Park City, Utah

I just returned from our annual ski trip which we usually take the week between Christmas and New Year's, this year however, we went the week before Christmas.  We returned to Park City Utah where we visited three years ago.  We even stayed at the same resort, Hotel Park City.  The HPC is a five star resort and we stayed in the same cottage (#5) which has a perfect view of the ski runs and lake.  The cottages are separate from the hotel and are away from all the noise of the hotel.  Each cottage has (3) fireplaces, one which is on the patio next to the private hot tub.  The cottages all have leather furnishings, flat panel LCD's, wireless Internet and a small kitchen for light meals.  It's convenient to Park City Mountain Resort, Deer Valley and Canyons.  Downtown Park City is 5 miles away.  They also have one of the best spa's I've every been in.  80 minute deep tissue massage after 4 days of skiing and boarding never felt so good.  This property also has a Ruth Chris steak house on site and a free daily skiers buffet for breakfast.

We did a combo this year, 2 days snowboarding and 2 days skiing.  We also opted to fly into Salt Lake City instead of the usual drive in from California.  The flight was only 1 1/2 hours and the drive to Park City was 30 minutes.  I can't get to Big Bear that fast.  Flying made sense since I paid for the tickets with my AMEX and Delta Sky Miles points (the best deal in the world for frequent flyer's). 

Other destinations we considered this year included: Whistler, Mammoth, and Vail.  We did mammoth the last two years and were really looking for a new spot we haven't visited but after calculating the cost to fly, time on the mountain, and value for the money, Park City topped the list.

As a side trip, we took a 2 hour detour to Olympic Park, site of the 2002 Olympics for ski jumping, bobsled, skeleton, and free style jumps.  They have a great museum on the site featuring the history of skiing, local ski areas and of course the Olympics of 2002 where the US finished 2nd overall.  My real intention for going was to have a ride on the bobsled's.  For $200 you can ride the actual bobsled down the track that those crazy Jamaicans flew down in the Olympics.  Unfortunately, they were working on the ice so we didn't get our ride.

For info on The Hotel Park City see http://www.hotelparkcity.com/
For info on the Park City Olympic Park see http://www.utah.com/parkcity/olympic_park.htm

We had a great time as usual, I really like Park City because it has a lot of character from the early 1800's and since the winter Olympics, they have made a significant investment into the infrastructure of the town so it's very top notch as a ski destination.

The snow in Park City is very dry due to the fact that the moister picked up from nearby Salt Lake creates a much fluffier power then anywhere else I've skied.  What this means it that the precipitation to snow yield is about 8x's the average resort destination so they always are pretty reliable for good conditions.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

This is the view from our porch, Hotel Park City

The Old Barn on the road to Park City

I'm ready to snowboard

Brooke and Brad prepare to take off

Brooke and Bradley getting along outside our cottage

Betsy and I outside our cottage

Deer Valley is probably the nicest ski resort I've been to, they have bathrooms that look like a hotel.