Park City Among T+L Best Ski Towns

By Nancy Barth
Apr 28, 2013

Picture of Main Street in Park City Utah near Deer Valley UtahTravel + Leisure Magazine added Park City to its list of “America’s Best Ski Towns.” The December 2012 featured a list of 11 towns and included Park City for its charming Main Street, wealth of culinary options, and proximity to seven major ski resorts, including Deer Valley Resort.

According to the article: “Nearly a million annual visitors descend on Park City, whose Main Street still has the rugged good looks of a 19th-century western mining town. It puts skiers in easy reach of mountain resorts, hosts the Sundance Film Festival, and has become a culinary hotbed. The ski-in distillery High West Distillery & Saloon offers customized flights of craft creations paired with dishes like Kentucky whiskey beer cheese and bourbon three-onion soup. The seasonal tasting menu at Talisker on Main incorporates vegetables and herbs grown on its rooftop, while the Canyons’ Bistro restaurant is the first and only certified kosher restaurant at a U.S. ski resort. With the restoration of the 1889 Washington School House into a 12-room hotel, you’ve got a new home base—plus complimentary transportation to your preferred slopes.”

Other resorts on the list included Telluride, CO, Bend, OR and Taos, NM.  To read more of the article, please click America's Best Ski Towns article.

SPECIALTY SKI PROPERTY WEBSITE LAUNCHES

By Jim Barth
Jan 07, 2013

Sotheby's International Realty Ski Specialty WebsiteSummit Sotheby’s International Realty in Park City and Deer Valley, Utah announced the Sotheby’s International Realty brand’s launch of a Ski specialty market website, the latest in a planned series of branded websites for specialty markets.

The specialized website, which can be found at skipropertysir.com, matches the look and feel of the brand’s website, sothebysrealty.com, and provides detailed Ski lifestyle real estate listing information and resources. The website enables buyers and sellers to search for the finest properties in this segment and the sales professionals who represent them. It covers a full spectrum of lifestyle types and properties including: ski-in and ski-out, base of mountain living and close proximity to mountains. The site was launched with more than $2 billion of ski property listings worldwide.

The website will also highlight notable sales internationally and feature area-focused sections, resort mountain descriptions and advanced search capabilities.

“The Sotheby’s International Realty brand has long been a powerful force in world-class Ski markets around the world,” said Wendy Purvey, chief marketing officer, Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. “So it was only natural for us to seek to delve further into this market. From ski-in, ski-out properties to villas in the mountains, this specialty website offers a robust inventory of extraordinary homes in locations as diverse as Aspen, Colorado; Hong Kong; Whistler, Canada; Colony, Switzerland and many more.”

The Sotheby’s International Realty network currently has more than 12,600 sales associates located in approximately 650 offices in 45 countries and territories worldwide.

Deer Valley Still Focused on Main Street Gondola

By Nancy Barth
Dec 26, 2012

Silver Lake Village in Deer Valley, Utah According to an article in today’s Park Record, Deer Valley Resort is continuing to research the possibility of building a gondola that would link its slopes to Main Street, Park City.  This idea was discussed earlier in the year, but has not been talked about publicly since then.

Bob Wheaton, president of Deer Valley Resort, said that Deer Valley is researching a few spots in Silver Lake Village as the location for one of the terminals.  Although he did not provide details, he indicated that the Silver Lake terminal does not need to be located on the ski slopes themselves.  Additionally, he noted that the gondola would be used during both the summer and the ski season.

Deer Valley also sees the Brew Pub parking lot, which is owned by City Hall, as the location of the terminal on Main Street. "I think that we made a lot of progress, but there hasn't been anything concrete," Wheaton said.              

According to the article, Deer Valley and Park City officials would eventually need to reach an agreement if the resort wants to locate the terminal at the Brew Pub lot. Some options would be Deer Valley purchasing or a leasing the needed land. The resort and Doppelmayr, a manufacturer that could be hired to build the gondola, have also been in discussions.

Although details of the route between Deer Valley and Silver Lake have not been finalized, Wheaton said that the resort is most interested in a route that runs from Silver Lake Village, down a line roughly parallel with Marsac Avenue and into the Brew Pub lot. The route envisions the gondola running along the east side of Marsac Avenue, and it has been seen as one of the most promising given its longtime status as a transportation corridor. Marsac Avenue is also a residential street along the stretch closest to Old Town. So far organized opposition has not been formed.

Wheaton indicated that a gondola could be opened for the 2014-2015 ski season. He said there has been widespread support from Main Street's leadership, people who own homes in Silver Lake and Old Town residents. He also stated that he has not received a negative comment.

If a gondola is built between Deer Valley and the Brew Pub lot, it would serve as a second skiing bookend to Main Street, something that would give Deer Valley and Park City a competitive advantage.  We’ll keep you posted as more detail emerges.

Sky Lodge Announces New Dining Options

By Nancy Barth
Dec 17, 2012

Sky Lodge near Deer Valley UtahThe Sky Lodge, a resort hotel on Park City’s Historic Main Street and just on the other side of Main Street from the proposed Deer Valley Gondola, plans to introduce two new dining options to guests and visitors of Park City and Deer Valley. “Table One” is a higher-end dining offering while “Tavern,” an artisan bar, will offer British-inspired fare "married with the latest American culinary trends.”  Tavern will open December 18th with Table One following on December 20th. Reservations are not accepted at Tavern, but are recommended for Table One, particularly over the busy holiday season when both Park City and Deer Valley swell with guests.

Forbes Rates Skiing in Utah Awesome

By Nancy Barth
Dec 11, 2012

Picture of Empire Lift and Empire Canyon Lodge at Deer ValleyAccording to a recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune, Forbes.com thinks Utah Ski resorts are “awesome,” and included seven of Utah’s resorts – Alta, Snowbird, Park City, Deer Valley Resort, Canyons Resort, Brighton and Solitude – in its list of “The Top 10 Ski Resorts in the United States for 2013.”  The rankings are based on a “Pure Awesomeness Factor,” or PAF.

"We only rank one thing: Awesomeness," the site said of its measuring algorithm. "It’s the most important thing we can measure. If you can know a place’s awesomeness, do you need to know anything else?"

First place went to Jackson, WY for its continuous fall line, terrain and backcountry skiing.  Deer Valley, Park City and Canyons Resort as a group came in fifth place, praised not only for the level of skiing but also for the fact that they surround Park City, a place that is “picture perfect in every sense.”

According to the Forbes site, Deer Valley “packs in some great shots of terrain, including the Daly chutes.”  The site refers to Empire Canyon Lodge as the greatest ski lodge in the world, and names Deer Valley’s Turkey Chili as “the greatest single dish served mountainside anywhere.”  The rankings also note that powder lasts a little longer at Deer Valley than other places.

The rankings did not include any resorts east of the Rocky Mountains because the website prefers the powder in the west over the ice in the east. According to the site, "No resort east of the Rockies has the snow or terrain to crack our Awesomeness rankings — something that matters for both beginners and experts.

To read more about the Forbes.com ski resorts ranking, please click The Top 10 Ski Resorts in the US for 2013 article.

RECORDS SET FOR ECONOMIC IMPACT AND MEDIA COVERAGE FOR THE 2012 LARRY H. MILLER TOUR OF UTAH

By Nancy Barth
Nov 04, 2012

Tour of Utah Deer Valley Utah and Park City Utah StageTwo months after the completion of the 2012 Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah professional cycling stage race, event organizers confirmed that new records were set for economic impact, national audiences, and media coverage. A quantitative research study completed recently reveals that out-of-state spectators contributed as much as $14 million in direct economic impact for the state of Utah. Tour organizers also confirmed that national television viewership almost doubled from last year, media impressions grew by nearly 50 percent and the Tour earned $8.5 million in publicity value.

The Tour of Utah gained attention in its eighth year in 2012 for increased race mileage, more elevation gain, and a stronger international field of competition. The race route covered 543 miles of diverse and mountainous terrain with 38,500 feet of elevation gain. Mileage increased 33% and vertical feet of climbing increased 25% from 2011, solidifying the event as "America's Toughest Stage Race". Seven of this year's 17 professional teams competed at the Tour de France, including the BMC Racing Team, which featured 2012 overall Tour of Utah winner Johann Tschopp of Switzerland.

Steve Miller, President of the Tour of Utah confirmed that next year's event would continue as a six-day, 2.1-rated UCI stage race. It will retain its position on the international cycling calendar during the first full week of August, with the dates being Tuesday, August 6 to Sunday, August 11, 2013. The overall route and host cities will be announced in the coming months.

IFM North America, an independent and international leader in sports marketing and research, managed the survey process from data collection to analysis. This included measurement of economic impact, sponsorship awareness and spectator profiles related to the cycling event, which took place August 7-12, 2012. Data was collected by crowd intercept surveys at all start and finish host venue locations during race week, which included Park City and Deer Valley, Utah.

TODAY SHOW FEATURES PARK CITY IN ITS FALL GETAWAY SEGMENT

By Nancy Barth
Oct 28, 2012

Picture of Waldorf Astoria in Park City UtahPark City and two of its lodging properties were featured in the Fall Getaways segment of NBC's The Today Show on October 15. A senior editor from Travel + Leisure magazine was the guest on the show that featured the area. The Washington School House was highlighted as a Park City "Splurge" hotel, and the Waldorf Astoria Park City was highlighted as the "Save" hotel. This represents significant coverage in a very high-profile media outlet for the Park City and Deer Valley area. To view the segment, please visit this site.

Park City Featured in Forbes Magazine

By Nancy Barth
Oct 03, 2012

Picture of Historic Main Street in Park City Utah near Deer Valley ResortPark City’s summer season was featured in a recent edition of Forbes Magazine.  The article, which was titled “Remarkable Summer Travel: A Prime Luxury Destination,” highlights Park City’s many summer offerings, including hiking, lodging, spas, mountain biking, dining, outdoor films and more.  To read the complete article, please check out this online link.