Mountainside/ Park City

[hipslo]

We are spending the week at Mountainside in Park City. We have been here every year at this time since 2007, though we skipped last year, so its been two years since we have last been here.

The room, lobby and owners' lounge renovations look great, and they continue to do a very nice job here. One small complaint - free coffee in the lounge is no longer provided, though it is available from the markeplace next to the front desk beginning at 5 am (for $2.50 per cup!)

As always, we love skiing at PCMR. The 2 feet of new snow that we got just as we arrived (which was desperately needed after a record setting poor snowfall season to date) certainly didnt hurt.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that compared to prior years, Park City feels like a bit of a ghost town. Restaurants that used to have lines out the door have been seating us right away, Main Street just seems sort of quiet, and we actually got a table at the Snow Hut on the mountain during the heart of lunchtime. Has anyone else noticed this in Park City this season? I assume its due to the poor snow season so far, but maybe my experience hasnt been typical?

 

[sea&ski]

We were at Mountainside last week. It was very warm, skied PC twice, then Alta, Snowbird and Canyons. We enjoyed having ZERO lift lines. (A month earlier we had two AZ resorts all to ourselves as well.) All of the resorts have done a great job of keeping their snow usable. However, Park City was by far the hardest (in the morning) and the mushiest (right after noon onward) so probably wasn't locals first choice for a ski hill. Several regulars commented on the odd "feel" to the snow and I think that in general, vacation-goers have planned other spring destinations knowing that there was a bad year in store for the west. True that there seemed to be fewer people in PC itself, but we always go out to dinner early and avoid the crowds. We drove by Red Iguana #1 and moved on to #2 down in SLC because the crowds were 3 deep out the door. Not all the venues are hurting...

BTW, the lunch place at the base of the town lift had the most patrons we have ever seen, can't explain that one - but perhaps because it was warm, there were more than just skiers around.

 

[Cobra1950]

We were at Mountainside several weeks ago and would have same comments about general lack of people in Park City. Recent announcement in Park Record paper about PCMR saying they may not reopen next ski season if they cannot resolve what they feel are issues with their land lease probably is not helping

 

[mcow2011]

Yes fewer people at PC this year

That is mainly due to the lack of snow early in the season.

It has been a rough year for most ski resorts in the West this year.

Lots of snow now and no lines, just the way I like it.

 

[Darlene]

Park City has been hit hard by the downturn in the economy. We went up last fall during the school break here in Utah. It is usually very crowded, but it was not crowded at all. Two of our favorite restaurants had closed, and my daughters favorite candy store was gone

 

[hipslo]

Park City has been hit hard by the downturn in the economy. We went up last fall during the school break here in Utah. It is usually very crowded, but it was not crowded at all. Two of our favorite restaurants had closed, and my daughters favorite candy store was gone

Maybe, but we were here in March 2009 and March 2010, arguably when things were at their worst in terms of the economy, and things seemed much busier then than this year.

I realized yesterday that we are here this year a week later in March than we typically are, and last week (the week we are generally here) was spring break for Texas public schools, and this week is not. I think that, and the poor snow this season, likely accounts for most of the difference I have noticed.

Line almost out the door at Java Cow tonight, made me feel a little better!

 

[Love2TS]

How are the ski conditions?

 

[janej]

We were at the Park Regency during Christmas break. The heater in our unit broken down one night, they showed us at least three rooms on the same floor and gave us an extra room next day. I was very surprised that they have that many vacant rooms during that week.

 

[hipslo]

How are the ski conditions?

We arrived on Sat March 17th, and the mountain looked very bare, probably the worst I have ever seen it here, though we didnt ski that day. Over the next two days (Sun and Mon) we got 24 inches of snow, and conditions were great. It has warmed up a lot since then. Good springlike conditions Wed, but today (Thurs) was beginning to get quite icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon. Tomorrow (our last day) will likely be worse, as high is forecast to be around 60. We certainly cant complain, had some stellar days, and were very lucky with our timing, but it looks like things could begin to deteriorate pretty quickly unless another storm comes through soon, given the warm weather and limited base depth.