If Alta is all about the skiing, then Park City is all about the vacation. As a full service resort, the ski area offers a variety of activities to skiers and non-skiers alike. The base area is replete with many restaurants, ice skating and shopping. My wife was able to find several distractions, including a tour of Marriott’s new timeshare condominiums. Prices reflect the tourist focus. An all day lift ticket (which also allows night skiing on selected intermediate runs) costs $61.00.
Park City is huge. With 100 named trails (18 beginner, 44 intermediate and 38 advanced/expert) and 3300 acres, it caters to every skier and snow boarder whim. The young and/or adventurous can try the snow parks with half-pipes and man-made obstacles. Tamer intermediates like me can find all degrees of cruising runs as well as varying levels of mogul runs. I made it a point to cover all areas of the mountain, working from the Payday quad up and over to the King Con quad. The mid-mountain restaurant looked interesting, on the back side of Jupiter Peak, but time did not permit a stop. A ride up Payday and Bonanza lifts followed by a short ski down to Pioneer lift put me on the far side. Here I made a mistake. I jumped onto Jupiter lift for some crazy reason and found myself at the top of Jupiter bowl. From Jupiter Peak there is only one way down: steep, double black diamond, ungroomed, tree-filled runs. This is beyond my comfort zone, but I did master it. Somewhat spent, I took the long intermediate run, Thayne’s Canyon, down to King Con. This was a waste as the slope is little more than a snow road.. A better option would be to exit the Pioneer lift and cut over to Parley’s Peak which provides several options on the way to King Con.
We lunched at the Pig Pen, a "membership" club where a neighborly member offered to sponsor us. The Pig Pen is spartan, but the service was friendly and the views of the slopes from the second floor were pleasant. Three of us dined on a sausage and cheese platter. Nothing special, but an altogether economical lunch. Standard grill items such as hamburgers completed the menu.
After skiing we briefly stopped at The Moose. It has a green clapboard front with a decidedly old west feel, an outdoor counter, portable patio heaters and jumble of picnic tables. Inside, it has another counter serving grilled and limited deli items and two dining rooms. Both rooms are small and bare, one has a TV playing sports shows.
Check out Park City’s web site for information at www.parkcitymountain.com.