Vail’s $50 Million Plan to Combine Park City and Canyons

On Monday, Vail Resorts unveiled a $50 million capital plan for upgrades to Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) for the 2015–2016 ski season. Subject to approval by both Summit County and the City of Park City, the upgrades would include combining the ski area with nearby Canyons Resort. Visitors would ride a high-speed, two-way gondola between the two resorts to access the largest single ski area in the United States, with more than 7,300 acres of skiable terrain.

Efforts to combine the two adjacent ski areas will coincide with other major infrastructural improvements at PCMR, which Vail Resorts acquired only a few months ago following a three-year dispute that began when the ski areas’ previous operator neglected to file the necessary paperwork to renew its lease with its landlord.

“When we announced the acquisition, we immediately announced our intention to combine the two resorts,” Bill Rock, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Vail Resorts, told Outside. “This is transformational in every way and far exceeds what people were expecting.”

Among the improvements, Vail Resorts intends to convert the King Con and Motherlode lifts into faster, higher-capacity models using detachable chairlifts; demolish and replace the Snow Hut restaurant; and renovate the Red Pine restaurant.

Rock told Outside that the physical improvements are all scheduled to take place during the spring and summer of 2015. If all goes to plan, they will be complete in time for the start of the next year’s ski season. “We don’t think anybody in the ski industry has put this much into one resort in a summer,” he said. “It’s a pretty aggressive schedule, but doable.”