Challenges start at top
CONTINENT'S BEST | Deer Valley ski resort is no longer considered the 'Bambi Basin'
PARK CITY, Utah -- When I visited Deer Valley ski resort last February, Ullr -- the Norse god of snow -- was throwing a fit.
As guide Emily Summers and I rode the Sterling Express lift to the top of 9,400-foot Bald Mountain, hail-like "grapple" -- perhaps the cruelest form of snow -- lashed the exposed skin on our faces. Then, just to show that he was really upset, Ullr unleashed some rare thunder and lightning.
Skiers and snowboarders who catch a morning flight can show their boarding passes to ski and ride for free at the Park City, Canyons and Deer Valley resorts the day they arrive; parkcityinfo.com/quickstart/
DEER VALLEY: The resort covers 2,000 acres and has a 3,000-foot vertical drop, six mountain peaks, 22 lifts, 99 trails and one terrain park. It limits the number of lift tickets it sells to 6,500 a day, so it's best to buy your ducats in advance. For a multi-day ski vacation, one of the better deals is the three-of-seven-days pass for $237 for an adult, $165 for seniors 65 and older and $135 for kids 4-12. For beginners who only want to ski the Wide West novice slope, the rate is $20 a day; deervalley.com
SKI SCHOOL: Deer Valley Ski School rates for Reindeer Club and Adventure Club are $170 a day and include lessons, lift tickets, lunch and hot chocolate. Equipment is extra. Classes run from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
STEIN ERIKSEN LODGE: Located mid-mountain at Deer Valley, the five-star lodge's winter rates start at $610 a night. A 50-minute Swedish massage costs $155; steinlodge.com
SILVER BARON LODGE: Winter rates begin at $290 a night for a hotel room and $1,070 for a four-bedroom condo; silverbaron-deer valley.com
RENTALS: If you'd rather not schlep your equipment through the airport and pay extra baggage fees, consider Black Tie Ski Rentals; blacktieskirentals.com. Rates start at $36 a day for a ski, boot and pole package for adults and $28 for kids. Prices cost less than those charged at the resorts because Black Tie doesn't have to pay rent at on-slope shops.
OTHER RESORTS: parkcitymountain.com and thecanyons.com
GORGOZA PARK: The mini-snowmobile and tubing hill is open until March 29 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the week, noon to 8 p.m. on weekends. For rates and details, go to parkcitymountain.com/winter/ activities/tubing_at_gorgoza.
Needless to say, we headed for the day lodge, where I hatched plans to return to Deer Valley when the weather was a bit more welcoming.
That opportunity came just a few weeks ago, when I took my family to what has long been considered one of North America's poshest ski resorts (no snowboarders allowed). It bagged Ski magazine's title of No. 1 ski resort in North America both this year and last.
Though the knock on Deer Valley (once derisively called "Bambi Basin") was that it was too easy, that's no longer the case. Not with heart-stopping, double-black diamond runs in Daly's Bowl and other steeps now open. These days, the resort rates nearly a third of its terrain as advanced.
Deer Valley children's ski school is regularly rated among the best in North America, which is a big plus when you have a 6- and 8-year-old in tow. I knew my kids would be in good hands while my wife and I cruised around the resort's corduroy-manicured slopes.
Anders, my kindergartner, was right at home in the Reindeer Club, while Maddie, his second-grade sister, was quickly zooming around blue (intermediate) slopes with newfound friends in the Adventure Club -- including a bold young fellow who asked if he could sit beside her at lunch.
Even before my family hit the slopes, our ski vacation started out on the right foot. That's because we arranged with Black Tie Ski Rentals to lug our skis, boots, poles and other gear for fittings to our condo at the Silver Baron Lodge. No hour-long wait to get rental equipment here.
With gear in hand the first morning, we hopped a Silver Baron shuttle and were met by green-jacketed valets at the Snow Park Lodge, who helped us with our equipment and made sure we were pointed in the right direction.
Our mountain guide this time around was Heidi Voelker, a three-time Olympian and 18-year Park City resident. She's worked as an "ambassador" for Deer Valley shortly after retiring from the U.S. Ski Team following the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
"Where do you want to go?" asked the cheerful Voelker, who got her job largely because her upbeat personality made a good impression on long-time Deer Valley skiing director and Olympic gold medalist (1952) Stein Eriksen.
The 81-year-old Eriksen, a native Norwegian who has a ski run, street and five-star resort lodge named after him at Deer Valley, continues to zip down the slopes, though he sat out most of last year after an on-slope collision.
Voelker warmed up my wife, Kathleen, and me on the blue Sidewinder run after showing us the stunning views from Flagstaff Mountain, elevation 9,100 feet. Then we zipped over to Empire, which tops out at 9,570 feet, before taking a series of lifts and trying out a few intermediate slopes like Wizard and Keno off Bald Mountain.
After two-plus hours of keeping up with Voelker, we were ready for lunch at the Royal Street Cafe in the Silver Lake Lodge, which offers the resort's only full-service, sit-down lunches on the mountain.
I could have easily taken a post-lunch nap, but we couldn't resist returning to the slopes for several more runs with Voelker. Back at the base, we got to see her 4-year-old, Stefan, make a few turns in ski school.
We turned in our skis to those ever-present valets and caught the shuttle back to our lodge.
Since Park City is home to the Sundance Film Festival, held Jan. 15 to 25 this year, we chose Robert Redford's Zoom Restaurant on Main Street for dinner. Located in a restored former Southern Pacific Depot on Main Street, it serves American-Continental cuisine in a laid-back atmosphere with big photos of film-makers and actors on the walls. The cornmeal, pumpkin-seed-encrusted trout filet melted in my mouth, and the kids seemed plenty satisfied with their hot dogs and mac and cheese.
The next morning found the four of us cruising the Success and Last Chance slopes on four inches of fresh, fluffy snow. This time around we were looking for bears, eagles, badgers and other critters carved into the decks of slopeside homes.
After the kids hit ski school at 10 a.m., my wife and I explored some more blue runs with our friend Craig McCarthy, who lives in Park City.
While Kathleen headed off for a massage at the Stein Eriksen Lodge, I zipped off with McCarthy to the Lady Morgan Express chairlift installed just last year to open up some new black diamond terrain.
"Want to try some trees?" he asked, before leading me off into the mildly steep Centennial piste, which offered relatively untracked snow through stands of aspen trees. Then we made our way over to Bald Mountain for some long black runs off the Sultan Express chair.
When I picked up the kids from ski school, Anders -- who had proudly learned to ride the Burns chairlift all by his lonesome -- was a little reluctant to leave the slopes. I knew that feeling well.
But the Silver Baron's heated outdoor pool and hot tub beckoned. At some point during our relaxing dip, one of the kids asked why we just couldn't live here.
For dinner, we tried the seafood buffet at Snow Park Lodge. It was as good as I'd remembered from a previous visit. I especially liked the buttery smooth oysters, but I fell a couple of notches in my daughter's eyes when I forgot -- as I'd promised -- to bring one of the shells back to our condo.
On our third and final day, my wife and kids returned to Deer Valley, while I opted to split my remaining time between the nearby Park City Mountain Resort and the Canyons.
My companions for Park City were snowboarders Paula Altschuler and Stephanie Nitsch, who led me to what they called one of their local secrets: a gladed run dubbed the 10th Mountain Trees.
For most of the piste, I was fine. But at the bottom, my ski tip caught a bush and I ended up wrapped around an aspen. Fortunately, it was a soft embrace and nothing -- other than my ego -- was wounded.
We spent a couple hours scouting out slopes with relatively untracked powder in the Main and Jupiter bowls. We even encountered two shirtless young snowboarders (males) who commented that the 15 degree temperatures were much warmer than those back home in Wisconsin.
For my last runs of the trip, Nitsch and I explored the Canyons, Utah's biggest ski and snowboard resort, measuring 3,700 acres. Located just a few miles down the road from Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley, it offers terrain of every stripe spread out over eight peaks, five bowls, six natural halfpipes and two terrain parks.
But that wasn't the last of it. Before dinner, the whole family met up at the Gorgoza Park tubing hill, which features a kids' mini-snowmobile track and two lift-served tubing hills for those who want to do more than ski and snowboard.
After what seemed like a dozen runs, we dragged the youngsters away from the hill, promising them that eventually, we'd return.
And when we do, I hope the weather is just as good: blue-bird skies and temperatures in the 20s. I think Ullr was sleeping.
Brian E. Clark is a Madison, Wis.-based free-lance writer.