Park City

Park City Quicksilver Gondola August Update

Peter Landsman5 Comments
Drive terminal of Park City's new Quicksilver Gondola in The Colony.
Drive terminal of Park City’s new Quicksilver Gondola in The Colony.

Construction on Park City’s new lifts has noticeably shifted towards the new Quicksilver Gondola since my last update a few weeks ago.  Steel for the drive and return terminals is going up and there is only one tower left to pour concrete for.  The angle station is the least far along with just holes in the ground at this point.

Return terminal next to the new Miners Camp Lodge with future cabin parking facility.
Return terminal next to the new Miners Camp Lodge with future cabin parking facility.

The return terminal is going up next to the new Miners Camp lodge and Silverlode lift.  A cabin parking facility will be here and it appears it will be big enough for all the cabins, unlike the small maintenance bays at the Red Pine Gondola and Orange Bubble Express.  It looks like for the first year it will just have rails and no roof.  I’m guessing a building will be built over the whole thing another year.

This is Tower 24 which will be on one end of a huge span to Tower 23.
This is Tower 24 which will be on one end of a huge span to Tower 23.

Quicksilver will have 27 towers numbered from the drive terminal in White Pine Canyon.  There are only four towers in what used to be Park City Ski Area.  I did not realize until now that there will be a massive span over Thaynes Canyon that will rival the existing Red Pine Gondola with cabins at least 200 feet in the air.  Evidently Park City traded lower wind tolerance and a difficult evacuation scenario for fewer towers and a shorter lift.

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Vail Resorts Unveils Park City’s New Brand

Peter Landsman1 Comment
Park City Mountain's new trail map!
Park City’s new trail map!

At an event this afternoon, Vail Resorts officially launched the brand for America’s new largest ski resort.   The new Park City logo combines the Canyons infinity symbol with a new Park City red color and the tagline “There is Only One.”  This is not terribly surprising from a company whose flagship resort is branded “Like Nothing on Earth.”  CanyonsResort.com now redirects to the new Park City website, which ironically is the old Canyons site.  No doubt the new logo and colors look sharp and will serve them well for years to come.  Many of the lifts have already been repainted in the new red and silver color scheme in preparation for this winter.

The new Park City logo takes inspirations from the now retired Canyons logo.
The new Park City logo takes inspirations from the now retired Canyons logo.

Also unveiled today was a new trail map painted by James Niehues.  The working name for the new gondola (Pinecone Gondola) has been scrapped in favor of Quicksilver Gondola in an ode to Park City’s mining heritage.  I liked the Pinecone name; it was chosen for the ridge the gondola crosses but I imagine Vail was worried about confusion with the existing Red Pine Gondola.  Quicksilver fits well with the mining names already in use at Park City such as Silverlode, Bonanza, Motherlode and Payday.  The new lodge at the base of the Quicksilver Gondola will be called Miner’s Camp.  Although it has mostly disappeared, the Canyons name lives on as the northern base area has been renamed Canyons Village.

McConkey's six pack in the process of being repainted into the new Park City red and silver color scheme.
McConkey’s six pack in the process of being repainted into the new Park City red and silver color scheme.

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Park City’s Motherlode Upgrade

Peter LandsmanLeave a comment
Top of the new Motherlode lift. Obviously it still needs to be painted.
Top of the new Motherlode high speed quad.  Obviously it still needs to be painted.

Park City removed the Motherlode triple early this spring to make way for a new high speed quad in the same alignment.  Instead of a brand new lift, Vail Resorts opted to relocate the King Con lift, originally built in 1993.  Both CTEC terminals have already been moved and all tower footings poured.  Motherlode will get new tower tubes but just about everything else is coming from King Con.  The lift may need some new chairs due to the increased length of Motherlode.  The new tower tubes and haul rope are on site.

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Park City’s New King Con Six

Peter Landsman1 Comment
The new Motherlode under construction July 14, 2015.
The new Motherlode under construction July 14, 2015.

In addition to the new Pinecone Gondola, Vail Resorts is doing a major lift shuffle at Park City Mountain this summer.  The King Con high speed quad (1993 CTEC) is being replaced with a brand new Doppelmayr six pack.  King Con is being refurbished and relocated to replace Motherlode higher up on the hill.  More on that in an upcoming post.

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Both terminals for the new King Con are largely complete as of this week.  The Uni-G model terminals will be dark red and silver to match the new Park City Mountain logo and brand which will be unveiled on July 29th.  Rumors are that the word resort will be removed from the PCMR name and the new logo will be a dark red version of the Canyons infinity logo.  Most of the existing detachable lifts at Park City have already been painted in the new color scheme.

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King Con Six will re-use the CTEC tower tubes from the old high speed quad.  New tower heads are being assembled in the base area parking lot.  The bottom terminal will have a loading carpet as is standard with all new detachable lifts at Vail Resorts these days.  The lift is a top-drive, bottom-tension configuration.  Doppelmayr EJ six passenger chairs are already on-site.  All three of Park City’s new lifts will have Redaelli haul ropes which have also been delivered.

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Park City’s New Pinecone Gondola

Peter Landsman3 Comments
It's not hard to figure out where the new gondola goes. This is looking down from the top of Crescent.
It’s not hard to figure out where the new gondola goes. This is looking down from the top of Crescent.

I found myself near Park City this week and had to check out all the construction creating Utah’s largest ski resort.  It’s one thing to read Vail Resorts’ press releases touting $50 million in improvements but it is quite another to see hundreds of workers scrambling to complete a long list of projects spread over 7,300 acres.  This post will focus on what is perhaps the most exciting part – the new Pinecone Gondola that will link Park City to Canyons.

PCMR terminal and Snow Hut Lodge under construction.
PCMR terminal and Snow Hut Lodge under construction.

The 8,200′ long gondola starts adjacent to Park City’s Silverlode six-pack where a new Snow Hut lodge is also being built.  The terminal and first two tower footings have already been poured.  From this point, the line crosses over a modest ridge and descends before beginning the climb to Canyons in earnest.  There is a break halfway up Pinecone Ridge where the liftline moderates before a steep section to the summit.  Most of the holes for the towers in this portion have been dug including the two breakover towers just before the ridge-top mid-station. I was surprised at how sharp the midstation’s angle will be – around 30 degrees.

Looking up the lift line from tower 4.
Looking up the lift line from tower 4.

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