Before Michael had to do an install at a customer's site, we decided to drive the short distance (32 miles - 51 km) from Salt Lake City to Park City.
Park City lies east of Salt Lake City in the western state of Utah. Framed by the craggy Wasatch Range, it’s bordered by the Deer Valley Resort and the huge Park City Mountain Resort, both known for their ski slopes. In town, Main Street is lined with buildings built during a 19th-century silver mining boom.
Park City has a population of 7558 people. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents.
After a population decline following the shutdown of the area's mining industry, the city rebounded during the 1980s and 1990s through an expansion of its tourism business. The city currently brings in a yearly average of $529,800,000 to the Utah Economy as a tourist hot spot.
Additionally, the city is the main location of the United States' largest independent film festival, the Sundance Film Festival, home of the United States Ski Team, training center for members of the Australian Freestyle Ski Team, the 2002 Olympic bobsled/skeleton/luge track at the Utah Olympic Park, and golf courses. Some scenes from 1994's Dumb and Dumber were shot in the city. Outdoor-oriented businesses such as backcountry.com, Rossignol USA, and Skullcandy have their headquarters in Park City. The city has many retailers, clubs, bars, and restaurants, and has nearby reservoirs, hot springs, forests, and hiking and biking trails.
Deer Valley Resort is world renowned for pleasing guests during the winter. The resort has luxurious amenities such as uniformed ski valets, perfectly groomed slopes, complimentary Mountain Host tours, overnight ski storage, on site child care and gourmet dining in three elegant day lodges. Deer Valley also offers customized lodging with resort managed condos and private homes. The resort has an award winning ski school and the Rossignol High Performance Test Center.
The six mountains, Little Baldy Peak, Bald Eagle, Bald, Flagstaff, Empire and Lady Morgan average 300 inches of snow annually. There is also state of the art snow making for back up.
It doesn't matter what your skiing ability is; there is a mountain for you. You may also challenge yourself on the very ski runs skied by Olympians during the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games.
To make your ski day more pleasurable and to prevent overcrowded trails and lifts, Deer Valley Resort limits the number of skiers on the mountain.
Deer Valley Resort continues to maintain the 2002 Olympic freestyle venue. It will play host to the 2018 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, with mogul and aerial competitions from January 10- 12, 2018.
In the summer, Deer Valley Resort has just as much to offer outdoor enthusiasts. Experience lift-served mountain biking, hiking, scenic rides and gourmet dining.
The Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater is home to outdoor concerts and events almost every night of the week.
The Utah Olympic Park is a winter sports park built for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and is located 28 miles east of Salt Lake City near Park City.
The nearly 400 acre venue houses one of only four sliding tracks in North America, six Nordic ski jumps, a 2002 Winter Games museum, and a multitude of adventure activities. Utah Olympic Park is a dynamic multi-use facility focused on developing and growing participation in winter sports in the state of Utah and is an official USOC Training Site.
During the 2002 games, the park hosted the bobsled, skeleton, luge, ski jumping and Nordic combined events. It still serves as a training center for Olympic and development level athletes. Other facilities in to the ski jumps and bobsled track located on site include a 2002 Winter Olympics and Ski Museum, day lodge, summer aerial training splash pool, zip lines and a mountain coaster.