PCMR...why?

Jupiter is special to me. The glades on the right side (as you're going up the lift) are fantastic, as is all the open bowl terrain further on. Going left, the steep glades are tough for this little chicken$hit , while the hike up and drop off the actual Jupiter Peak into McKonkey's bowl is fantastic.

I also like the variety of terrain... it's just a fun place to tool around all day... when it isn't crowded. When it's crowded, OMG it sucks, but really, not any worse than the Bird (and 210!) on a powder day. 

Anyway, it isn't for everyone, and I'd never get a season pass here (even if I lived in P.C. I prefer the Canyons) but it's still good skiing.

Some of the best inbounds natural terrain pockets in UT when the snow is good, and fantastic parks. 

^^^^^^must be eensy weeensy teensy friggin pockets. that area sucks. all I ever got there was frostbite on the longest lowest angle mandatory run back to the base I've ever seen. It's an anomoly in Utah, pure crap among all that greatness. sorry, back to people that are going to tell you why they like it, but I'm with the OP. dumbfounded that such a place has ever even earned the slightest nod. If you know how to ski, don't go there. If you can't ski, or OK, ski parks, it's all yours.

^^^Getting ragged on by Davluri is kind of a compliment for the area. 

The great natural terrain there is pretty obvious and quite large. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickg 

When I spent a week there several years ago, Jupitar Bowl and McConkey's Ridge made my vacation! Had more fun there than I could find in 2 days at DV and one at the Canyons. Talk about searching for terrain? It seemed that I spent the entire day at the Canyons just trying to get somewhere. One of the biggest non ski days at a big resort I ever had.

Rick G
 

Canyons isn't for casual visitors. It's a local's place. The difficulty of finding the goods is what makes the locals stay there.

I visit the Canyons every other year. My friends who has season pass there, wouldn't bother with PCMR even when its pass is cheaper. The reason? "the powders are too obvious and the we have to fight with the tourists to get to it!"

If I didn't have my buddies to show me around, I probably wouldn't have found my way around the Canyons. And I might have ended up prefering PCMR instead.

You're right. PCMR sux. Don't go there. Go to Brighton.

I have only skied PCMR one day, about 2 weeks ago.  But it was an interesting resort.  I found plenty of good terrain, the lifts were not too slow, and the hike to the top of Jupiter was probably the highest payoff of any hike I've done:  short, with lots of fantastic snow and terrain waiting at the top.  The tree skiing was very good as well, and steep and tight enough to cause some serious adrenaline.  I liked it much more than Deer Valley.

That being said, I'd rather ski Snowbasin or Snowbird.

Mike

PCMR == lots of groomed cruisers with lots of high speed lifts to move you around the resort.  If that's what you're looking for, you'll like PCMR.  If that's not what you're looking for, you won't.

PCMR is not my first choice of SLC resort, but it's not my last either, and I prefer it to the Crayons or Deer Valet.

BTW, I haven't found parking to be an issue at any of the10 Utah resorts I've been to.  Compared to Colorado or certain New England resorts, there's nothing to complain about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickg 

Quote:

Originally Posted by at_nyc 

Canyons isn't for casual visitors. It's a local's place. The difficulty of finding the goods is what makes the locals stay there.

 

I visit the Canyons every other year. My friends who has season pass there, wouldn't bother with PCMR even when its pass is cheaper. The reason? "the powders are too obvious and the we have to fight with the tourists to get to it!"

 

If I didn't have my buddies to show me around, I probably wouldn't have found my way around the Canyons. And I might have ended up prefering PCMR instead.

I am quite sure if I had a local guide my day would have been better. Part of the problem was that I went alone on a "club" trip and I couldn't find anyone else who liked to ski where I like to ski so I was exploring The Canyons alone. That meant I wouldn't go far from establshed routes. I tried to find a local in the liftline to buddy up with to no avail, so I wandered around aimlessly looking for some intersting terrain I felt comfortable skiing alone.

I did like that one chair that went up and then down the other side of a peak.

Rick G

That's funny!

I won't quite call myself a "local" at the Canyons. But I skied it enough to know many of the out of way stashes. The one time I skied it NOT with my friends, I was sharing a chair with 2 out of town doctors sneaking away from their conference for a few turns. Me and my other friend who's also a semi-local like me showed the 2 good doctors some of the runs (and easy trees) way out in the Dreamscape land. They were grinning ear to ear and said they had the best day in their whole stay! So yes, local knowledge makes a difference in any mountain, and in Canyons it's particularly significant.
 

I was at Park City on Friday, and to an extent, I can see the OP's point.  I happened to be there on a crap weather day.  Overcast and Windy, with hard crusty snow.  So I didn't spend too much time Off-Piste and just cruised around to try and span the area in a day.  But it seems to me I didn't have to look far to see where the good terrain was.  Jupiter and McConkey's are obvious.  Jupiter was running half speed when I was there because of wind.  Maybe it was the same case for you and thus gave the impression it was hampster powered.  I'm not going to fault the mountain for that.  Lots of places slow or halt lift ops due to wind.  Also obviously good, is the Terrain Park.  I didn't go into it because at 29, I'm already old and feeble.  They also had night skiing.  So I didn't have to leave and go back to SLC airport at 4:00 for my 8:10 flight back to Fresno.  I stayed on the mountain until 5:45, and that was nice.  Oh and lets not forget it's a holiday weekend.  The Base Area Lifts, King con, and whatever that lift next to King Con were busy for me too, but everyone was saying that was a holiday weekend thing.

Park City is far from my favorite resort, and I can easily agree Alta is better.  But Park City is not bad.  Heck I day tripped there from California.

This comes up every year. With a dozen or so great resorts in Utah to choose from, why PC? well, we like the small ski town and our little resort becomes a family affair. The U. S. Ski team is based here and countless ski teams train here. Like any mountain,you really need to know it to get the goods, and PCMR takes a bit of local knowledge. When I lived in smoggy, (worse than Bejing) SLC, I had an Alta season pass- eight years, and  then a year at Bird. No question, more challenging resorts, gorgeous, more snow. . But to raise or vacation with a family, Park City is pretty great. And every other resort in Northern Utah is an hour or less away. Here's a shot from this morning:

Maybe I lucked out on my only time being there (last Wednesday), but I found some awesome terrain at The Canyons. Getting away from the Red Gondola and Orange Bubble was a good idea. I found some amazing and unpopulated terrain on Peak 5 and NinetyNine 90 peak. The lift for the other lifts was long, but I never rode with another person on my half dozen or more runs on the Peak5 and NinetyNine 90 lift.

Quote:

Originally Posted by at_nyc 

 

 

Canyons isn't for casual visitors. It's a local's place. The difficulty of finding the goods is what makes the locals stay there.

 

I visit the Canyons every other year. My friends who has season pass there, wouldn't bother with PCMR even when its pass is cheaper. The reason? "the powders are too obvious and the we have to fight with the tourists to get to it!"

 

If I didn't have my buddies to show me around, I probably wouldn't have found my way around the Canyons. And I might have ended up prefering PCMR instead.

Don't feed the troll.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alta Dude 

Serious question for those of you that like PCMR.  The question is, why?

 

I got comped two tickets yesterday, so a buddy and I went up.  Conditions weren't ideal, but I've skied in far worse, so that's not a big deal.  In a nutshell, we were there for about 4 hours, and it seemed like we didn't even do any real skiing.  Cruising long, slow cat tracks to get to a lift, never-ending flat traverses, sitting on that so-called 2 seater, Jupiter, which I can only assume is powered by hamster wheel, and standing in a 25 minute line on King Con, a slow quad, is not quite my idea of skiing.  Oh yeah, and parking sucks.  Even with a decent parking spot, you're still in for a long uphill walk, and up a flight of stairs, just to get to the ticket plaza.  I guess I'm spoiled by Alta, where even the worst parking spots are, at most, a 5 minute walk to the lift.

 

Personally, I'd rather have 2 passes to Deer Valley than a season pass to PCMR.

Complaints about long traverses, runouts, slow lifts, and long lines (seriously on a holiday weekend?) from AltaDude? Ironic.

Never skied PCMR but I have biked all over the resort and the MTB in PC / BCC is much superior to LCC. Even from the saddle, spotting the fun terrain for winter time seems pretty straight forward, first go to jupiter and then hike around. If you can't find something fun in exploring a new hill (for free) then it seems that the problem is mostly with you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpikeDog 

Don't feed the troll.

2nd that...although I do find it funny whenever someone winds up complaining about something that they got for free...

Quote:

Originally Posted by sphrrt 

2nd that...although I do find it funny whenever someone winds up complaining about something that they got for free...

This is a well-known phenomenon written about by behavioral economists.

I was not complaining when I was invited to ski Park City, airfare, slope side lodging, lift tickets, home cooked breakfasts in condo, fine dining in restaurants every evening all included, but I was a bit concerned that Park City, being highly rated in categories such as "grooming" and "family friendly" might be lacking in terrain and snow compared to nearby resorts. Perhaps it is, but the skiing was sufficiently awesome.

I gladly accepted an invitation to stay in the town on another occasion even though I had to pay my airfare that time.  Both trips included skiing one day at Alta. I know Alta gets more snow than Park City, but it was easier for me, an unguided tourist, to find interesting terrain at PCMR and there was powder skiing.

Parking was not a concern. Both places I stayed had underground lots for their guests and both were a short walk from a lift. :)

*empty*  bump runs

Quote:

Originally Posted by comprex 

 

 

*empty*  bump runs

Great point! I was there during spring break last year, and PCMR was pretty crowded. However, once I got off the groomers, I seemed to have most of the runs to myself! I maybe saw like 2 other people in the Jupiter bowl area. That's where I had the most fun. Also found there was some great tree skiing to be had. I had a great time at PCMR! The key is to go exploring, which there's plenty to explore there. It sounds like your bad experience may have been due to expectations and attitude.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AustinFromSA 

Great point! I was there during spring break last year, and PCMR was pretty crowded. However, once I got off the groomers, I seemed to have most of the runs to myself! I maybe saw like 2 other people in the Jupiter bowl area. That's where I had the most fun. Also found there was some great tree skiing to be had. I had a great time at PCMR! The key is to go exploring, which there's plenty to explore there. It sounds like your bad experience may have been due to expectations and attitude.

Not only that, but you won't get arrested, handcuffed and carted off the mountain in a sled for travelling uphill.