Park City March 7 – 11, 2018

One of the great things about travel is the people you meet. And not just for the diversity of experiences that brings; it can also help facilitate further travel. During one of my travels I encountered a tour group having some troubles in a foreign country that I was able to help them with. As a result, the tour manager introduced me to the tour operator who subsequently threw some tour manager gigs my way.

If you are organized, good with people and able to react quickly and think on your feet, working as a tour manager can be a fun way to have somebody else pay for your travel. It also is a good way to meet other people in the travel industry. And sometimes those connections pay-off. Such as with a discounted ski trip to Park City.

A tour operator I know had some people pull out of a group trip at the last minute; much too late to get refunds from the airlines, hotel or transport company. As a convenience to his clients, the tour operator contacted people he knew who are willing to travel at a moment’s notice (me!) to try and sell the trip to get some money for his clients. As a result, I got a very nice ski trip package for an even nicer price.

It had been many years since I had been in Park City in the winter. I have made a few trips in the summer to train at altitude for some bicycle races – there are many challenging and scenic bike rides in and around Park City. But that is a different story, this is about a ski trip.

The group I was travelling with was a ski club from a high tech company that organizes an employee ski trip each year. And even though I was not part of their company, they welcomed me into their group when we met to check-in at the Delta gate.

After a direct flight to Salt Lake City, the tour manager organized having our bags transferred from baggage claim to the waiting luxury bus that would take us the rest of the way up to Park City.  We made one quick stop at a state liquor store where the members of the group bought more liquor than I thought would be possible for that number of people to drink – I was wrong; they were a fun group and liked to party.

The Park City ski resort consists of three separate and distinct base area; Park City Canyon Village, Park City Mountain Village and Historic Park City. Away from the mountain is the town of Park City and down the valley a little is Kimball Junction.

We stayed at the Shadow Ridge Resort Hotel which has a both hotel rooms and condo units. I had a condo with a small kitchen. The hotel was located in the Park City Mountain Village within easy walking distance to the lifts.  Although there were some good restaurants in the Mountain Village and even more and better eating options in Historic Park City (which is a long walk in the winter, but an quick free bus ride from the Mountain Village), I cooked most of my meals in my room, as I was travelling on a budget. There are also additional and more economical eating options in Kimball Junction.

There had not been much new snow in the few weeks before we arrived, but the grooming crew at Park City did a good job of taking care of what they had. The views from the peaks, while spectacular, revealed how little snow there was in the surrounding area. There are many fun and challenging runs in Park City, and due to the sheer size of the resort, it would take a few days of dedicated effort to ski or board them all. I was boarding. I brought my snowboard because the weather forecast was for snow while we were in Park City and I was looking forward to some fresh powder (which never materialized). Cannot always predict the weather, all you can do is adapt and enjoy what you get. After I had my board re-waxed, it was a lot easier to appreciate what we had.

There are many positive aspects about both the Park City ski resort and the various base areas, but in my opinion, the one major negative is the other people on the mountain. Crowds are always a drawback, but this is more about the type of person rather than the sheer numbers. Different ski areas have different personalities and attract different types of people.

As skiing is a rather expensive pastime, most skiers are pretty affluent. But the skiers at Park City (compared to some other ski areas in the Salt Lake City area) seemed to want to flaunt it more and approached their days on the mountain with an arrogant and entitled attitude which made some runs unpleasant and even dangerous. But with a little bit of effort, it is possible to find some peaceful and quiet runs on which to relax and enjoy the beauty of nature and the thrill on hurling down a mountain covered with frozen water with a piece of hardwood sandwiched between some layers of fiberglass attached to your feet.