Park City Resort, Utah

Want to ski the biggest resort in the U.S.? Brush up on your map-reading skills.

 

- Samantha Berman

IT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM LAST SKI SEASON: my husband and three sons pausing with a sprawling mountain backdrop filling the view behind them. My oldest son’s poles are spread akimbo as if he fancies himself ruler of this expansive ski kingdom, plotting to conquer each and every run.

It was snapped during our visit to the new, reconceived Park City Resort last February, and every time I look at it I’m reminded of the vastness of the place and what a fun adventure our family had during our time there. Interestingly, by the time I actually visited, I felt like I’d been writing about it for years. The lead-up to the connection of former Canyons Resort and Park City Mountain Resort via gondola was much anticipated, both by the ski universe at large and by the local community.

“It’s going to take years even for locals to get a feel for the mountain,” says Jeremy Pugh, a writer from Salt Lake City who skied 25-ish days at the new resort last season. “It’s hard to digest, the sheer size of it. That’s the fun of it. It feels like you’re off on a boyhood adventure.”

Adventure. That’s a recurring theme at this place. Because with over 7,000 skiable acres and 41 lifts, you need a sense of adventure to tackle it.

In case you’ve been living under a mogul, here’s the abridged backstory. In 2013 Vail signed a 50-year lease with Canyons’ parent company, Talisker, to run the resort, then purchased Park City Mountain Resort in 2014 after higher-ups there failed to renew a lease in time (long story). Vail announced plans to merge the two via the Quicksilver gondola before the ink on the sale contract was even dry. The gondie opened in time for the start of the 2015 season.