The slopes at Park City Mountain are private and that means that the resort gets to say when skiers and snowboarders can access them.
Eager for the powder, last week’s snowfall brought several uphill skiers to the slopes, but Toph White, Park City snow safety manager said not only is it trespassing, but it’s dangerous for skiers to be in the area where crews are working to open the rest of the mountain.
“We use that as a different travel route for a lot of other equipment that are not looking for people” White said. “And so that's why we want to make sure that people are staying on Home Run, staying on that designated climb, not going above the angle station. And there's also different times where we may have wench cats out, which present a whole other set of hazards that we want people to avoid.”
White expects uphill skiing to open in the next week or two. The hours will be from 6 p.m. to 8:30 the next morning when skiers must be off the mountain so the resort can be ready for its daily operations. He encourages skiers and riders to hold off for the all-clear sign and once it does, educate those who aren’t following the rules.
“It is all about safety,” he said. “We do want to make sure that people are not getting underneath things that we would be doing mitigation routes on, or if we have winch cats in the area. And it is really tempting, just like in the winter, if you saw tracks on the other side of ski patrol closure that that can endanger other people who think, oh, well, someone else went in there. It's probably not a hazard. So, if you do see other people, if you feel comfortable reminding them, ‘hey, that's not the designated route.’ Let's not lose this program because it is something that last year, we had some encounters where we were starting to feel uncomfortable with people being on the hill.”
Once uphill skiing opens for the season, the designated travel route is well marked with reflective signs and follows the Home Run trail at the base of the resort up to the angle station. But many uphill skiers don’t stay on Home Run, rather, they veer right to what’s called Lower Silver Skis, or ski past the angle station which he said is never allowed.
He encourages uphill skiers or riders to make sure that they are visible by wearing both a headlight and a bike light on their packs, as well as other reflective gear. No dogs are allowed.
For updates on uphill skiing, text the word “uphill” to 435-244-7169.
