THE CANYONS: UNDISCOVERED GEM
The scene was right out of a film: riding a mountain bike through the piney forest, on the way to have lunch at a half-hidden four-star restaurant nestled in a mountain meadow; and I stop. A herd of sheep is trotting across the trail. A herder on horseback follows them. He smiles and waves, his big black dog loping alongside.
It was just another moment at The Canyons.
Way down below, at the base of the resort, my bike and I had been loaded into a glass-walled gondola for the scenic ride to the middle of the mountain. I had eight minutes of beautiful views before my bike was handed to me with a smile. It was lunchtime on a Thursday, and the main summer staging area for the mountain was full of people who had all arrived on the "Flight of the Canyons." Some were on bikes, some in hiking shoes and backpacks, others were drifting towards the Red Pine Cafe.
I had never eaten there before; didn't even know that this gourmet lunchery existed. Outdoor eating under a roof was pleasant, the service was good; but the food---the food was exquisite. The ahi tuna roll was only an appetizer, but there was enough for a full meal. The chocolate decadence desert was a heaven of creamy gooey chewiness. What a find! And only open for lunch!
The flat meadow around the Red Pine Lodge connects to the Mid-Mountain Trail that wanders over to Deer Valley and surrounding communities for those in shape to bike it. Nearby, there is an actual disc golf course, played with special discs that include a driver and putter; a serious sport for those who are into it. Rent the discs at Canyon Mountain Sports at the village level, or just bring your own frisbee and play; it's free. There are free concerts in the base area village every Saturday throughout the spring and summer; with big name bands like the Smithereens, who will play at 6:30 p.m. on August 11. One of the biggest Farmers Markets in Utah is held every Wednesday in the lower parking lot; it has local growers selling fruit and vegetables, plus artists and jewelers selling their work. The resort is a summertime treat.
The Canyons is a puzzle; a clash of opposites. On one side, it is a developing resort that is bringing new and different amenities to Park City, adding much to the mix of the town's resorts. On the other side, it is a financial mess; the center of a tangled string of lawsuits, last remnant of a dissolved company and now under new management; with a future so iffy that reporters are asking if the resort will actually open for the winter. Part of the terrain at the heart of the resort is only leased to The Canyons; it belongs to a private owner; which is the source of the skein of lawsuits.
A third side is its past: this was always the sub-resort; the second class one you went to if you didn't have the money for Deer Valley or Park City Mountain Resort or transportation to the Cottonwood Canyons. It was a shabby mom-'n-pop place as Park West, then a trashy cash cow for draining as Wolf Mountain. Finally, resort conglomerate American Skiing purchased the resort; built a hotel, put fancy facades on the old building and concentrated on real estate. But resort real estate is not enough to support a ski area, and it took too much time for the company to learn that lesson. After years of major losses, American Skiing sold its properties one by one and died off when it finally gave up The Canyons.
The new owners have yet to make their imprint, but they were left with a great new beginning started by American Skiing. After being purchased by the company when the announcement came that Salt Lake got the 2002 Olympics, the resort was renamed The Canyons, and someone at last started paying attention to the terrain. It was cut and coddled into more usable runs; the vast surrounding backcountry was opened to skiers and snowboarders, nearly tripling the terrain, 15 new lifts were installed. Last year, for the first time in the resort's history, a genuine public relations professional was hired instead of the revolving friends-of-friends who had always held that important position. Easterner Elizabeth Dowd knows how to promote a resort; it helps that she loves The Canyons.
"With all the terrain additions, there is still so much potential at this resort. The terrain is fantastic. At the base level, a golf course will be going in over the next couple of years. We spent ten million dollars in capitol improvements last year. There used to be lines at the base of Tombstone, we've alleviated that by putting in a six-pack chair lift. We've added more Cabriolet cars (the free lift from the lower parking lot) so you don't have to stand in line to get to and from your car," she says.
Dowd says that the resort is looking to offer more spectator events; right now it's a non-entity in the snow competition fields of racing and riding. But The Canyons was the first stop on the prestigious Jeep King of the Mountain professional mountain bike race August 4; the resort wants more such events; and Jeep puts on a winter King of the Mountain race too.
Still, people's perceptions are hard to change. Not many people know that The Canyons is the largest resort in Utah; the fifth largest in the U. S. All that the locals see is that the snow melts here first because is at a lower altitude than the other resorts. Ugly bare brown splotches appear here first.
But Dowd says the resort is now pulling in Salt Lakers who usually go to Alta or the 'Bird.
"They are cluing in that The Canyons has terrain that is comparable. Perceptions are changing, I'm watching it change. My job requires me to take journalists around the mountain in winter, and some of them are hard core skiers who ski a lot and write only about skiing and outdoor things, and I love to see their reaction, because they are always, always shocked at the terrain here at the Canyons," she enthuses.
Indeed, the Ninety Nine 90 trail is well known as a 'give-me-the-Charmin' run, and Canis Lupis is famous as the site of the James Bond ski scene in "For Your Eyes Only."
Meanwhile, people are discovering The Canyons in summer. All the tables were filled at the Red Pine Lodge on that Thursday. The vast parking lot around the village was full. Riders at the Jeep King of the Mountain event on Saturday said the Utah stop had more spectators than any other of the races.
Dowd says that the resort, with its restaurants, village and shops; will become a destination in itself. "People will find everything they want here, they won't have to leave except maybe to go sightseeing on old Main Street," she says.
There are five cranes at the base level; every square inch of land is being paved over, or, as they say about land subdued, "developed."
Anyone with foresight can see that a real city is springing up in Kimball Junction, spearheaded by The Canyons, which manages to combine home spun with four star. In the next few years, everyone will know there are three resorts in that ritzy area above Salt Lake.