Starting Wednesday morning, the Payday and First Time lifts will be the first to run in the second PCMR area to open. The trails scheduled to open are Lower Homerun, Lower Silver Skis and Turtle Trail.
According to PCMR Vice President and COO Mike Goar, the reason Canyons Village opened first this year was just because of the weather.
“Interestingly,” Goar said, there was “not a change in strategy at all, making snow on both sides of the mountain. The warm weather, though, was really impactful, particularly at the lowest elevation, so we just weren’t able to get enough snow made on lower Homerun. And, of course, Saddleback and High Meadow at a little bit higher elevation enabled us to get that first.”
He said the snow already on the ground isn’t at risk of melting significantly, even with periods of temperatures above freezing in this week’s forecast.
On Sunday, five lifts and two groomed trails opened at Canyons Village. On the slopes, Saddleback and High Meadow lifts carried skiers to Kokopelli and Mellow Moose trails. The Cabriolet parking lot lift, Red Pine gondola and Frostwood gondola were also running.
Despite the lack of early season snow, Sunday’s and Wednesday’s openings could mark the start of a busy season. Along with local skiers and riders, the Park City Chamber Bureau reported recently that hotel advance bookings are outpacing 2020 and 2019.
Resort staff are glad to have fewer restrictions in place for COVID-19 than last year, Goar said.
This year, masks aren’t required outdoors, lift-line mazes are back to normal without empty buffer lanes, reservations aren’t required for access, and lifts and gondolas will be fully loaded to carry passengers.
Masks are still required indoors for all, and guests at on-mountain cafeteria-style restaurants will have to show proof of vaccination.
Staff members are also required to be vaccinated. But that doesn’t guarantee every employee visitors interact with will be fully immunized.
“Quite simply, we still require a vaccination. However, employees can request an accommodation, and there is a list of those types of accommodations, and we now are providing those for our employees. They will be co-mingling with everybody else,” Goar said.
Allowing the exemptions to the vaccine requirement is a requirement of a bill passed in the Utah Legislature and signed by the governor in mid-November. In Senate Bill 2004, exemptions include for personal, medical or religious reasons.
As for the new Omicron variant, Goar said Vail Resorts hasn’t said whether Epic Pass holders would offer refunds if there’s a new travel ban.
“I would just encourage our guests to go online and look at that covering. It’s quite comprehensive. I want to make sure, though, that we don’t give any information that could be at all misleading, because that can be a bit of a moving target, as we know, with this new variant.”
Epic passes are only on sale through this Sunday, December 5.
