Park City for Sort-Of-Skiers

Park City/Canyons Trails

**This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click and purchase, I may receive some compensation. Thank you!

**DISCLAIMER: This is a narrative based solely on our experience and should not be taken as any sort of skier/skiing advice.

**ALSO… any photos taken from the top of the mountain or on a ski lift were taken by other members of my family. I was out of my element and not in a position to be taking photos whilst also in pure panic mode 😉

Going against every fiber of my beach loving body, we booked a trip to Park City, Utah over the break. It was absolutely gorgeous!! The layers and layers of mountains, freshly fallen snow, and regularly appearing sun made for the perfect winter wonderland. Logistically, Park City has easy access with a fairly direct 45 minute drive from the Salt Lake City airport.

As with most new endeavors, there was a learning curve and I learned some valuable lessons along the way. Namely, that a ski trip is not a trip in which we can implement our lax figure-it-out-as-we-go typical travel strategy. Planning is everything. Especially over holiday weekends.

This was our first time skiing out west (and my 4th time skiing ever). We joined in on our friend’s trip and booked at the same hotel. It was so nice and super comfortable. We had a two bedroom condo with a kitchen, laundry, living room, etc. A gondola was right outside the door. The only problem (for me, not everyone else lol) was that we were staying on the Canyons side, which is absolutely not for beginners (hand shoots up into the air). One example is that you can go up to the green trail in the middle of the mountain, but the only way to make it all the way down to the bottom of the slope is by taking blues. It wasn’t/was definitely that big of a deal and we quickly learned alllll the ways to make our way over to the Park City side. Gondola, ski, chair lift, repeat. The bus. The rented car.

Once on the Park City side, I was excited to see more green options. Let me be clear. Green trails here are considerably different/more difficult than the green trails in Michigan where you can leisurely coast through pretty forests. It did not help that the ski patrol was on strike and many of the trails were closed. We were all crowded onto a very limited number of trails on a holiday weekend. When even the Home Run green trail proved to be too much, I took a day to catch my breath and check out the village of Park City (more information on that in a second).

Ready to get back on the slopes, I took a lesson, which was incredibly helpful. And that was, in fact, Lesson #1 for this sort-of skier: Start with a Lesson. It helps to build confidence, you can skip the lines, and it assists you in getting the lay of the land. I had no idea that there were even easier, much less crowded First Time and Turtle Trail slopes to build confidence. (Of course, if I had really taken the time to examine a map instead of blindly following, I would have seen this.) I stayed on these trails for the lesson and for the following day and was so very happy to do so.

This leads me to Lesson #2: Warm up/start slow. Skiing is a sport and like all sports, it is good to warm up/ ease into it slowly. (If we have ever played tennis together, you know I enjoy at least 10-15 minutes of short court chats before going to the baseline ;-).) You may be super excited to get your money’s worth and experience the slopes but reading the room and everyone’s ability levels/stamina is equally important. During my day off and lessons day, the rest of the family was able to go off and do the greens and blues (and moguls!!!). We had a fairly easy time finding each other with our technology (and my apple tagging of all family members).

The first day was fulllllll of lessons. Because we were so excited to get on the slopes on our first day, we delayed going to the store and ended up getting lunch at one of the slope restaurants. Even with our EPIC pass discount, we paid a dumb amount of money for chicken tenders and fries. Granola bars and snacks were the name of our game for the rest of the trip. Lesson #3: Pack a Lunch/Filling Snack to get you through the day. Drinking water is also super important to avoid dehydration and headaches.

Lesson #4: If you are skiing everyday, you may be too tired and/or run out of time in the day to experience downtown Park City or do other activities. (And there are a lot of other activities like snow showing, cross country skiing, ice skating, snowmobiling, seeing the ice castles, exploring the Olympic Park village, shopping, etc). You should decide exactly what kind of a ski trip it is going to be with your family before the trip (especially if you are traveling back and forth between Park City and the Canyons). Many of us would have been happy with 3 hours of skiing and then hot tub/dinner time while others of us wanted to ski until the sunset every day. We purchased the 4 Day Epic Passes. In retrospect, that was too much and put too much pressure on us to ski and only ski. (I also didn’t realize that there are other places to ski nearby that have different/not Epic passes.) Because I am only a sort-of skier and felt unsafe with so many people and limited ski patrol, I was unable to use all of my days. The closest Epic ski resort to us is Mt. Brighton (Michigan) so I guess we will be checking that out this winter too lol.

Downtown Park City and Beyond

On my day away from skiing, I was able to take the bus and enjoy all that downtown Park City had to offer. (We also went back as a family on our flight-out day.) The village was so lovely and had something for everyone. There was a super cute book shop (Dolly’s Bookstore), adorable coffee shops (Park City Desserts & Coffee), all the fabulous established retail (Lululemon, Kuhl, Free People, North Face, Patagonia, Arhaus, etc. etc), the best boutiques (Olive + Tweed and We Norwegians were favorites) , and amazing art galleries (Montgomery Lee, Park City Fine Art, and McMillen Fine Art Photography Gallery were at the top of the list).

We toured Olympic Park on our way out of town. The museum kept our kids attention more than any museum we have been to. There was a fun skiing/kite skiing/bobsledding simulation. Seeing gold medals and lifting the curling rock were also highlights. We were there for about 45 minutes and the museum entry was free in celebration of Salt Lake City winning the 2034 Winter Olympics bid.

Where to Eat

We did not have time to eat out quite as much as I had envisioned. But, here’s what I know… One night we ate out in Park City (10 people total) and were able to get into Top of Main Brew Pub with minimal wait time. This was perfect for larger, family crowds. On NYE, we ordered in (again for 10 people) from Salt Box. The food was excellent and R said it was quite nice inside when he picked up the food. Our last night, we had a birthday celebration and there were 18 of us. Our friends made a reservation at Hearth and Hill. The setting and food was a perfect way to end our trip!

(Correction: Swig and In ‘N Out were our kids last day food dreams come true stops 😉

What to Pack

Of the four of us, two owned and brought skis and two of us rented. We all valeted our skis. The rentals could not have been easier. Aloha rental was in our hotel and right by the gondola. Once fitted, we skied and then left the skis on the rack (our ski owners also did this). In the morning, our skis magically appeared back on the rack.

We all packed helmets (attached to our carry ons), goggles, and ski socks. Ski owners packed skis, poles, and boots as well. We had a ski bag and a boot bag (the boot bag was free at airline check in with the checked ski bag). We ended up opening a credit card and got all (and future) checked bags free. I don’t know why but this seemed like a big win. (Paying for checked bags is definitely a pain point in travel for me. I also spoke fondly to our children of the “good old days” in travel when no one had to take their shoes off and you could bring your full water bottle through security, making me seem very old to them.)

We were loose with our base layers. I actually don’t know what the boys wore, but our daughter and I wore leggings, a long sleeve tee, and a sweatshirt/fleece. We also had quality outerwear and I think that allowed us to pay less attention to the base layer situation. Our ski jackets, gloves, and snow pants were also top notch and I was super grateful for the investment. (I think because we live in Michigan where winter can last 4-6 months, this kind of expenditure is completely warranted.)

While there are definitely fancy people in Park City, it was also perfectly acceptable to wear your ski jacket out for shopping and dinner. While I, of course, packed more than was needed, I could have gotten away with packing a pair of jeans, a nice fleece top, and a sweater. I also appreciated having a set of cozy clothes for after skiing.

Oh, and even though this is not a beach vacation, don’t forget your sunscreen for that mountain sun and swimsuits for the hot tub/heated pool.

Here are affiliate links to some of what I brought (if I couldn’t find the exact match, I linked a similar style from the same brand):

Design-Inspired Park City

There were so many lovely mountain homes on our drive to and from Park City. I am excited to put together some design boards for our imagined Park City Mountain Home.

In the meantime, here are some fun pieces of mountain ski art to incorporate in your home wherever you may be.

Okay- That is all I can think of! Happy Skiing/Visiting Park City!