Park City Resort Terrain

This page refers to the terrain of the Park City (town) side of the Park City Mountain Resort.

Park City Mountain Resort has a huge area in its own right with 3,300 acres (1,335 hectares) of skiing and snowboarding terrain. It would take days to ski Park City on all the runs and explore all the off-piste areas. And then there’s also the adjoining side of the former Canyons Resort!!

The bottom half of the Park City Resort terrain is characterised by long wide groomers of varying difficulty, whilst the upper parts have multiple bowls and gladed areas for advanced and expert riders. The steeps are not as terrifying as those at Alta or Snowbird, but Jupiter Peak is adequately challenging.

A town bridge that goes over Park Ave enables skiers and snowboarders to ride directly from the mountain to lower Main Street.

Lifts

The Park City Ski Resort has great lift infrastructure with many fast lifts that cover the majority of the terrain. And most importantly is the high speed Interconnect Gondola, running from the base of the Silverlode lift at Park City Resort to the Flatiron lift at Canyons.

There are a various slow lifts, with the Town Lift being a notable one where it’s tempting to have a snooze on the way up (but don’t because there’s no safety bar!). The slowness is excusable considering the convenience it provides. This lift can also be downloaded.

Lift queues can be problematic during holidays or other peak periods. There are signs in some areas to indicate likely wait times for some of the lifts.

Park City Resort Lift Tickets

The Park City Resort lift tickets are pretty expensive but at least you get plenty of value for your money.

As with other Vail Resorts, you can ride at Park City Resort for significantly discounted prices if you pre-purchase an Epic Pass, which is also valid at many other ski resorts including various Colorado ski resorts (such as Breckenridge, Keystone, Beaver Creek etc) and California ski resorts (such as Heavenly, Kirkwood & Northstar).

There are a variety of Epic pass options including a season pass which pays for itself in just over 5 days (particularly inexpensive if you purchase a long way in advance) or an Epic Locals Pass (pays for itself in 4 days) but it has a lot of restrictions and black-out dates.

Park City Snow and Weather Conditions

The Park City snow is the characteristic Utah dry powder, and with reasonably high altitude, the snow quality is beautiful. The annual snowfall is reasonably impressive at 360 inches, but it doesn’t receive the 500 inches of snow that some other Utah ski resorts get.

Snowmaking tops up the coverage in the high traffic areas, with water being pumped up from the mines, which enables the resort to operate pretty well in the early season. Pinecone Ridge and the Jupiter area have a lot of rocks so they need plenty of snow coverage, and may be closed early in the season.

The Park City Resort doesn’t typically suffer from visibility issues, and even though McConkey’s area is sometimes windy, it is incredibly rare that any of the lifts are put on wind hold.

Park City Skiing for the Beginner

The proportion of beginners’ terrain seems small, but considering the size of the resort, there is more green terrain than your average beginner could poke a stick at. Novices can play on the aptly named First Time lift at the base of the resort. For other beginners, there are two dedicated slow zone areas. This is necessary because lots of blue and black runs feed into the green trails, and peak hour hits the Homerun in the afternoon. Hold your best snowplow and the faster skiers should go around you – hopefully!

Ski Park City - Intermediates

About half of the terrain is rated blue or double blue, so choices abound for the intermediate skier and snowboarder. The resort is absolutely perfect for intermediates! The number of blue runs off the King Con lift is mind boggling, let alone all the other trails on the mountain. The Park City Resort is blessed with lots of great fall line highway-wide groomers. Keystone is a lovely quiet blue run off the Thaynes chair which provides plenty of rest time. For great snow quality ride the McConkey’s lift and rip up Tycoon and the Georgeanna run if you're an upper intermediate.

Park City Resort also has Signature runs that are black runs that have been groomed. These are fantastic to practise edging or are great for those with a need for speed.

Terrain Parks and Pipes

PCMR is pretty much perfect for terrain park junkies. It has multiple terrain parks for different levels, as well as a massive superpipe. The tricks performed by some of the park dudes are just as massive. Serious park riders who can perform should hang around the Three Kings Lift.

Advanced Skiing and Snowboarding

Park City Mountain Resort has many traditional on-piste black runs across the lower parts of the mountain, and the signature runs are groomed periodically so the bumps don’t get too big. Black runs off the Motherlode and Thaynes lifts are some of the best, and if you want a little more of a challenge, duck into the Motherlode Meadows. The gladed area is marked as double black but it is not steep so it is not too tricky.

Another easy double black is the beautifully gladed area in the Black Forest (off McConkie’s) where there may be great powder rewards. The Blue Slip bowl off the Pioneer lift is also not too taxing. This bowl received its name because this area used to be beyond the resort boundary, and workers who were caught ducking the rope received a blue slip (ie you’re fired). Not a bad way to lose your job!

Expert Riding

McConkie’s Bowl is “the legendary” run at PCMR. The perception of the steepness of this run will depend upon whether it is covered in fresh powder, or has shoulder-high moguls. It’s well trafficked so it doesn’t take long for the bumps to grow. Much more fun can be had next door in the steep trees in Molly’s. This is definitely territory to wear a helmet!

Jupiter Bowl is the highest lift-accessed point on the Park City mountain, accessed by the Jupiter double chairlift. Up here there are double black diamond trails that are appropriately rated whilst others are not likely to scare the pants off experts. The terrain up here is varied with wide faces, glades and chutes. One common denominator for all runs is the steep pitch. A 20-minute walk along the ridge to Jupiter Peak will take you to the steep East Face into Puma Bowl. The peak and Puma can also be accessed with a hike from McConkey’s.

Pinecone Ridge receives very little traffic and those who are prepared to make the hike from Scott’s Pass west of Scott’s Bowl will be well rewarded. The 600 acres of bowls and glades provide an in-bounds side-country type experience. Unfortunately this area is frequently closed, either due to lack of cover or because of the significant avalanche control required.

For the Powder Hound

The ski resort is good for powder hounds, but the likelihood of having the powder to yourself will vary depending upon the time of year. The best powder can be found in the trees off McConkey’s and Thayne’s lifts, and the areas least likely to track out are off Jupiter Peak and Jupiter Bowl.

Skiing or snowboarding out of bounds is not permitted on the town side of the resort.