Wasted vertical drop

How are you enjoying spending what could be some good skiing time stuck in a “people mover”? Not much if you're like me. In fact, I avoid these like the plague whenever I can.

Still Park City Mountain is so large and there's so little natural snow this season that riding people movers is sometimes hard to avoid. Case in point is the QuickSilver gondola that whisk skiers back and forth between the Canyons and the Park City sides.

If the west side (665' vertical) of the two-way ridge is skiable by everyone on a normal year, the same can't be said of the east side that is woefully ill-equipped to allow users to experience what could be a picturesque and pleasant downhill on the Park City side (about 1,042' vertical) instead of riding down a ski lift which is heresy to me.

What it would just take is bulldoze a wide enough trail from the ridge top (narrow and fairly flat at first) and then widening as it enters the aspen groves, then meandering and turning down into the Mother Lode chairlift access area.

The top cornice should be regularly blasted for avalanche control, like anywhere else. The grade and width should be like those of “White Pine” and “Harmony” runs for instance with nicely form turns instead of hairpin-style ones. If users want to ski down the bowl and “crawl” on the flat service road or plunge below when it's open, they still could do it. Simple, fun and feasible.

What is Park City Mountain waiting for?