Friday morning, Park City’s resort staff cracked a bottle of champagne against the Sunrise Gondola, and with that, the 2025-2026 winter season began.
The resort opened lifts at both Mountain Village and Canyons Village. The earliest skiers in line at either side got there at 9 a.m. — on Thursday.
“We kept trying to get in line, but they finally let us get in line at 1 a.m.,” South Summit High School student Adeline Aste laughed. “We camped out for the night.”
She was joined by three classmates and two Park City high schoolers, whose buddies were first chair at the Red Pine Gondola on the Canyons side of the mountain. The teens have snagged first chair two years running.
“This is my last year that's needed — I got Park City last year, Canyons this year,” senior Hudson Marsh said over at Canyons. His three friends plan to line up again next year and make it a three-peat.
Behind the first Payday riders was Tom Oliver, who boasts a 25-year streak lining up for first chair. But he’s always happen with second, since it doesn’t mean camping out. And these days, he hitches a free ride to the mountain.
“I'm very lucky. I live in Prospector. I have two buses that come to the mountain: the 1 Red and the 5 Yellow,” he said.
It was a somewhat disappointing year for folks visiting from outside Utah, since opening days everywhere were delayed for lack of snow.
The Adams family — Mark, Ben and Rich from Illinois, Michigan and Florida — booked their ski trip in June. It was a relative bargain, but a gamble, and they arrived last weekend.
“I was coming either way. So a lot of hot tub, lot of walking around,” Mark Adams said riding up Saddleback Express. “Now, happy to get one day of skiing.”
Once Mother Nature delivered, Park City Mountain was able to debut the new Sunrise Gondola at Canyons, which it says is Utah’s first 10-person gondola.
During the grand opening ceremony, resort officials presented local nonprofits PC Tots and the Early Childhood Alliance with a $200,000 check, and preschoolers took the ceremonial first ride.
“I have to thank everyone who made this project possible, the operations teams, some of whom are here with me today, our construction partners, our friends at CVMA, our Canyons Village neighbors and the broader Park City community,” Park City Mountain Community and Government Affairs Director Sara Huey said. “This was a massive and multi-year effort.”
Sunrise now drops off on the other side of Red Pine Lodge from the Red Pine Gondola, providing a third way to mid-mountain from the Canyons Village base area.
Park City Mountain’s spinning lifts Dec. 5 included Red Pine, Sunrise, Payday, Saddleback, First Time and High Meadow, plus the magic carpets.
More terrain will open as weather allows.
Vail Resorts’ EpicPromise foundation is a financial supporter of KPCW.
KPCW's Sarah Ervin contributed to this report.
