Alpine Infrastructure crews were installing towers and detonation chambers on Thursday for a new remote control avalanche system near the top of Limelight Bowl on the Canons Village side of Park City Mountain.

The system will be operational for the 2026-27 ski season. It allows Park City Mountain Ski Patrol to remotely detonate an explosion that could trigger a controlled slide to the west of the Quick Silver gondola.

Ski patrol snow safety manager Toph White explained that this system will allow the resort’s team to mitigate avalanche risk without placing patrollers in dangerous situations along Pinecone Ridge. The system could also potentially allow the Quick Silver gondola to run sooner on a powder day.

This is the first remote control system in the Wasatch Back, though similar systems are in use at Snowbasin Resort as well as Alta Ski Area in the Little Cottonwood Canyon.

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Under softening spring snow and a bluebird Easter sky, skiers and riders stretched six lifts and 13 open trails into a full day at Park City Mountain, filling Canyons Village with bunny ears, clown wigs and short sleeves for the final turns of the season.

Music from Pixie and the Partygrass Boys carried across the base area at the Canyons Village free concert, soundtracking the final laps as riders slushed through turns and linked what runs remained. Kids sprinted across the base area searching for hidden Easter eggs.

A 6-inch April Fools’ Day storm had briefly brought the mountain back to life, but a quick return to warm temperatures erased any chance of a late season push. By Friday, the resort announced it would close on Sunday.

Evie Eastman and Beth Limerick spent the afternoon skiing together and closing out another season on the snow. Between them, they bring nearly a century of skiing experience, and closing day offered one last chance to be out there doing what they love.

“We’re getting outside,” Eastman said, “celebrating Easter at the church of the up and down.”

For both, the winter still delivered, even if it looked different from what was expected. Park City Mountain recorded 171 total inches of snow this season, well below its 277-inch average and last year’s 279-inch total, according to OnTheSnow.

“I don’t think I got on snow as much as I wanted,” Limerick said. “But it was a pretty satisfying winter nonetheless, even with the marginal snow conditions.”

Even with limited terrain, they said what remained was enough to carry through the day. The snow softened through the afternoon but continued to hold together across the open runs.

“I can hardly think of a better way to spend a winter day than skiing,” Eastman said.

 Limerick added: “It’s fun, it’s freedom, it’s floating and flying and everything good.”

They plan to keep skiing beyond Park City Mountain’s closure, shifting to higher elevation terrain in the cottonwoods for as long as they can. 

At the base, skis and boards were stacked in the sun as people moved between the Red Pine Gondola and the concert and paused to take in the scene. 

Sherry and David, a couple, were visiting from Ohio without realizing it would be the final weekend and learned about the closure after the announcement on Friday. They adjusted their plans and focused on making the most of the time they had.

“We’re just here for the weekend,” Sherry said. “We’re here to get outside, enjoy God’s earth and get some exercise.”

Despite the early end to the season, the couple was excited to take advantage of the opportunity to ski at all. They said it ended up working in their favor.

“We’re really glad to have made it in time,” Sherry said. “It’s been great.”

Michigander Lisa Bjork’s dedication to skiing rivals even some of the most diehard Park City locals. She committed to skiing every single weekend in the Upper Peninsula, rain or shine. 

“We weren’t able to cancel our reservation for the week, so we said, ‘Well, we’re coming and making the most of it anyway,’” Bjork said.

This was Bjork’s first time in Park City, and, having driven from Michigan, she took a few stops at Colorado resorts along the way, hoping to maximize her ski time on her trip out West. 

“This is our first time ever at Park City, so we’re a little bummed that we didn’t get the skiing we had hoped for. But it’s so sunny and beautiful, and it’s just a gorgeous view anywhere you look here,” she said. “We don’t have this in Michigan.”

Bjork, who has been skiing since she was 13, said she was grateful to get a day on skis at Canyons Village and is using the rest of the trip to spend more time exploring town.

“Any day on skis is still a day on skis,” she said. “We’re really enjoying it. We’ll definitely be back, hoping for a bit better snow.” 

For Emil Harry, skiing on closing day isn’t optional. He’s attended every year since he was 6 years old, when he first learned to ski in Boise, Idaho — a streak that now stretches more than three decades.

“I have to ski closing day, no matter how bad conditions are,” he said. “I’m really superstitious. If I don’t make closing day, it weighs on me,” he said.

This winter, he shifted a lot of his skiing energy to work on skills in the park, spending much of his time at Woodward Park City as conditions changed. 

“Woodward was a godsend,” he said. “So I skied park pretty much all season.”

He said in a low snow year, park skiing offered the most consistency and made for a successful season, even as big mountain terrain remained limited.

Closing day, though, is exactly his kind of skiing. He said spring conditions are his favorite, making the final day less of an obligation and more of something he genuinely looks forward to. 

Deirdra Walsh, vice president and COO of Park City Mountain, said the day reflected the tireless effort of resort teams and the guests who continued to show up through a challenging season.

“It has been a season of creativity, commitment, dedication in ways that I don’t think anybody has had to do in a long time here,” Walsh said. “I’m so incredibly proud of every team member who made this possible.”

She pointed to both employees and guests as central to the experience, describing how people responded to the conditions by continuing to show up and make the most of each day.

“The best antidote in a season like this is to actually go out and ski and have chairlift conversations where people are making the most of it,” she said. “Having fun and great times with their friends and family — that’s just, at the end of the day, what it’s all about.”

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The Summit County Council has unanimously approved the creation of a public infrastructure district in the Canyons Village area of Park City Mountain, opening the door for a wider variety of funding mechanisms to support future improvements.

Public infrastructure districts are a relatively new financing tool in Utah. They allow developers to voluntarily tax themselves and future property owners within a certain area to obtain bond funding with lower interest rates, similar to a municipal or county government.

The funding is restricted and may only be used for infrastructure improvements, such as transit, recreation and sanitation.

The Canyons Village proposal specifically said the goal is to optimize development by installing additional infrastructure now rather than wait until after revenue has been collected through property sales. However, information on the tax rate was not immediately available, and the development team said it would likely be determined over the summer.

The team also tried to assuage concerns about how the public infrastructure district would affect current homeowners by including details on the tax structure in the proposal. Existing residents won’t be taxed, and most of the new taxes paid as part of the public infrastructure district will come from secondary homebuyers, hotel developers and operators and “sophisticated commercial users,” not full-time Summit County residents.

“As opposed to the municipality imposing an increased tax on all residents, the main users of the infrastructure pay for it,” the proposal said. “Modern mountain resort developments rely on PID and (tax increment financing) to fund large-scale infrastructure efficiently and responsibly. Without similar tools, Canyons Village is at a competitive disadvantage relative to peer resorts.”

The presentation to the County Council listed six other ski areas using public infrastructure districts as a financing tool, including Deer Valley Resort, Sundance Mountain Resort and Snowbasin Resort.

“Infrastructure is funded through district revenues only rather than relying on county resources, which in turn preserves taxpayer dollars,” the proposal said. “PID is a separate governmental entity from the county with no economic and legal liability for the county.”

The Canyons Village development team said the public infrastructure district would be useful to ensure infrastructure is built in a “structured and orderly way” instead of piecemealing projects whenever funding is available.

“Infrastructure must keep pace with increasing visitor volumes, workforce demands and connectivity throughout the broader resort area,” the proposal said. “Significant upgrades are needed to support mobility, access and public services for the upcoming Winter Olympics, all while preserving quality of life for existing residents.”

The development team had a mix of projects it brought to the County Council as examples of how bond funding would be used to benefit the public, most of which focused on parking, road maintenance and transportation. However, the team also mentioned a water tank for fire suppression and snowmaking, as well as “gondola plazas” to upgrade the “transportation experience from resort arrival to departure.”

Canyons Village is also involved in High Valley Transit’s bus rapid transit project, which will have a stop on the property. The development team told the County Council that it had already worked with High Valley Transit to try to fund the transit center, but it ultimately had to back out because of concerns regarding the mix of public and federal funds.

As part of its negotiations with the County Council, the Canyons Village development team offered to take over the transit center project entirely, which means its construction would be funded through private monies or a bond measure provided by Canyons Village.

The County Council was in favor of the proposal, and County Councilor Chris Robinson added a clause outlining Canyons Village’s commitment to spend “up to $1 million” on the transit center in his motion to approve the public infrastructure district.

The County Council voted unanimously to create the public infrastructure district.

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A 61-year-old woman died at Park City Mountain Canyons Village on Tuesday after a ski accident at the resort. She was visiting from Florida. 

The woman was skiing on an intermediate trail near the Dreamscape Lift when the accident occurred. Park City Mountain ski patrol then responded to a “serious incident,” according to resort officials.

The woman was evacuated from the mountain via medical helicopter. She was transported for emergency care at the University of Utah Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Park City Fire District was staged off-site in case of difficulties with the helicopter transport, but crews were not dispatched.

“On behalf of the Park City Mountain team, we share our heartfelt condolences with the family and friends of our guest,” said Deirdra Walsh, vice president and COO of Park City Mountain.

The woman’s name has not been released.

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Canyons Village will open the 2025-26 ski season with three access points to the upper mountain, alongside the Red Pine Gondola and the Orange Bubble Express lift, as the Sunrise Gondola extends access from the Pendry plaza to the Red Pine area. 

As Park City Mountain spends the summer replacing the former double Sunrise lift with the 10-person, 6,500-foot gondola, the old chairs will be painted and auctioned to support 12 of Park City’s local nonprofits. 

The Sunset on Sunrise auction will be at the Canyons Village Forum stage from 3 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday for a celebration of local art, nonprofit collaboration and Park City Mountain’s history. 

The 12 auction chairs were designed with the theme “what community means to me” in mind, with the artists’ work representing the mission of their corresponding nonprofit.

For Seth Ehrlich, chief executive officer of SOS Outreach, a local youth nonprofit dedicated to offering mentorship and access to winter sports, the auction is more than just a fundraiser, but an impressive expression of community and connection. 

“There are a lot of ways that you can get rid of chair lifts. The impact that Park City Mountain is offering here is real and significant, and doing it as a public event that then gathers community,” said Ehrlich. “It is just really cool that they said, ‘Hang on, before we send it to a scrapyard or otherwise, let’s do something creative that also has a deep impact that aligns with our goals of community engagement.’”

Artist Lamont White, whose work has been featured previously in the Park City Mountain gondola gallery, partnered with SOS Outreach to create a chair emphasizing access and belonging.

“We reached out to White because of who he is and what he has been leading in the outdoor industry. The art that he brings forward is so deeply connected to what we do at SOS outreach and the work that we are committed to, which is about really engaging kids and their families from mountain communities who are, whether explicitly or implicitly, told that they do not belong up on the mountain, and we are deeply committed to this work,” said Ehrlich. 

The connection between SOS Outreach and White’s art has always come naturally, and this collaboration offered an opportunity to build on that connection and share it with the wider community.

“Lamont had full creative license, because there wasn’t any direction to give because who he is as a person and artist is so deeply aligned with what we do,” said Ehrlich. 

White’s work often centers on themes of belonging and outdoor access, and imparting those characteristics onto an unconventional canvas of the chairlift was a freeing process, he said.

“I really enjoyed the process of developing this. There was a lot that needed to be cleaned, and I felt like I was more a part of the prep work of getting it done,” said White. “It was a lot of fun for me working with the different colors and the techniques I chose. I felt very free.”

From cleaning and designing to hand-painting the finishing touches, the piece, “Soaring,” took White two to three weeks to complete. 

“To me, it’s another way to express accessibility. I think that there are a lot of traditional looks and behaviors in ski towns. And I think for me to authentically introduce other looks is part of just another way that I can hope to help encourage access through design. Belonging is very personal to me, and in my opinion, it’s central to the work of SOS as well,” said White. 

SOS Outreach engages over 550 kids across Summit County and the Wasatch Back from fourth grade through 12th grades. With the proceeds from the chairlift auction going directly to collaborating nonprofits, SOS intends to keep all of the funds local within the Park City area. 

“This funding will support us in expanding the depth of what we do and support more kids in mentoring relationships. It is to really foster belonging for individuals who have been excluded from the mountains,” said Ehrlich. 

The event was developed in collaboration with the Park City Summit County Arts Council and Vail Resorts EpicPromise, the nonprofit that provided artists with materials, transportation of chairs, and assistance with other related expenses.

“We wanted to make sure that we were using the old lift in a way that was really going to benefit the community as well. We looked at ways to engage the community and really look at community values as a place that cares about skiing, about the nonprofits and the giving space,” said John Kanaly, senior manager of communications at Park City Mountain. 

See more about the other nonprofits and artists involved and how to participate in the auction here.

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In this week’s collection of portraits from For The Record, we asked people at Canyons Village who their favorite President is and why. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: For The Record | Feb. 15, 2017 appeared first on Park Record.

In this week’s collection of portraits from For The Record, we asked people Canyons Village what their favorite holiday tradition is. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: For The Record | Dec. 22, 2016 appeared first on Park Record.