Park City Mountain’s uphill travel on verge of suspension due to skier negligence

Morning light on Home Run. Uphill travel faces uncertainty at Park City Mountain due to skier negligence and deviation from the uphill routes. Photo: TownLift

'We would hate for there to be a serious injury that would stop the program for everyone. We would have to close all of our uphill travel.' - Toph White, ski patroller and Snow Safety Manager at Park City Mountain

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City Mountain is one of only a few mountains that allow uphill travel in the Wasatch Back and Front, but recent and repeat incidents involving skier negligence have forced the resort to look at a suspension of these privileges.

“Unfortunately, with our open uphill policy, we’ve been seeing an increase in people not really adhering to the guidelines,” said Toph White, a ski patroller and the manager of the Snow Safety Group for Park City Mountain. “The big one is deviating from the designated uphill route, as well as the downhill, and that really is designated for both guest safety as well as for us to have efficient operations over the evening.”

The designated uphill route stretches from the First Time parking lot up Home Run to the Angle Station where the top of Town Lift is, ensuring a safe passage for uphill travelers. However, instances of skiers straying off this route poses liabilities for all parties. One particular instance occurred recently where a skier ventured into a closed area during storm conditions, and where snow mitigation was taking place, threatening the safety of ski patrollers and the skier.

“We haven’t had anybody that has gotten to a point where they were going to be severely injured, but areas that put us into a lot of concern have been with our snow mitigation mornings when we do have storms,” White said. “With that, we do cease operations until we make sure that we have that person back into safe terrain and we can continue with operations. We don’t want to hurt anybody. If someone does get hurt in hazardous terrain then that puts our personnel at risk to go and try and assist them.”

Other worries from skiers veering off of the Home Run route is the interference with snow and winch cats.

By designating one uphill and downhill route, White said, “We know that we’re looking for people, and our operators, whether that’s snowcats, or snowmobiles, or anybody else that’s out, knows to be looking for people there.”

“But out of the other areas that we’re operating, we might not actually be looking for people and we would hate for there to be a serious injury that would stop the program for everyone. We would have to close all of our uphill travel.”

White emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility among skiers, urging adherence to guidelines and prompt reporting of any negligence observed. Park City Mountain now has an uphill number for text alerts and to report uphill travel incidents.

“If there’s anyone that we can actually interface with, especially if they’re kind of what we might call a repeat offender, we really want to get them educated onto why we’re trying to help keep them safe as well as ourselves and go from there,” White said.

Skier negligence can also impact operational efficiency for the upcoming ski day, potentially delaying the opening of lifts and resort facilities. Those that duck the ropes and venture off Home Run can actually put mountain operations on hold, creating a domino effect.

“We may actually have to cease what we’re doing, and then double back, and so that can actually impact us getting our lifts open,” White said. “You may think that, ‘well I’m traveling up through the base area and all that’s safe,’ but there’s very, very few places over the entire resort where there is not some sort of snow safety or avalanche mitigation concern that we worry about.”

Is there a future for Park City’s uphill travel? That answer falls onto the skiers.

“It does take a lot of personal responsibility and knowing all of our guidelines,” White said. “Remember that the skiers responsibility code can apply even if you are out here and those lifts are not spinning.”

Top five things to know when traveling uphill at Park City Mountain:

1. Travel times are open between 6 p.m. and 8:30 a.m.
2. The designated route is on Home Run at the bottom of First Time up to the Angle Station where the top of Town Lift is – this applies to both up and downhill routes
3. Make sure you are wearing a headlamp and reflective or bright colored clothing for easy visibility
4. Subscribe to the uphill text alerts by texting “uphill” to (435) 244-7169 for closures and alerts – you can also use this number to report skier negligence
5. No pets allowed

For more information on Park City Mountain’s uphill policy visit their website.

 

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