bathrooms and all; Snowbasin's Olympic legacy and potential future involvement in the Games; breaking down the DeMoisy Express six-pack that will go up Strawberry this summer; what the new lift will mean for the Strawberry gondola; soccer fans versus ski fans; managing a resort in the era of knucklehead social media megaphones; “I've lost a lot of employees to guests”; taming the rumor machine; reflecting on the Middle Bowl lift upgrade; long-term upgrades for the Becker and Porcupine triples; Snowbasin's ambitious base-area redevelopment plan, including an all-inclusive Club Med, new lifts and terrain, and upgraded access road; “the amount of desire to own something here is huge”; what happens with parking once the mountain builds a village over it; the curse of easy access; breaking down the new beginner terrain and lifts that will accompany the village; whether future large-scale terrain expansion is possible; and leaving the Epic Pass for Ikon and Mountain Collective.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewLast month, Snowbasin announced that it will build the DeMoisy Express, a long-awaited six-pack that will run parallel to the Strawberry Gondola on a slightly shorter line, for the 2023-24 ski season. Here's where it will sit on the current trailmap (highlighted below):This will be Snowbasin's second six-pack in just two years, and it follows the resort's 2021 announcement of an ambitious base-area development plan, which will include new beginner terrain, several new lifts, a mixed-use pedestrian village, access-road improvements, and an all-inclusive Club Med resort. Here's a rendering of the reconfigured base at full build-out:Snowbasin, along with sister resort Sun Valley, also stalked off the Epic Pass last year, fleeing for the Mountain Collective and Ikon passes. “Because we're smart,” Ratchford half-joked when I asked him why the resorts left Epic after just three years. He framed the switch as an opportunity to expose the resorts to new skiers. Snowbasin surely will not be the last resort to change allegiances. Don't think big indies like Jackson Hole, Taos, and Revelstoke aren't listening when Vail calls, offering them a blank check to change jerseys.What I got wrongI had an on-the-fly moment where I mixed up the Wildcat Express six-pack and the Littlecat Express high-speed quad. I asked Ratchford how they were going to upgrade Little Cat (as suggested in the base-area redevelopment image above), when it was already a six-pack. Dumb stuff happens in the moment during these podcasts, and while I guess I could ask the robots to fix it, I'd rather just own the mistake and keep moving.Why you should ski SnowbasinI love skiing Alta and Snowbird, but I don't love skiing anywhere enough to endure the mass evacuation drill that is a Cottonwoods powder-day commute. Not when there's a place like Snowbasin where you can just, you know, pull into the parking lot and go skiing.What you'll find when you arrive is as good as anything you'll hunt down in U.S. skiing. Maybe not from a total snowfall perspective – though 300 inches is impressive anywhere outside of Utah – but from a lift-and-lodge infrastructure point of view. Four – soon to be five – high-speed chairlifts, a tram and two gondolas, and a couple old triple chairs that Ratchford tells me will be replaced fairly soon, and probably with high-speed quads. The lodges are legendary, palaces of excess and overbuild, welcome in an industry that makes Lunch-Table Death-Match a core piece of the experience. If you need to take your pet elephant to the bathroom, plug Snowbasin into your GPS – I assure you the stalls can accommodate them.But, really, you ski Snowbasin because Snowbasin is easy to get to and easy to access, with the Ikon Pass that most people reading this probably already have, and with terrain that's as good as just about anything else you're going to find in U.S. America.Podcast NotesOn Park City: Ratchford referred obliquely to the ownership change at Park City in 2014, saying, “if you know the history there…” Well, if you don't know the history there, longtime resort owner Powdr Corp made the biggest oopsie in the history of lift-served skiing when it, you know, forgot to renew its lease on the mountain. Vail, in what was the most coldblooded move in the history of lift-served skiing, installed itself as the new lessee in what I can imagine was a fit of cackling glee. It was amazing. You can read more about it here and here. If only The Storm had existed back then.On the Olympics: While I don't cover the Olympics at all (I completely ignored them last year, the first Winter Games in which The Storm existed), I do find their legacy at U.S. ski resorts interesting. Only five U.S. ski areas have hosted events: Whiteface (1980), Palisades Tahoe (1960), and, in 2002, Deer Valley, Park City, and Snowbasin. Ratchford and I talk a bit about this legacy, and the potential role of his resort in the upcoming 2030 or 2034 Games – Salt Lake City is bidding to host one or the other. Read more here.On megapasses: Snowbasin has been all over the place with megapasses. Here's its history, as best I can determine:* 2013: Snowbasin joins the Powder Alliance reciprocal coalition (it is unclear when Snowbasin left this coalition)* 2017: Snowbasin joins Mountain Collective for 2017-18 ski season* 2019: Snowbasin joins Epic Pass, leaves Mountain Collective for 2019-20 ski season* 2022: Snowbasin leaves Epic Pass, re-joins Mountain Collective and joins Ikon Pass for 2022-23 ski seasonThe Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 8/100 in 2023, and number 394 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 17. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 20. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoChad Linebaugh, President and General Manager of Sundance Mountain, UtahRecorded onNovember 7, 2022About SundanceClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Broadreach Capital Partners and Cedar Capital PartnersPass affiliations: Power PassReciprocal pass partners:* 3 days at each Mountain Capital Partners ski area: Arizona Snowbowl, Purgatory, Hesperus, Brian Head, Nordic Valley, Sipapu, Pajarito, Willamette Pass* 3 days each at Snow King, Ski Cooper* 1 unguided day at SilvertonLocated in: Sundance, UtahClosest neighboring ski areas: Park City (47 minutes), Deer Valley (50 minutes), Woodward Park City (50 minutes), Utah Olympic Park (51 minutes), Solitude (57 minutes), Brighton (1 hour), Snowbird (1 hour, 7 minutes), Alta (1 hour, 10 minutes) – travel times may vary considerably in winter.Base elevation: 6,100 feetSummit elevation: 8,250 feetVertical drop: 2,150 feetSkiable Acres: 515Average annual snowfall: 300 inchesTrail count: 50 (20% black, 45% intermediate, 35% beginner)Lift count: 9 (1 high-speed quad, 4 fixed-grip quads, 1 triple, 3 carpets)The map above is last season's, and does not include the Wildwood expansion that's coming online for the 2022-23 ski season. Here's where the new terrain will sit - you can see Jake's landing looker's right, and Flathead rising looker's left:And here's an overhead view of the new terrain:Update [11/24/2022]: the new trailmapWhy I interviewed himIt sits inconspicuous and unassuming, 13 air miles and 49 road miles south of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Five hundred acres in a 5,000-acre resort. Step off your plane at Salt Lake airport and you're 40 minutes away from half a dozen powder bangers and this is not one of them. It's Sundance. “Isn't that that film fiestival?” Epkon Bro asks as he punches Park City into his GPS. “No time for that on my HASHTAG POWDY TOWN TRIP!”And that's OK. We won't be needing Epkon Bro for today's stop. Because where we're going today is Utah before Utah skiing went nuclear. Before the California invasion. Before this state with just 15 ski areas became third in the nation in annual skier visits. When Snowbird opened in 1971, Utah had 1.1 million residents. Today it has 3.1 million. On any given Saturday, every single one of them is angling their SUV toward the mouth of the Cottonwoods.Except everyone skiing Sundance. Here's the locals bump we all wish we had: 300 inches of snow, 2,000-plus feet of vert, owners with the cash Gatlings blowing full auto. Everyone else, somewhere else. Most of the tourists. Most of the Salt Locals. Certainly the Epkon hordes, trying to ski their passes down to $5 a day. So, here it is: Utah skiing before all the things that changed Utah skiing, mostly for the worse. Twenty years ago? Thirty? Who cares. You found it. Enjoy it.What we talked aboutEarly snow in the West; from breakfast waiter to running the resort; when big brother takes you skiing; Sundance in the 1970s; setting yourself apart when you're the ski area down the road from the Wasatch; the longest-tenured ski resort employee in the country?; Timp Haven; enter Robert Redford; the resort's expanse and legacy of conservation; working for Redford; the origins and impact of the Sundance Film Festival; why Redford sold Sundance; a profile of the new owners; industry veteran Bill Jensen's impact on the resort; Sundance's rapid and radical transformation under its new owners; the fantastically weird Ray's lift and why the mountain finally upgraded it; bringing back the old Mandan lift unload and corresponding terrain; breaking down the new alignments for Stairway and Outlaw; why Red's isn't a high-speed lift; the massive new lift project Sundance is planning next and the potential terrain expansion that could go with that; what the new lift would mean for Flathead; why Outlaw ended up as a quad, rather than a six-pack; how Outlaw ended up running chairs from Big Sky's Swift Current quad; why the resort retired the Navajo lift in 1995, and brought back a similar lift called Jake's a decade ago; why Jake's runs on a different line than Navajo; Jake's odd lower mid-station; re-thinking the road that runs beneath Jake's; Sundance's huge snowmaking expansion; going deep on Sundance's Wildwood expansion and new lift; the return of hot bread and honey-butter; potential far-future expansion; upgrading the Bearclaw lodge; night-skiing; whether Sundance could expand its group of season pass reciprocal partners; and the possibility of Sundance joining Indy Pass.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewA decade ago, Sundance was a relic. Old lifts. Slow lifts. Fixed-grip lifts all. A handle tow at the bottom. No carpets. One chair out of the base: the unbelievable Ray's, a mile-long up-and-over doozy with two midstations and a ride time longer than the State of the Union. Some snowmaking. Not a lot. Not enough.Two years ago, longtime owner Robert Redford sold the joint. The new owners brought in Bill Jensen, a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Famer and onetime overlord of Breckenridge, Vail, Telluride, and Intrawest. Overnight, they smashed the place to bits and remade it in the image of a modern ski resort: Ray's demolished (it's going to live on at Lookout Pass), in its place a high-speed quad up the frontside – all the way up the frontside, to where the Mandan lift once landed – and a short connector lift in back; expanded night-skiing; dramatically expanded snowmaking; a trio of progression carpets at the base; more parking. This year: a 10-trail, 15-acre beginner-focused expansion. On its way out next: the 47-year-old Flathead triple. With what? You'll have to listen to the podcast for details on that.Once Flathead goes, Sundance will have one of the newest lift fleets on the continent (Redford did replace Arrowhead with a lift called Red's in 2016, and put in a new lift called Jake's in 2012), a reliable and modern collection buffeted by an ever-evolving snowmaking system that can defend the place from its relatively low elevation. It will have better skier flow, and (probably) more terrain for them to ski on.What it won't have are any of the ever-increasing numbers of Epkon Bros. The ones who won't ski anywhere off-pass. The ones obsessed with stats and biggest-tallest-most. The ones how don't mind company.Sundance is building something different. And it's something worth trying. What I got wrongI asked Chad why Jake's lift did not have a mid-station, like the old Navajo lift. Jake's does have a mid-station, of course, but it's just a touch higher than the bottom load. What I'd meant to ask was this, “why doesn't Jake's have a mid-mountain mid-station, as Navajo had?” I also incorrectly stated that Jake's followed the same line as Navajo, which was a bad reading of the trailmap on my part. Regardless, we sort it all out on the pod.Why you should ski SundanceIt's worth going a bit deeper on passes here, as Utah has what is probably the most mature megapass market of any major ski hub in America. All 14 of the state's major commercial ski areas are affiliated with one pass or another, including Sundance:If you've never heard of the Power Pass, it's the season pass for Mountain Capital Partners eight ski areas: Arizona Snowbowl, Purgatory, Hesperus, Brian Head, Nordic Valley, Sipapu, Pajarito, and Willamette Pass. Like the Ikon Pass, which includes Alterra's 14 ski areas plus a bunch of partners, the Power Pass has some add-ons: Copper Mountain, Loveland, Monarch, and Sundance. Here's the full roster:Anyway, it's a relatively low-volume regional pass, in no danger of overrunning Sundance or any other partner.Sundance doesn't have the elevation, snowfall totals, or sheer size of its megapass neighbors just to its north, but it doesn't have their crowds either, and it has just enough of those other things to make the skiing interesting. On weekends, on holidays, on fight-for-your-life LCC powder days, this is your post-up spot, an alternative where you can rack vert without really worrying about it and without really trying.Podcast notesSundance has one of the most interesting lift histories in the country. Most ski areas simply drop new lifts on their old lines. Sundance rarely does that, instead shuffling machines all over the mountain to try different configurations. Here's what the mountain looked like in 1988:In 1995, they removed the Navajo and Mandan doubles and installed the wacky Ray's, which landed lower than Mandan before curling over the mountain's backside:By 2012, Sundance realized it needed a second out-of-base lift again, and it build the Jake's quad. This lands approximately where Navajo did decades earlier, but follows a shorter line, starting from the newer, upper parking lots:Interestingly, the new Red's quad, built in 2016, follows approximately the same line as the Arrowhead triple, the 1985 Yan lift that it replaced, but Outlaw and Stairway both follow different lines than Ray's, with different load, unload, and mid-station points. Don't expect a direct replacement for Flathead either – Linebaugh outlines what that dramatic change will look like in the podcast.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 124/100 in 2022, and number 370 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year round. Join us. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Joining Laura on today's episode is professional high diver, CEO of the International High Diving Institute—America's first high-diving facility, and founder of the Clean Cliffs project, Ellie Smart. Their conversation begins with Ellie's journey from childhood dreams of diving at the Olympics to the tough realization that she wouldn't reach that standard and her decision to retire from diving during college. She shares the challenges of walking away from the sport that defined her, finding her worth outside of diving, and finally discovering her purpose in cliff diving. Ellie then discusses how she made the move into professional high diving, started competing, and eventually made it onto the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series as a permanent diver. Next, Ellie talks about her desire to keep challenging herself and working on new dives—including one partly inspired by Laura—so that she can continue unlocking her potential to the highest degree. She also speaks to how she and other cliff divers manage their fear, pointing out that fear can be a good thing physiologically, but only if we learn how to control it and use it in a healthy way. Ellie takes a moment to discuss the impact of social media and how she uses it as a tool while enforcing personal boundaries to ensure she avoids the urge to compare herself with others. Closing out the episode, Ellie reveals some of her pursuits when she's not diving herself, including creating the High Diving Institute at the Utah Olympic Park and co-founding Clean Cliffs, a project with the mission to prevent plastic pollution in the world's bodies of water. Episode Highlights: Walking away from and coming back to diving Learning to cliff dive and starting to compete Unlocking potential and managing fear Creating the International High Diving Institute Giving back with Clean Cliffs Quotes: “I wanted to represent Team USA, I wanted to go to the Olympics, and I would practice my gold medals speech in the shower every single night as a kid and my autograph. In class, I used to get in trouble all the time for practicing my autograph.” “The answer is always ‘no' if you never ask, so I would rather ask and get the answer ‘no' than not ask at all and maybe miss out on a really cool, incredible opportunity. So I definitely get embarrassed or shy or self-conscious sometimes when I have things that I really want to do, like, it's definitely not just easy. But I know that the reward of asking and what could come of it is so much better than not asking.” “It was also very humbling to realize that if I was going to keep diving, I needed to dive for me and not for the results or what it looked like from the outside to other people. Because there's always going to be something bigger and better and different that you can do if you're basing your life on decisions or opinions of other people.” “I really think comparison is just the absolute worst thing that you can do. And so, I try to eliminate that as much as possible from my everyday life. So you know, if any of my friends are listening to this, I love you, but I'm not going to watch your Instagram stories. You can tell me all about it in person.” “I think that that's the most exciting thing about life is we don't know, we get to figure it out as we go. And, you know, I used to have a different approach of, ‘I want to know the answer now. I want to know what I'm supposed to do.' And now I have this whole new mindset of, ‘I'm so excited to see what I can do versus what I'm supposed to do.'” Pursuit of Gold Podcast is brought to you by Kaatsu Global Links: The Pursuit of Gold 1-on-1 Coaching with Laura The Confidence Journal Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion Laura's Social Media: Laura's Instagram Laura's Facebook Ellie's Social Media: Ellie's Instagram

“I'm so thankful for the people in town who founded the Youth Sports Alliance after the 2002 games,” said Fisher. “It was a community effort to get all of the youth from Summit and Wasatch counties out using these amazing Olympic venues and getting as many kids out and active in our community playground. The legacy absolutely still lives on.”And it has worked. Some, like nordic combined skier Jared Shumate and cross country skier Rosie Brennan grew up in [service name="park-city-mountain"]Park City Mountain[/service]. Others, like freeskiers Izzy and Zoe Atkin, moved to Park City because of the great sport opportunities. Some, like Olympic gold medalist aerials skiers Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis and Justin Schonenfeld, were brought together by the world-acclaimed freestyle training facility at the [service name="utah-olympic-park"]Utah Olympic Park[/service] that opened in 1993.But while Utah takes great pride in its Olympians in Beijing, Fisher is quick to point out the broader value of sport. These athletes are phenomenal PR stories for us, she said. “But for me, it's really about the 1,500 kids that we get out and get active every year. It's really important for every kid. A lot of their parents work in the service industry and they don't have the opportunity to use these amazing Olympic venues, to get out, to learn how to ski, learn how to snowboard. The most important legacy of our program is that these kids can grow up and feel part of the community because they participate in things that are so important to the community.”Jared ShumateNow a nordic combined Olympian, Jared Shumate grew up in Park City and tried a myriad sports through the Youth Sports Alliance's Get Out and Play program. “Growing up in Park City, every day on my way to school, just looking out the windows, I could see the Utah Olympic Park not knowing when I was three years old that I'd be going to the Olympics for that sport. So who knows, maybe it's been in me since I was a little kid.”Rosie BrennanRosie Brennan did just about every outdoor winter sport before her mom made her choose. They had had a great time watching cross country skiing during the Olympics at Soldier Hollow during the 2002 Olympics, so that's what she chose. Today, she's one of the top-ranked skiers in the world and competing at her second Olympics.“Sport has brought me, honestly, just about everything. I am so thankful for the opportunities that I've had. It's putting a challenge out there and working hard towards it. Oftentimes you come up short and have to learn how to take that shortcoming, process it, figure out what went well, what didn't go well and then work up the courage to take what you learned and apply it again.”Brendan NewbyHalfpipe skier Brendan Newby was born in Ireland but grew up in Orem. When he was four, his father took him to Brighton. Young Bubba, as he is known to friends today, was hooked. He made his first Olympic team for Ireland in 2018 and is back again, along with countryman and fellow Irish snowboarder Seamus O'Connor, another Utah transplant.“Utah is probably one of the most fun places to grow up. I'm a mountain biker and dirt biker as well, and I can basically go 20 minutes in any direction and have insanely good stuff to ride. If you want to be a winter sport Olympian, Utah is kind of the place to do it for literally any sport because of the 2002 Games and because the [service name="utah-olympic-legacy-foundation"]Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation[/service] has kept up all of the facilities so well.”Izzy and Zoe AtkinThe young Atkin sisters, Izzy and Zoe, were passionate about winter sport. So a family move to Park City when they were young gave a dream playground and a strong club program to build their skills. Skiing for their mother's homeland of Great Britain, in 2018 Izzy won Olympic bronze in slopestyle skiing. This time, she's bring along younger sister Zoe who competes in halfpipe skiing.“It's just a really great place to be because everyone loves just to be outside and to do what they love to do like skiing and snowboarding, being outdoors. A lot of people have that athlete mindset. I went to the Winter Sports School - a whole school of winter sports athletes. It was great to be in that community. We all pushed each other. Everyone just kind of has that drive to be outside and have fun, but also to push themselves in sport.” - Zoe Atkin“Yeah, (PyeongChang 2018) was incredible. It was the first experience I'd ever had like that -  to have all those incredibly driven athletic people in one bubble and getting to know other people's stories, how they got to where they are today. That mindset in the village is super motivating. It was just an amazing experience for me to even go there.” - Izzy Atkin Nick PageStill a teen, Nick Page grew up in Park City skiing moguls with Wasatch Freestyle. In Beijing, he led Team USA finishing fifth as his family watched from home. He and friends like Olympic teammate Cole McDonald are the future of freestyle skiing - just fun-loving young athletes who love ripping around the mountain.“I think a big part of (the Utah sport culture) comes from the Salt Lake Olympics, and all the infrastructure that's been left in place for us to keep using. At [service name="deer-valley"]Deer Valley Resort[/service], we ski on Champion, the Olympic run. We train at the Utah Olympic Park. I know the Oval down in Salt Lake gets so much action. We're able to repurpose all that from 2002 and put it all back into the community to build these current level athletes, which is really special. I don't think that's something that always happens once a city has an Olympics.”Check out this episode of Last Chair to hear from Utah's own Team USA athletes, and learn more about how sport is positively impacting kids in the state.Park City Nation As the home of the most concentrated collection of Olympic venues in the state, the Park City Nation boasts 54 Olympians in Beijing from a half-dozen nations. Since the 2002 Olympics and Paralympics, the Youth Sports Alliance has introduced thousands of boys and girls to sport through its Get Out and Play and other programs. While every four years it gives locals a source of Olympic pride, what's even more beneficial is the positive impact that sport has in providing life skills to kids of all ages and backgrounds.Youth Sports AllianceFormed following the 2002 Olympic Games, the Youth Sports Alliance introduces kids to sports and inspires them to keep moving throughout their lives. It provides a wide range of after-school programming to keep kids active through Get Out and Play and other programs, while also serving as a pipeline to winter sport clubs and competitions. One of its most valuable assets is the Stein Eriksen YSA Opportunity Endowment, a $2-million need-based scholarship fund for competitive athletes.

“I'm so thankful for the people in town who founded the Youth Sports Alliance after the 2002 games,” said Fisher. “It was a community effort to get all of the youth from Summit and Wasatch counties out using these amazing Olympic venues and getting as many kids out and active in our community playground. The legacy absolutely still lives on.”And it has worked. Some, like nordic combined skier Jared Shumate and cross country skier Rosie Brennan grew up in [service name="park-city-mountain"]Park City Mountain[/service]. Others, like freeskiers Izzy and Zoe Atkin, moved to Park City because of the great sport opportunities. Some, like Olympic gold medalist aerials skiers Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis and Justin Schonenfeld, were brought together by the world-acclaimed freestyle training facility at the [service name="utah-olympic-park"]Utah Olympic Park[/service] that opened in 1993.But while Utah takes great pride in its Olympians in Beijing, Fisher is quick to point out the broader value of sport. These athletes are phenomenal PR stories for us, she said. “But for me, it's really about the 1,500 kids that we get out and get active every year. It's really important for every kid. A lot of their parents work in the service industry and they don't have the opportunity to use these amazing Olympic venues, to get out, to learn how to ski, learn how to snowboard. The most important legacy of our program is that these kids can grow up and feel part of the community because they participate in things that are so important to the community.”Jared ShumateNow a nordic combined Olympian, Jared Shumate grew up in Park City and tried a myriad sports through the Youth Sports Alliance's Get Out and Play program. “Growing up in Park City, every day on my way to school, just looking out the windows, I could see the Utah Olympic Park not knowing when I was three years old that I'd be going to the Olympics for that sport. So who knows, maybe it's been in me since I was a little kid.”Rosie BrennanRosie Brennan did just about every outdoor winter sport before her mom made her choose. They had had a great time watching cross country skiing during the Olympics at Soldier Hollow during the 2002 Olympics, so that's what she chose. Today, she's one of the top-ranked skiers in the world and competing at her second Olympics.“Sport has brought me, honestly, just about everything. I am so thankful for the opportunities that I've had. It's putting a challenge out there and working hard towards it. Oftentimes you come up short and have to learn how to take that shortcoming, process it, figure out what went well, what didn't go well and then work up the courage to take what you learned and apply it again.”Brendan NewbyHalfpipe skier Brendan Newby was born in Ireland but grew up in Orem. When he was four, his father took him to Brighton. Young Bubba, as he is known to friends today, was hooked. He made his first Olympic team for Ireland in 2018 and is back again, along with countryman and fellow Irish snowboarder Seamus O'Connor, another Utah transplant.“Utah is probably one of the most fun places to grow up. I'm a mountain biker and dirt biker as well, and I can basically go 20 minutes in any direction and have insanely good stuff to ride. If you want to be a winter sport Olympian, Utah is kind of the place to do it for literally any sport because of the 2002 Games and because the [service name="utah-olympic-legacy-foundation"]Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation[/service] has kept up all of the facilities so well.”Izzy and Zoe AtkinThe young Atkin sisters, Izzy and Zoe, were passionate about winter sport. So a family move to Park City when they were young gave a dream playground and a strong club program to build their skills. Skiing for their mother's homeland of Great Britain, in 2018 Izzy won Olympic bronze in slopestyle skiing. This time, she's bring along younger sister Zoe who competes in halfpipe skiing.“It's just a really great place to be because everyone loves just to be outside and to do what they love to do like skiing and snowboarding, being outdoors. A lot of people have that athlete mindset. I went to the Winter Sports School - a whole school of winter sports athletes. It was great to be in that community. We all pushed each other. Everyone just kind of has that drive to be outside and have fun, but also to push themselves in sport.” - Zoe Atkin“Yeah, (PyeongChang 2018) was incredible. It was the first experience I'd ever had like that -  to have all those incredibly driven athletic people in one bubble and getting to know other people's stories, how they got to where they are today. That mindset in the village is super motivating. It was just an amazing experience for me to even go there.” - Izzy Atkin Nick PageStill a teen, Nick Page grew up in Park City skiing moguls with Wasatch Freestyle. In Beijing, he led Team USA finishing fifth as his family watched from home. He and friends like Olympic teammate Cole McDonald are the future of freestyle skiing - just fun-loving young athletes who love ripping around the mountain.“I think a big part of (the Utah sport culture) comes from the Salt Lake Olympics, and all the infrastructure that's been left in place for us to keep using. At [service name="deer-valley"]Deer Valley Resort[/service], we ski on Champion, the Olympic run. We train at the Utah Olympic Park. I know the Oval down in Salt Lake gets so much action. We're able to repurpose all that from 2002 and put it all back into the community to build these current level athletes, which is really special. I don't think that's something that always happens once a city has an Olympics.”Check out this episode of Last Chair to hear from Utah's own Team USA athletes, and learn more about how sport is positively impacting kids in the state.Park City Nation As the home of the most concentrated collection of Olympic venues in the state, the Park City Nation boasts 54 Olympians in Beijing from a half-dozen nations. Since the 2002 Olympics and Paralympics, the Youth Sports Alliance has introduced thousands of boys and girls to sport through its Get Out and Play and other programs. While every four years it gives locals a source of Olympic pride, what's even more beneficial is the positive impact that sport has in providing life skills to kids of all ages and backgrounds.Youth Sports AllianceFormed following the 2002 Olympic Games, the Youth Sports Alliance introduces kids to sports and inspires them to keep moving throughout their lives. It provides a wide range of after-school programming to keep kids active through Get Out and Play and other programs, while also serving as a pipeline to winter sport clubs and competitions. One of its most valuable assets is the Stein Eriksen YSA Opportunity Endowment, a $2-million need-based scholarship fund for competitive athletes.

On the 20th anniversary of 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, Nicole and Sarah visit the Salt Lake City area -  including the Utah Olympic Park and Woodward Park City. It's clear that the 2002 Olympics have left a lasting legacy throughout the area. We visited is the Utah Olympic Park (called the “UOP” by the locals).  The UOP  was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and is just 25 miles east of Salt Lake City.  The 400 acre venue houses one of only four sliding tracks (bobsleigh, luge, skeleton) luge, skeleton) in North America, six Nordic ski jumps, a 2002 Winter Games museum, and a multitude of adventure activities.  At the UOP we saw kids training slalom and moguls. We met a fellow ski mom, Barbara Wirostko Morelli and watched her daughter Cristina train freestyle moguls. We learned about how mogul competitions are scored and got some great advice for moms and kids interested in mogul competition. Cristina attends The Winter Sports School - a school for dedicated winter athletes that out of session during the winter months so she can train full time. We explored Woodward Park City, an indoor/outdoor sports facility and talked with Phoebe Mills, the General Manager of Woodward Park City (and an Olympic medalist). Inside Woodward Park City is a 66,000 square foot Action Sports Hub featuring an action sports concrete park, pump track, mini ramps, parkour zone, spring floor, Olympic grade trampolines, foam pits, and a digital media lab. Outside the Action Sports facility has skateparks, mountain biking and bmx terrain. Woodward offers a huge variety of indoor and outdoor sports options.Woodward's progression-based facilities help kids learn new skills and achieve their goals in a positive and safe environment. Kids advance through progression and air awareness, starting indoors on the spring floor, tramps, and foam pits, and then taking those skills and techniques outdoors, to the parks.  Woodward has a variety of winter and summer camps for kids from age 7-17.Just recently, Woodward Park City was named an official U.S. Ski & Snowboard Training Center through Jan. 2025. The partnership allows athletes to utilize Woodward's indoor and outdoor venues. Athletes will be training year-round in preparation for the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Italy. Please support our sponsor!Mabels Labels at www.mabelslabels.com and use code SKIMOMS for 15% off your first orderJoin the Ski Moms Fun Community!Follow us on Instagram @skimomsfunCheck out the Ski Moms Fun Store Email us at sarah@skimomsfun.com

The legend of Alf Engen goes back to the 1920s when Alf brought his brothers to America from Norway. In the midwest and later out in the mountains, they found a home in America as skiers. Alf became a great ski jumping champion and world record holder at Ecker Hill, near Park City. He spent time at Sun Valley but ultimately settled in Utah. In the 1930s, he was hired by the U.S. Forest Service to scout potential ski areas as the sport was booming. That led him to the mining town of Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon.Years later, Alf Engen would become intimately connected with Alta as its director of skiing. He became a figurehead for the sport and a friendly face who floated through powder on the flanks of High Rustler. He introduced thousands to the sport through his engagement with the Alta and Deseret News ski schools. He would later turn the reins over to son Alan, who succeeded him in the role.Father and son both became iconic figures in Utah ski history, both inducted into the Intermountain and U.S. Halls of Fame. Alan became an instrumental figure in archiving the history of skiing in Utah with his books, the 1998 For the Love of Skiing, and 2002 First Tracks."As I was growing up, I saw my father and uncles as living day representatives of winter legends of Norse mythology. I imagined all of the Engen brothers with their great physical strength, competitive drive and love of winter as evolving into skiing icons. And in truth, they actually have." - Alan EngenThis episode of Last Chair offers fascinating insights into the legend of Alf Engen and the lore of skiing in Utah. Here are a few snippets of the interview with Alan Engen. Listen in to Last Chair to learn more. Alan, as the son of Alf Engen I suspect you began skiing at an early age in Utah?I'll tell you a little story that comes from my mother, not me. But my mother was always fond of telling how I came into this world. The doctor who delivered me put tongue depressors on the bottom of my feet and then proudly handed me over to my father. So, that being the case, I've added a little extra to the story by saying I came pretty close to being born on skis.Growing up in Utah in the ‘40s and ‘50s, how did you see skiing grow?I knew that skiing was growing. I was going up to Alta just about every chance that I had to ski and I could watch the traffic and I could see more and more cars coming up to Alta all the time. So I knew the sport was on the map, but I didn't know exactly how it was going to grow. And I think my father played a big role in helping to develop that growth through the Deseret News Ski School. Because it was a free ski school, it was a community outreach. And that brought in virtually thousands of people that got their first start of skiing through the Deseret Ski School.Your father was a competitive athlete and later an instructor. How did that influence you?I taught, but I taught as an amateur, not as a professional. And I grew up in competition. Dad told me at a very early age, he said, ‘Alan, you don't have to follow me in competition if you don't want to. But, I'll give you one piece of advice. If you want to be an instructor, be an instructor. If you want to be a champion skier and in athletic competition, do that. But don't try to do them both at the same time because the temperament isn't the same.How did your father Alf Engen get connected with what was to become Alta?Dad was hired by the Forest Service in the mid-1930s to go up and start taking a look at potential ski areas. One of the first that he talked about was Alta, because it had been around for a lot of years as a mining town. They knew it had plenty of good snow, but they wanted to see whether it would actually be good for a ski area. And dad skied up over Catherine's pass from Brighton into Alta. And stayed with a couple of miners by the name of the Jacobsen brothers. That was the only way dad could get into Alta at that time. He did it in the middle of the winter, so he had to hike in. That was a powerful skier. He had strong legs so he could go through that deep snow all the way over Catherine's Pass. He dropped into the Albion Basin. It was a great place for a ski area, but the miners had denuded all of the tree coverage that held back the avalanches and dad. He went back to the Forest Service and said, ‘You know, yes, let's go ahead and develop the area. But for gosh sakes, we've got to put new trees in there, so it'll hold back the avalanches.How did Alta's signature run, High Rustler, come to be attached to your father?In the early days of Alta, in the 1940s, the run itself, the mountainside, was actually used and skiers would come up and they would hike up. They even put a little tow in there. But it eventually developed into a place that was very prominent at Alta. People would see it firsthand when they would come in. And in the 1980s, as a tribute to my father because it was such a prominent run, they renamed it Alf's High Rustler.Did you take a lot of pride in following in his footsteps?Well, I don't think anybody really follows in my dad's footsteps. He said some pretty deep tracks for me to follow, but I always had him as my idol. I truly felt that of all of the athletes I had the privilege of knowing in my lifetime, I thought my father was the one that I'd like to most closely emulate.Alf Engen Ski MuseumToday's Alf Engen Ski Museum, located at the Utah Olympic Park just off I-80 in Park City, is considered one of the finest ski museums in the world. In addition to showcasing Alf's hundreds of trophies, it features an in-depth history of the sport, especially in the Intermountain West. The museum is free and features a host of interactive exhibits that are especially fun for kids. “When we were talking to dad a little bit about having a ski museum, he says. ‘you gotta make it interesting for the kids,'” said Alan Engen. “He said, ‘build it around the kids so the kids have an interest and they can see what is happening with the ski sport and they will want to become a part of it.'”

The legend of Alf Engen goes back to the 1920s when Alf brought his brothers to America from Norway. In the midwest and later out in the mountains, they found a home in America as skiers. Alf became a great ski jumping champion and world record holder at Ecker Hill, near Park City. He spent time at Sun Valley but ultimately settled in Utah. In the 1930s, he was hired by the U.S. Forest Service to scout potential ski areas as the sport was booming. That led him to the mining town of Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon.Years later, Alf Engen would become intimately connected with Alta as its director of skiing. He became a figurehead for the sport and a friendly face who floated through powder on the flanks of High Rustler. He introduced thousands to the sport through his engagement with the Alta and Deseret News ski schools. He would later turn the reins over to son Alan, who succeeded him in the role.Father and son both became iconic figures in Utah ski history, both inducted into the Intermountain and U.S. Halls of Fame. Alan became an instrumental figure in archiving the history of skiing in Utah with his books, the 1998 For the Love of Skiing, and 2002 First Tracks."As I was growing up, I saw my father and uncles as living day representatives of winter legends of Norse mythology. I imagined all of the Engen brothers with their great physical strength, competitive drive and love of winter as evolving into skiing icons. And in truth, they actually have." - Alan EngenThis episode of Last Chair offers fascinating insights into the legend of Alf Engen and the lore of skiing in Utah. Here are a few snippets of the interview with Alan Engen. Listen in to Last Chair to learn more. Alan, as the son of Alf Engen I suspect you began skiing at an early age in Utah?I'll tell you a little story that comes from my mother, not me. But my mother was always fond of telling how I came into this world. The doctor who delivered me put tongue depressors on the bottom of my feet and then proudly handed me over to my father. So, that being the case, I've added a little extra to the story by saying I came pretty close to being born on skis.Growing up in Utah in the ‘40s and ‘50s, how did you see skiing grow?I knew that skiing was growing. I was going up to Alta just about every chance that I had to ski and I could watch the traffic and I could see more and more cars coming up to Alta all the time. So I knew the sport was on the map, but I didn't know exactly how it was going to grow. And I think my father played a big role in helping to develop that growth through the Deseret News Ski School. Because it was a free ski school, it was a community outreach. And that brought in virtually thousands of people that got their first start of skiing through the Deseret Ski School.Your father was a competitive athlete and later an instructor. How did that influence you?I taught, but I taught as an amateur, not as a professional. And I grew up in competition. Dad told me at a very early age, he said, ‘Alan, you don't have to follow me in competition if you don't want to. But, I'll give you one piece of advice. If you want to be an instructor, be an instructor. If you want to be a champion skier and in athletic competition, do that. But don't try to do them both at the same time because the temperament isn't the same.How did your father Alf Engen get connected with what was to become Alta?Dad was hired by the Forest Service in the mid-1930s to go up and start taking a look at potential ski areas. One of the first that he talked about was Alta, because it had been around for a lot of years as a mining town. They knew it had plenty of good snow, but they wanted to see whether it would actually be good for a ski area. And dad skied up over Catherine's pass from Brighton into Alta. And stayed with a couple of miners by the name of the Jacobsen brothers. That was the only way dad could get into Alta at that time. He did it in the middle of the winter, so he had to hike in. That was a powerful skier. He had strong legs so he could go through that deep snow all the way over Catherine's Pass. He dropped into the Albion Basin. It was a great place for a ski area, but the miners had denuded all of the tree coverage that held back the avalanches and dad. He went back to the Forest Service and said, ‘You know, yes, let's go ahead and develop the area. But for gosh sakes, we've got to put new trees in there, so it'll hold back the avalanches.How did Alta's signature run, High Rustler, come to be attached to your father?In the early days of Alta, in the 1940s, the run itself, the mountainside, was actually used and skiers would come up and they would hike up. They even put a little tow in there. But it eventually developed into a place that was very prominent at Alta. People would see it firsthand when they would come in. And in the 1980s, as a tribute to my father because it was such a prominent run, they renamed it Alf's High Rustler.Did you take a lot of pride in following in his footsteps?Well, I don't think anybody really follows in my dad's footsteps. He said some pretty deep tracks for me to follow, but I always had him as my idol. I truly felt that of all of the athletes I had the privilege of knowing in my lifetime, I thought my father was the one that I'd like to most closely emulate.Alf Engen Ski MuseumToday's Alf Engen Ski Museum, located at the Utah Olympic Park just off I-80 in Park City, is considered one of the finest ski museums in the world. In addition to showcasing Alf's hundreds of trophies, it features an in-depth history of the sport, especially in the Intermountain West. The museum is free and features a host of interactive exhibits that are especially fun for kids. “When we were talking to dad a little bit about having a ski museum, he says. ‘you gotta make it interesting for the kids,'” said Alan Engen. “He said, ‘build it around the kids so the kids have an interest and they can see what is happening with the ski sport and they will want to become a part of it.'”

Park City is so much more than a ski town! Jon and Jenn share their favorite winter activities to do in this city, just 30 miles from Salt Lake's airport. First off, did you know that the Sundance Film Festival is held there every January? Jon once ran into Mary-Kate Olsen, or maybe it was Ashley Olsen during Sundance. Jenn ate next to Woody Harrelson! Plus, the Utah Olympic Park is in Park City. Utah hosted the Olympics in 2002 and this museum lets you see the different events up close, including riding in a bobsled! If you're not into the cold, you can soak in the homestead crater: a geothermal crater that you can swim, scuba or paddle board in. But yes...the skiing and snowboarding in Park City is what brings in the tourists. You can choose from Deer Valley, Park City Mountain, Canyons or Woodward. All are special for their own reasons. Jenn talks about the fancy Montage Resort as well. Make sure to follow us on Instagram! @OurSavingsStartsTomorrow Also, tell a friend about our show or rate/review and subscribe! https://ratethispodcast.com/travel    

Joining Laura on the podcast this week is 3 time Olympian and 6 time National Champion in Aerial Skiing, Emily Cook. Currently the manager of sport and human potential at Skullcandy, Emily also manages programming for the non-profit, Classroom Champions, coaches young athletes at the Utah Olympic Park through the US Ski Team's Elite Aerial Development Program, and is an ambassador for Right to Play and Kids Play International. Throughout her career, Emily has routinely demonstrated her ability to overcome obstacles and elevate her game to new levels, and she shares her inspirational story with listeners here today.   In today's episode, Emily discusses her commitment towards her sport, her experiences at the World Cup and the Olympics, and the multiple emotions she went through while training. She also delves into dealing with injuries, making difficult decisions, and compares being a coach to being an athlete. She brings the conversation to a close by sharing details about the important work she does these days. An inspiring model of perseverance, Emily has so very much to share here today that is sure to motivate all who listen. Episode Highlights:   Emily's realization of her love for aerial skiing Dealing with injuries as an athlete Her experiences at the Olympics Emily's work at The Speedy Foundation How she had trust in her coach Emily's commitments in the sports sphere Being a coach vs. being an athlete                         Emily's work outside the sports sphere Quotes:   “So, I always determined before a training block, whether it was a three-week training block or something, what my negative thought stoppers would be, and, you know, exactly what mindset I wanted to be in on the hill. I use music a lot as well.'' “And then, every once in a while, like, as humans, we're just not reliable, we're not reliable to our own commitments.” “But regardless of who's there watching, you know…you've accomplished something that you set out to do so many years earlier, and it's an incredible feeling.'' “And so, it was a daily choice, it was a choice of showing up and showing up 100% no matter what, no matter what my mood was, no matter what was going on around me.'' “In the end of the day, knowing exactly what I wanted to accomplish, and then debriefing exactly what I did accomplish, so that I knew what I needed to change the next day in order to perform even better.'' Links: The Pursuit of Gold Homepage Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion 5 Smart Strategies to Confidence Conquer Your Fear in 5 Days                  Laura's Social Media: Laura's Instagram Laura's Facebook page     Connect with Emily:   Emily's Homepage   Classroom Champions   The Speedy Foundation

We're in Park City, Utah, with Lydia Kluge, a Google Maps Local Guide expert. Lydia and I talk about skiing at Deer Valley & Park City, visiting the Utah Olympic Park, and hiking the Wasatch Mountains. Show notes are at https://WeTravelThere.com/parkcity Bluffworks' stylish clothing is designed with the modern traveler in mind. It is wrinkle-resistant, machine washable, and very comfortable with hidden pockets to protect your valuables. Save 10% with our promo code at WeTravelThere.com/bluffworks.

Jennifer Wesselhoff is the President & CEO of the Park City Chamber of Commerce | Convention & Visitors Bureau (Chamber/Bureau). She has served in the position since October 2020. The Park City Chamber/Bureau is responsible for the marketing and management of Utah’s preeminent luxury tourism destination, driving revenues in excess of $1 billion annually. Park City is home to the Sundance Film Festival, the nation’s largest independent film event. The town’s two ski resorts served as major event sites for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the Utah Olympic Park continues to attract Olympians to Park City for high-altitude training. The town also is the headquarters for the US Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA). Park City hosts ski and snowboarding world championships on an annual basis and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has selected Utah for its next Winter Olympic bid in 2030. More than two million skiers hit the local slopes each year at both Park City Mountain, featuring the nation’s largest ski terrain, and Deer Valley Resort, consistently rated amongst the top ski resorts in North America. In summer months, more than one million visitors flock to Park City for hiking, blue-ribbon fly-fishing and biking on its 400-mile trail system. Prior to arriving in Park City, Jennifer was CEO/President of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau, which she joined in 2007. During her tenure, she led Sedona, Arizona to national recognition as a destination. Jennifer guided the Sedona Chamber’s accreditation as a Destination Management Organization, led the development of Arizona’s first Sustainable Tourism Plan, and saw tourism grow to become Sedona’s largest industry, with a $1 billion annual impact and 10,000 tourism-related jobs. She most recently represented the region on the Governor’s Economic Recovery Task Force. Jennifer developed and launched successful brand strategies for Sedona, including the “Sedona, the Most Beautiful Place on Earth” campaign and the “Find Your Room to Play” campaign. Jennifer is a Certified Destination Management Executive with Destination Marketing Association International and is a frequent speaker and consultant on sustainable tourism best practices. She was the former Sedona Certified Film Commissioner with the Association of Film Commissioners International. Before joining the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau, Jennifer taught English in Japan and spent three years in the hospitality industry in Interlaken, Switzerland. She is conversant in three foreign languages and holds bachelor’s degrees in French and Communications from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. When Jennifer and her husband Rick are not running, biking and hiking, they enjoy cooking and traveling with friends. Destination on the Left is joined by Jennifer Wesselhoff, the President and CEO of the Park City Chamber of Commerce, Convention, and Visitors Bureau. On our podcast, Jennifer shares her passion for sustainable tourism and talks about the steps you can take to implement it in your own community. She teaches us what DMOs can do to better communicate with their communities and grow the destination organically. And she also explains how the pandemic has provided destinations with an opportunity to rethink tourism for years to come. What You Will Learn: Jennifer’s journey into the travel and tourism industry Jennifer’s passion for sustainable tourism and the steps you can take to implement it in your own community How to balance the four pillars of sustainable tourism Why DMOs need to put more focus on communicating with their residents and local communities How the pandemic has provided destinations with an opportunity to rethink tourism Attracting quality vs. quantity when it comes to visitors The Park City Chamber of Commerce, Convention, and Visitors Bureau Destination on the Left is joined by Jennifer Wesselhoff, the President and CEO of the Park City Chamber of Commerce, Convention, and Visitors Bureau. On our podcast, Jennifer shares her passion for sustainable tourism and talks about the steps you can take to implement it in your own community. She teaches us what DMOs can do to better communicate with their communities and grow the destination organically. And she also explains how the pandemic has provided destinations with an opportunity to rethink tourism for years to come. Becoming a Leader in the Pandemic Jennifer started her journey in Park City in October of 2020—an interesting time to say the least. Starting a new position, with new people, in a new organization is enough to test any leader, let alone when it is taking place in a remote work environment. Jennifer, however, brings a ton of experience to the table, and she was able to find her stride quickly through the use of creativity and collaboration. Her passion for sustainable tourism has helped her develop those skills day in and day out, and it is a concept we can all benefit from exploring in our own organizations and communities. The Four Pillars of Community Jennifer defines sustainable tourism as a way to balance the four pillars of the community, and it lifts up everyone who is apart of it. The pillars are: creating and retaining a vibrant economy, the visitor experience, impact on quality of life, and protecting the environment. While Jennifer always took a data-driven approach to destination marketing, the four pillars of community helped her reshape the lens with which she looked at the data. It gave her a new perspective for addressing unique challenges within the community, and it provided her with an opportunity to partner with other organizations and businesses in the region to solve those challenges. Sustainable tourism is something any destination can adopt to transform the core principles of the community, and there is so much to gain from it. Website: https://www.visitparkcity.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-wesselhoff-8960599/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/park-city-chamberbureau/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisitParkCity Twitter: @jennwesselhoff

In this episode of The Mountain Life Tom Kelly , Board Member of the Alf Egen Museum at Utah Olympic Park comes on to talk about the RAP tax. This tax is voted on for it's continuence every 10 years known as proposition 21 on the 2020 ballot. The Recreation Arts and Parks (RAP) is a .1% sales tax that raises almost 2 million dollars a year. The monies are allocated to non profit applicants like the Alf Egen Museum to help with the programs they offer to the community.

Tony Vitrano, one of the world's leading event transport experts, joins the Salt Lake 2002 Retrospective podcast and revisits Utah Olympic Park with his family, a move from Florida and an unexpected helping hand from an American icon (recorded 26 August...

On today's Local News Hour : ( 00:44) Summit County Council Member Doug Clyde has a re-cap of this week's meeting. ( 14:42) Snyderville Basin Planning Commission Chair Ryan Dickey has a re-cap of Tuesday’s meeting that focused on the Dakota Pacific project at Kimball Junction. ( 28:55) U.S. Ski Team Moguls Skier Jaelin Kauf and two-time Olympian and U.S Ski Hall of Famer Trace Worthington have details about the Virtual Moguls event happening August 18 th at the Utah Olympic Park. ( 36:16) Youth Sports Alliance Director Emily Fisher gives and update on the latest from YSA.

Tune in to Mountain Money, Monday morning, as (1:35) Diego Zegarra, Community Impact Director with the Park City Community Foundation, spent time with Mountain Money hosts Roger Goldman and Alison Kuhlow, talking about how the ending of coronavirus-relief legislation and how it will impact individuals and families in our community and what additional resources are now be needed. (23:21) Colin Hilton, President and CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation joined Mountain Money to talk about how the three Olympic venues, Utah Olympic Park, Utah Olympic Oval and Soldier Hollow are meeting the needs of athletes while still maintaining public operations that help keep the organization funded. (45:39) Greg Poirier and Clint Jones with Heber Valley Brewing, Heber’s first craft brewery, ended the hour discussing their new venture.

Executive Director of the Mountain Trails Foundation Charlie Sturgis with his weekly report (00:01 ) President and CEO of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation Colin Hilton has details on the phased reopening of the Utah Olympic Park.(03:08) Park City School District Chief Operating Officer Mike Tanner talks about security upgrades and what the district is doing to prepare for the reopening of schools in August. preparedness for school opening and other operational business.(20:35) KPCW General Manager Renai Miller and Development Manager John Boyack have details about KPCW's upcoming 40th anniversary.(33:21)

Travel Gluten Free Podcast Episode 74 Salt Lake Connect Pass   Welcome to the Travel Gluten Free Podcast, where you can listen in on how to lead a gluten-free lifestyle with more fun and ease! Travel Gluten Free gives you valuable information from finding a safe restaurant to knowing what food is safe to eat when you travel, I'll be with you every step of the way on your gluten-free journey. Lead your gluten-free life, don't let being gluten-free lead your life. Enjoy Food, Enjoy Travel and Enjoy Life with your show host Elikqitie!   Grab a Salt Lake Connect Pass In this episode, we are going to dive into things to do in Salt Lake City on the Salt Lake Connect Pass. Salt Lake Connect Pass is a pass that has multiple venues on the pass which you can get admission to for one low price! There are over a dozen venues on this pass which you can purchase for up to one year of use. Listen to episode 74, where I talk about what you can do with Salt Lake Connect Pass, how you can purchase one and how you can share your pass with a friend!   The Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass is a ticket to Salt Lake’s best attractions for one low price. Connect Pass includes 16 activities at 13 venues.  Choose from a variety of museums, cultural and heritage sites such as Clark Planetarium, Discovery Gateway, The Leonardo, Lion House Pantry, Tracy Aviary.    The University of Utah participates in the Salt Lake Connect Pass with the Natural History Museum of Utah, Red Butte Garden. Utah's Hogle Zoo, This Is The Place Heritage Park, Utah Museum of Fine Arts are located near the mouth of Emigration Canyon. Southern Salt Lake City area is home to Thanksgiving Point's Museum of Ancient Life, and Museum of Natural Curiosity.    You can also check out two mountain resorts with this pass: Snowbird Aerial Tram,  and Utah Olympic Park, latter of which is located in Kimball Junction, Park City, Utah.   Art Museums There are multiple art museums you can check out while you’re in Salt Lake City. Make sure to check hours for each art museum on their websites listed here. The Utah Museum of Fine Art is all about the history of art across the world. There are two museums that host modern art and are free and open to the public:  Urban Arts Gallery and the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art.    Science and Nature Museums From pre-historic dinosaurs to science, STEM and gardens, Salt Lake has a myriad of science and nature museums to see. See exhibits, movies, planetarium shows and IMAX shows exploring space and technology at Clarke Planetarium.  Find dinosaurs lurking about, Native American cultural artifacts and learn about genetics the Natural History Museum of Utah. When you visit The Museum of Natural Curiosity you’ll get to explore over 400 different interactive exhibits - no two visits will ever be the same. For an eclectic mix of art and science, check out The Leonardo.    Show Resources   Grab the Guide to Traveling Gluten Free https://amzn.to/2NlZugf   Get the BEST all-natural gluten-free travel cosmetics at Lemongrass Spa! https://www.ourlemongrassspa.com/19314/content/shop.aspx   Looking for a Great Travel Deal? Visit my Travel Deals page on my website! It's packed with deals for discount airfare, car rental, airport parking and much more, including discount trips to Italy.    Support Travel Gluten Free! For as little as $3 a month, become a show sponsor through Patreon.com Support the podcast which supports you, Travel Gluten Free!   Journey with Travel Gluten Free on Social Media Twitter      Facebook    Youtube      Pinterest    Instagram    On the Web   Spread the love of Travel Gluten Free podcast and share this episode with a friend

Musical guest Mel Soul performed in the KPCW studios. Sydney Colston, a 20+ year Hollywood actor, director, producer, writer, and videographer from the Academy Award & Grammy Award winning team that produced “20 Feet From Stardom” talks about the Midway Multicultural Music & Film Festival . Rob Sergent of Alpine Distilling announced his upcoming partnership with Utah Olympic Park.

Episode 33 Visit Park City with Cabbott Wooley   This episode I talk with a local to Park City, whom you can find on Instagram at The Park City Guy. Cabbott, who has lived in Park City full-time for the past two years, has a history with Park City dating back to his grandparents and his wife's grandparents!   We know Park City has world-class skiing, but did you know you can ride a bobsled with a professional team, or go for a fat tire bike ride in the winter? I chat with the Park City Guy as we delve into the lesser known fun activities in the winter AND the summertime in Park City.   Listen in as we chat about fat bike riding, mountain biking, bobsledding, Utah Olympic Park and some of the many fun adventures and activities you can explore and do while in Park City in the winter and the summer. Top View NYC Going to NYC this fall? Want to get in all the highlights on a great tour? The tours I like are the open-air hop on, hop off bus tours. If you are looking for the best sightseeing tour in NYC, I suggest Top View New York City. In addition to bus tours, you can tour the city with Top View New York City through cruise tours on the water, bike toursand bike rentalsas well. Click the links to book your NYC tour starting at just $29! Auto Europe With a car rental from Auto Europe, you can make changes to your rental at any time for no additional fee. If you ever need to cancel your car rental, you can do so and receive a full refund as long as it is done at least three days prior to the pick up date Book today to lock in these great rates! Free upgrades in select countries when you book your rental with us. Click here for 30% off car rentals in the US! Support Travel Gluten Free! For as little as $3 a month, become a show sponsor through Patreon.com Support the podcast which supports you, Travel Gluten Free! Air B'n'B Discount Looking for a warm getaway this year?Find your place to stay on Air B'n'B! Click here for a link to receive $40 credit towards your stay! Float Away... Have you experienced floating? No? It's an experience like no other! Relax and float weightless in a pool of salt water. I found it very helpful for relieving the pain of Fibromyalgia! Click here to book your session with Sync Float use code cx-604250   Connect with The Park City Guy on Instagram Journey with Travel Gluten Free on Social Media Twitter Facebook Youtube Pinterest Instagram On the Web Spread the love of Travel Gluten Free podcast and share this episode with a friend!

A conversation with Robert Lazzaroni, the Nordic Domestic Program Director at U.S. Ski and Snowboard (USSA). USSA is the National Federation for Olympic skiing and snowboarding, including Alpine Skiing, Nordic Sports, Freestyle Skiing, Freeskiing and Snowbaording. Before coming to U.S. Ski and Snowboard, Robert spent 17 years as the Nordic Product Manager at Rossignol. He also served as the Manager of Nordic Programs for the Utah Olympic Park which includes the Park City Nordic Ski Club.

Utah's Hogle Zoo, Red Butte Garden, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Clark Planetarium, Utah Olympic Park, Snowbird Ski Resort, Tracy Aviary, This is the Place Heritage Park, Thanksgiving Point, The Natural History Museum, The Leonardo and more are included in the Salt Lake City Connect Pass presented by Visit Salt Lake. A 1, 2, 3, or 365 day pass that includes free entrance to 16 different attractions in Utah and extreme discounts after that! This is the ultimate exploration or tourist pass, all for a very fair price with incredible savings. Get out there and ENJOY YOUR UTAH!

During the chat they break down $7.1 billion ski-industry and what that means for tourism in a top ski town. Additionally, Bill also shares his marketing expertise with us revealing how a city can come together as a collective to all find success. Did you know that Park City is the biggest ski resort in the USA after Vail Resorts bought Park City Mountain Resorts (PCMR) for $182.5 million this Sept. and announced they’ll connect Canyons Resorts and PCMR to form a 7,000-acre+mega resort. And did you know Park City is home to the Utah Olympic Park, the venue for several events during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games and Sundance Film Festival. Approximately 45,000+ visitors spend on average a total of $63.9 million during this 10-day period (happening every January), making this world-renowned destination an expert in hosting major events in the tourism industry. You are going to find inspiration here and how to make successes in your market too

Agenda: Interview with GEAR:30 Athlete, Austin Hansel. Evolv, Mammut, Rack and Road, and Momentum Climbing Gym round out Hansel's sponsors. Hansel recently competed in the Sport Climbing Nationals where he placed 6th in Speed Climbing. The 15-year-old crusher also recently worked backstage at the lauded Psicobloc Comp in Park City, Utah where the worlds best senders attempted 50 foot routes overhanging water at the Utah Olympic Park.  News: • Aussie Wins Tour of Utah Second Stage • Basin Joins Powder Alliance • Longboarders Petition to Legalize Skating on Ogden Roads • More Warnings Posted at The Wave • Outdoor Recreation Brings $12B to Utah • Snowboarder Dies in Mount Hood Tunnel Collapse • Camping is the Cure • Psicobloc Results • New Regulations and Monitoring on Mount Everest • First SUP 100 Mile Race • Dude is Bitten By Shark, Hit By Lightning, Punched By Monkeys • Dead Shark Rides Subway • Zookeeper Suspended for Punching Seal • So, a Bear Walks Into a Bar… Events: • 8.8 – WSU Outdoor Program Rock Climbing Clinic - Traditional Climbing • 8.9-10 R-Scape, 18 Hours of Ogden • 8.9-11 - WSU Outdoor Program Snake River Rafting Trip • 8.16-17 Ragnar Trail Snowbasin • 8.22-24 – GEAR:30 Intro To Kayaking Class • 8.23 - WSU Outdoor Program Weber River IK Trip • Weber Pathways is offering Wed Night Hikes GEAR:30: Outdoor Retailer – Trail Running Shoes Contour Closes Shop? Quote of the Week: "The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders." - Edward Abbey