Park City and Canyons 2015 Expansion and New Connection

Posted by Sean Matyja on Monday, December 8th, 2014 at 9:58am.

Vail Resorts announces the most impactful capital plan in the history of U.S. ski industry with more than $50 million of improvements are planned for next season!


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Vail Resorts plans to link two of North America’s greatest ski areas – creating the largest resort in the United States with 7,300 acres of skiable terrain. The plan outlines more than $50 million worth of resort improvements in 2015 that include. Already, the EPIC pass allows skiers to choose which mountain to ski for the day, PCMR or Canyons. Soon the resorts will be connected.

The Interconnect Gondola

An eight-passenger, high-speed gondola running from the base of the existing Silver Lift at Park City to the Flatiron Lift at Canyons. When conditions allow, gondola passengers will be able to unload at the top of Pine Cone Ridge and ski or ride directly down to Park City's Thaynes Canyon trail via gated ski access or to the Iron Mountain area at Canyons through new trails that will be created from Pine Cone Ridge.

This has been a dream for many of us for years, and now this is finally going to happen. The ability to ski both resorts in one day will make this one of the most sought after destination ski resorts in the U.S. if not the world. For owners of property at The Colony at White Pine Canyon they are right in the middle of it all. And owners of Silver Star will has quick access to both resorts now. Basically everyone in town benefits with this new and upcoming resort expansion.

Upgrade of King Con and Motherlode Lifts at Park City

King Con will be upgraded from a 4-person to 6-person high-speed detachable chair, meaning increased lift capacity. Motherlode will switch from a fixed-grip triple to a 4-person high-speed detachable, similarly improving the number of guests it can carry.

Great upgrades here. The upgrade of King Con from a 4 person to 6 person lift will allow for more skiers to get up the mountain in the morning, often a location that can get clogged up early in the day. And the mother load lift has always been a slow normal triple chair, and now will be upgraded to a four-person high-speed quad which will allow much quicker laps on some great terrain such as the Motherlode Meadows. This was always a desired area to Head to on a powder day but the very long and very slow lift was discouraging.

New Snow Hut Restaurant, Upgrades to Summit House Restaurant at Park City and Expansion of Red Pine Lodge at Canyons

A completely new Snow Hut restaurant, replacing the current Snow Hut next to the base of Park City's Silverlode Lift and the Park City terminal for the Interconnect Gondola, will include 500 indoor seats and a top-of-the-line kitchen and culinary experience. Meanwhile, upgrades to Summit House will improve the flow of diners and increase seating. At Canyons, Red Pine Restaurant will be renovated to the tune of 250 additional indoor seats.

We will be extremely happy to see upgrades at the restaurants on the mountain. The food has always been decent for a ski resort but the service was always extremely unorganized and slow. Waiting in food lines for a long time watching staff with no concept of customer service has always been so frustrating. This is an area that needed major improvements and we are looking forward to changes here.

Snowmaking and Other Improvements

The plan rounds out with additional snowmaking on two trails in Canyons’ Iron Mountain area to handle increased skier traffic for Interconnect Gondola access. We’ll also be putting almost $5 million of "catch up" maintenance and upgrades at Park City, given the lack of spending at the resort over the past few years. This “catch up” maintenance spending is in addition to the normal annual maintenance capital for the two resorts of $5 million, which will be undertaken this year as well.

Added and improved snowmaking Will be great for both resorts. The more snow they can blow early in the season allows them to create a much better base which helps to get more terrain open earlier in the year and helps keep a much better snow quality for periods in the middle of the ski season where we get more sun than snow.

Overall we are very excited for all of these announced upgrades and expansions and this new resort connection. The entire on-mountain experience will be dramatically improved and this really will be one of the most desirable ski resort destinations in the country.

Sean Matyja - Realtor® / Associate Broker
Mobile: (435) 901-2158 | Email: sean@enjoyparkcity.com 

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