Author Archives: Jill Adler

2016 Utah State Fair Roams Into Town

Leave a comment

It was time to grab a deep-fried Oreo, watch dogs fly and jugglers juggle as the Utah State Fair wheeled into Salt Lake City last week. 

The 10-day event brings together the best of carnie rides, livestock (ie ginormous pigs), touring rock bands, greasy foods, boots and boobs. The Fair is a lookie-loo’s paradise!

img_3768

 

img_3861

Blues Traveler, the 90s blues rock band, energized the grandstand and had I known that your fair ticket got you in, I would have been all over that! Instead, I assumed that you had to purchase separately. I’m an idiot.

 

What we did know was included was the circus and the Canine flyers; and the rows of sheep, chickens, pigs, milk cows, beef cows, pigeons, rabbits and baby animals to pet and observe. There were also cooking competitions, craft-making contests and a family donut stringing comp. Unfortunately, the demolition derby was axed because the arena is closed for construction.  

Sage tried to take it all in. Have a walk with her if you missed this year’s Fair then diet like crazy so you’re ready for all of the fair food in 2017.

Autumn Aloft Relaunches in Park City

Leave a comment

My stomach is in a bunch with excitement for tonight’s Balloon Glow. Back in the day I used to volunteer to clear fields and traffic out for hot air balloon landings just so I could get free rides. It’s been years since I went up up and away but I still get a kick out of watching those big, bright orbs float on the Wasatch horizon.

Park City’s annual Autumn Aloft Hot Air Balloon Festival starts tomorrow (Saturday) with all sorts of opportunities for watching those beachballs defy gravity. “Autumn Aloft is a magical Park City event,” said event organizer Monty Coates. “Park City’s fall foliage combined with the display of the balloons provides an unforgettable sight for event spectators.”  Grab your cameras and your jackets (it’s wicked cold in Park City in the wee hours) and take aim as the 24 balloons launch from the North 40 Fields at 8 a.m. Saturday morning. I prefer sleeping in so Friday’s single balloon glow in Newpark Town Center from 8-9 p.m. and Saturday’s Candlestick on Historic Main Street, 8 – 8:30 p.m. are more my speed. The Balloon pilots conduct a choreographed light show from eight balloon baskets on Park City’s Main Street between 4th and 5th Streets.

“The Autumn Aloft of the early 80s and 90s placed Park City on the map in the ballooning community,” says Mike Bauwens, Autumn AloftBalloonmeister. “As the event continues to grow and regain recognition, interest from the ballooning community continues to increase.”

More than 30 years ago, Park City resident Gene Moser and a group of local hot air balloon pilots set out to create the classiest Hot Air Balloon festival in the world. Their idea was to create a balloon festival that reflected the free-spirited, exuberance of Park City; Autumn Aloft was the brainchild of these passionate balloonists. It’s a big effort to bring these balloons to one spot year after year. Come out and appreciate the balloonists’ elegance and stamina. Maybe you can even talk them into a ride.

The schedule of events includes:

Friday, September 16

Newpark Glow

Approximately 8:00 p.m. –  9:00 p.m.

A single balloon glow is scheduled for the Newpark Town Center.

Saturday, September 17

Main Launch 

24 balloons will take flight from the North 40 Fields in Park City.

Access begins at 7:45 a.m.

The launch begins at approximately 8:00 a.m.

2530 Kearns Blvd. Park City, Utah

Sunday, September 18

Main Launch 

24 balloons will take flight from the North 40 Fields in Park City.

Access begins at 7:45 a.m.

The launch begins at approximately 8:00 a.m.

2530 Kearns Blvd. Park City, Utah

More details on Autumn Aloft can be found at www.autumnaloft.com.

Wanna Own A Ski Resort?

Leave a comment

Photos courtesy @marseille

In an age where everything feels crowdfunded- from frat parties to feature films- it was only a matter of time before the ski biz opened the wagon gate and asked us to climb aboard. RED Mountain, the oldest ski resort in Western Canada, and the first stop on B.C.’s famous Powder Highway is using the StartEngine funding website to seek an injection for their next capital investment. The goal is set at $10 million with a minimum buy-in of $1000.

You Don’t Have To Pay To Play Just Yet

Red Mountain’s platform is simple- help keep us from being swallowed by Evil Corp. According to the Canadian resort’s website close to 40 ski resorts are owned by just three corporations and nearly 75 percent of those acquisitions happened in the last 14 years. Red is using Vail Resort’s latest engulfment of Whistler/Blackcomb to highlight the eclipsing need to keep local hills out of the hands of “The Man.” But because this is a first of its kind, RED wants to gauge the public’s interest. All you have to do is log on and imply that you might want to invest. There’s no legal commitment whatsoever. After 90 days, if it looks like enough people could fund the campaign, then it goes live and you can chip in or not.

15410304128_a98a911cea_o

Selling Points Of A Ski Resort

With the advent of new crowdfunding rules that now allow for equity in exchange for ‘donations,’ an entity like a ski area can offer perks beyond a lift ticket or T-shirt. Those who help to raise the $10 million goal will have an equity stake/shares in the company.

Last year was the best financial year in RED’s history and they want to keep the momentum going in “a way that supports our beliefs of community and sustainability for a place that we believe is special within the ski resort world. We are doing this by bringing forward an extremely unique opportunity to like-minded individuals and adventurists that believe places like RED are important to keep around,” states the resort on their website.

“We have the snowfall, vertical drop, world-class terrain and 4-season fun to go boot-to-boot with the BigGuys, but have consciously maintained our mom ’n’pop/weird uncle feel for over 100 years. We’re tired of seeing families priced out of a premier ski vacation by Mega Resorts. It’s time for a change.”

If you do want to buy the bridge, er resort, you’ll have a chance at a piece of one of the largest ski areas in North America- ahead of Jackson Hole; ahead of Snowbird and Copper.

15409785309_05194bd3bd_k

You Want In

The “Test The Waters Phase” involves six investment tiers. Amounts range from $1000 to $25,000 with potential investors not only getting equity shares but “perks” like season passes, custom-designed skis and buddy lift tickets. It’s an interesting idea that might just work or perhaps Red gets the money they need, makes a few improvements then flips and sells to VR and all of the equity partners make out like bandits.

In a landscape where local independent areas are getting Pac-manned by giants that would rather stick a Starbucks at every base than let the local roasters woo guests, and who see no issue with $150 lift tickets and $1000 ski lessons, core skiers might want to ask themselves, “Why not try to invest your ski dollars rather than spike it across the bottomline of some corporate entity? What’s to lose?”

The North Face Endurance Challenge Hits Park City

Leave a comment

 

 

Trail runners, it’s time to get your game on when The North Face Endurance Challenge Series’ races into Park City, Utah. The “mountain region” part of the national race event happens Sept. 24 when the resort town hosts not only the highest elevation start within the North America series at 7,000 feet but it will also climb to the highest elevation of 10,000 feet. If you want a run that will push your limits and make you feel like you could hurl, this is it. Heck, core skiers can consider this the ultimate pre-season conditioning. Athletes will navigate Park City Mountain using a mix of double and single track trail, ski runs, mountain bike trails and various dirt access roads.

Welcome to Park City

The Park City Race is one of six across North America, each with seven distances. The GORE-TEX® 50 Mile, 50K, Marathon, Marathon Relay and Kid’s 1K race will be held on Saturday, and the Half Marathon, 10K, 5K races and a Kid’s 1K race are on Sunday. In case you didn’t know, The North Face is the largest trail running series in the world and the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship offers largest prize purse in the sport of trail racing ($30,000 total), awarding $10,000 to the top male and female runners in the GORE-TEX® 50 Mile distance.

4277ks_02393

Endurance Evolution

The iconic The North Face Endurance Challenge race series was born out of Ultrarunner Dean Karnazes’ 2006 quest to run 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 consecutive days. The brand launched the race series the following year and it has since grown into a full-weekend festival with a challenge for every fitness level. In 2015, the series hosted more than 16,000 runners over six weekends. Nearly 90,000 runners have participated in the nine years that Endurance Challenge has been in existence.

“The North Face Endurance Challenge motivates runners at all levels to experience the trails and challenge their physical limits,” said Katie Ramage, director of Sports Marketing at The North Face. “We are thrilled to bring the series back again this year and attract more people to the sport of trail running. We’ve seen urban marathon runners who have never run on trails and novice runners revel in the success of their first 5K.”

Register by September 21 to ensure your slot. Race packet pickup for Park City begins Thursday, Sept. 22, at The North Face stores in Salt Lake City and Park City.

Don’t Wait To Get That Season Pass

Leave a comment

The kids are back in school. Yes, it’s only August and the logical assumption is that it’s still summer. Damn you, School Teachers. Why must you take a day off every other week? Back in the day we had real summers. Off around Memorial Day (IOW end of May), and starting after Labor Day, (IOW the first weekend of September). Three full months. Now kids get two. Poor guys.

Good thing we skiers here in Utah spend more time looking forward to winter than summer. To help tease that anticipation, the countdown to the end of season pass deals is on. Buy now or you’ll regret waiting.

Season Pass Detes:

 

Snowbird

The 2016/17 ski season at Snowbird will offer newly expanded food (yay!), ticketing and Mountain School services at Creekside Lodge, an enhanced guest check-in experience at The Cliff Lodge, and of course the longest ski season of any resort in Utah. The best news is that Snowbird didn’t do the traditional, yearly price hike. Passes will cost the same as last season- $999- until Spet.10 when they bump up to $1199. YIKES*&@#$^*

All “Unlimited” passes come with the Wasatch Benefit if those haven’t sold out (3 tickets to Alta and 3 to Deer Valley; nope, no Solitude), and the Mountain Collective for 50 percent off tickets to 14 different resorts including Jackson Hole, Mammoth, Whistler and Sun Valley.

Some of the other pass alternatives like the midweek unlimited and Chairs Only will also go up in price Sept. 9, 2016.

Alta

Alta Ski Area’s passes also include the Wasatch Benefit and the Mountain Collective and cost the same as The Bird’s. You do have a few extra weeks to decide to pull the trigger so if you miss Snowbird’s Sept. 10 pass increase deadline, you can still get a season pass for $999 at Alta until after Sept. 28. Right now, they are $999 but count on an additional $200 if you wait. The irony is that a child’s pass is $200 less than the Bird’s so it’s cheaper for everyone to get Alta passes if you are a family of 3 ($2157 v. $2347). If you have two kids, the smart way to go is with the Family Pack ($1999 at either resort for 2 adults and 2 children). What am I saying? Even if you only have one child, get the Family Pack. Duh.

Solitude

Season passes went on sale this week with adults costing $879 and increasing to after Oct. 31, 2016. Passholders get three days of skiing at Brighton and four at Deer Valley (snowboarding is still not allowed at DV). Included in your pass is the option to purchase the MAX pass add-on for $300. The Mountain Collective and Epic Pass competitor is good for five days of skiing at each of the Max’s 32 ski areas, including Winter Park, Alyeska, Copper, Crested Butte, and Big Sky.

Brighton

Kids 10 and under ski free. That’s the best ski deal in the land. In addition, the $799 adult season pass gets you two tickets to Deer Valley and two to Solitude along with the option to purchase the Max Pass Add-on ($300).

Deer Valley

The posh resort is a bit sneaky with their $2185 season passes. There’s a separate website just for them – https://seasonpass.deervalley.com/. The Price goes up $370 after Oct. 31. Eligible pass holders can receive up to 6 buddy passes, 3 day passes at Alta and Snowbird each, 4 day passes at Solitude Resort, 2 day passes at Brighton Resort, summer mountain biking and, new this year, 3 complimentary passes to Steamboat Ski Resort.

Park City/Canyons

The Epic Pass used to be a steal. True to all expectations, the price has now risen to $809 and will go up even more after Sept. 5, 2016. Pass holders have unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Park City, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, Wilmot, Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton, Perisher (2017 access) and Arapahoe Basin. If you have no plans to travel this winter and don’t mind a few holiday blackout dates, you’re better off buying the Epic Local Pass for $609.

 

Snowbasin

The Basin has the best beginner package in the Beehive State and it lasts all season long-The Learn & Earn program supplies any first-timer 3 lessons, 3 lift tickets, and seasonal rentals for $399. You also get a free season pass when you complete the program. A season pass will run you $799 before Set. 5, 2016. Passholders also get 5 days at Sun Valley and three free days at each of 14 Powder Alliance resorts.

Powder Mountain

Powder is capping their season pass and day passes sales this season to keep the ratio of 1 skier per 2 acres of skiable terrain. Passes are $870 and include Sunlight Mountain Resort, Grand Targhee Resort, Purgatory Resort, Sipapu Resort, Pajarito Resort,Snowbowl Resort, Loveland Ski Area.

Sundance

Season passes are $569 until Oct. 31 and include night skiing, three days at Brian Head and 2017 summer mountain biking.

Can’t Choose a Resort?

Pick the Mountain Collective on its own for two free Alta/Bird tickets and 50 percent off for the rest of the season. You could also buy the Max Pass on its own. Utah kids K through 5th grade get five days free at Park City/Canyons with the Epic SchoolKids Ski Pack. It’s free but you need to sign up by Oct. 9, 2016.

The Deep Powder Pass (30 days at each of the four Cottonwood Canyons resorts on a fully transferable pass) has yet to announce their sale date or price (It was $2100 last season) but check with REI’s Public Lands desk if you don’t want to miss out.

Ski Utah offers their Silver Pass ($3150), 30 days (60 days at Park City) to all 14 resorts, and a Gold Pass ($4800 for 50 days), the Ski Utah Yeti Pass (1 day at all 14 Resorts for $649). 5th and 6th graders HAVE TO sign up for the Ski Utah 5th and 6th Grade Passport Programs, which offer 3 days or 1 day of skiing, respectively, to all of Utah’s Resorts. The passport is $35.

 

BTW, Ski Utah is giving away a Yeti Pass to the person who best represents waiting for winter. Don’t forget to tag @SkiUtah and use #WaitingForWinter in your social media posts.

 

1 … 42 43 44 45 46 … 147