Dec. 04--If bigger means better, then skiers have a new benchmark.
When the snows come to the Rockies, Utah's famed Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort will be merged into a single mega-ski area called Park City under new owner Vail Resorts.
A single lift ticket will provide skiers with access to more than 7,300 acres of skiable terrain spread across 17 peaks in the Wasatch Range. That's 1,500 more acres than the old champ, Big Sky, in Montana.
Prior to Vail's purchase of Park City, it and Canyons shared a boundary that ran along Pine Cone Ridge. Over the summer, construction workers strung an 8,000-foot-plus gondola across the ridge. The 81/2-minute gondola ride will carry skiers in both directions between the Canyons base area and the Park City base. It will provide a loading and unloading station at the top of the ridge so skiers can choose whichever runs beckon, including new runs down the Canyons side.
What won't change is the character of each mountain and the respective resort areas at their bases. What will change is the ease of moving between the two resorts. Skiers staying in the Canyons area will be able to ski that area in the morning, take the gondola into Park City for lunch at High West Distillery, ski that area in the afternoon and return to their lodges without ever getting off the mountain.
While the gondola is the most imposing part of the resort's changes, skiers also will encounter several updated lifts and upgrades in the on-mountain dining scene, including a new, glass-walled restaurant at the base of the gondola.
--Park City isn't the only Utah ski resort with new ownership: Solitude Mountain Resort is now owned by Deer Valley. Skiers won't notice much in the way of changes though. Management intends to maintain the resorts as individual entities. Only holders of season passes will receive some reciprocal ski days.
Two of Canada's major resorts are celebrating milestone anniversaries this season: Sunshine in Banff in Alberta will be 90 years old, and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia will mark its 50th anniversary. This year's changes at Whistler, which was named the favorite ski resort in North America in Ski Magazine's annual poll, are focused on the lodges and restaurants. Its high-end on-mountain lunch spot, Christine's, has gotten a new chef and a new menu to celebrate.
The trend toward multiresort lift tickets continues to expand across the industry, with new ski areas joining the various umbrella groups.
The Max Pass group (www.themaxpass.com) now includes 22 resorts spread across the country, from Sugarloaf in Maine to Mount Bachelor in Oregon. Purchasers of the Max Pass get five days of skiing at each of the resorts that are part of the group. Midwestern skiers should note that Boyne and Boyne Highlands are members of Max Pass this season. Skiers who buy a season pass at one of the 22 resorts can add the other 21 for roughly a third of the cost of the Max Pass itself. Among the other resorts in this group: Mont Tremblant, Killington, Steamboat Springs, Copper Mountain and Big Sky.
The Mountain Collective (www.mountaincollective.com) also has added a number of iconic members, including Chamonix in the Alps, and Sun Valley, Idaho. Buying the Collective's pass includes a total 16 days of skiing across the member resorts. Skiers should note, however, that those 16 days include just two at each resort, although additional days may be purchased at a discount. Whistler Blackcomb, Banff, Aspen, Jackson Hole and Taos Ski Valley are among the big names on the Collective's roster.
Vail Resorts Epic Pass (www.snow.com/epic-pass.aspx) includes unlimited skiing at all of its resorts. For those skiers thinking about Europe, Epic Pass also includes five days of skiing in Verbier, Switzerland. For those who don't get enough skiing in the winter, the pass includes Vail's newest resort: Perisher in Australia. Skiers also can buy more limited versions of the Epic Pass if that better suits their plans.
Getting to use all those special lift passes is becoming easier this season with many resorts getting increased airline service for the winter.
Flights serving Telluride and other southwestern Colorado resorts, for example, are increasing by about 50 percent, with new nonstops from Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Phoenix. From other cities, connections also are available through Denver. Flights into Vail and Aspen also have increased this season.
Park City by the numbers
Skiable terrain: 7,300 acres
Trails: 298
Bowls: 14
Vertical drop: 3,200 feet
Peak elevation: 10,000 feet (top of Jupiter Bowl)
Base elevation: 6,800 feet (Canyons base area)
