According to Vail Resorts, Goar will leave Park City later this month. He is expected to head to work at Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland for the start of next season, pending the closure of the Swiss resort’s sale to Vail later this year and approval of his Swiss work visa. Vail announced last month it would be acquiring a majority stake in the resort.
Deirdra Walsh, who is currently vice president and general manager of Northstar Resort in California, will take over as vice president and COO of PCMR on May 30. Walsh will serve under the leadership of Vail Resorts Executive Vice President Bill Rock.
Park City Mountain Resort Senior Manager of Communications Sara Huey confirmed the news of Goar’s departure to KPCW early Tuesday morning.
Goar has been a fixture of the Utah resort community since 1981, spending 27 years at Solitude Resort before moving to Canyons Resort, where he spent eight years and helped oversee its merger with PCMR in 2015. Goar then served stints at Vail properties in Colorado and California before returning to Park City as VP and COO in 2019.
In a farewell message, Goar said while he will miss Park City, he is grateful to have worked alongside “such passionate, hardworking teammates and community members.”
Walsh will return to Park City after spending the last three years at Northstar. She began her resort career in Park City in 2007 as part of the resort’s conference sales team before moving to mountain dining in 2010. Walsh was named VP and general manager of Northstar in 2019.
In a statement, Walsh said she is “overjoyed” to return to Park City. She said she knows “both the opportunities and complexities of [the] resort well,” and is looking forward to partnering with the community going forward.
A particularly challenging 2021-22 winter with little snow, staffing shortages, COVID-19 outbreaks, terrain closures, and traffic problems in Park City led to members of the community loudly voicing displeasure with the resort to the Park City Council and on social media.
Walsh comes in to lead PCMR as the resort has a pending application with the Park City Planning Commission to develop the rest of the resort’s base area at Park City Mountain.
