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Show MOUNTAIN Continued from page 10 other resorts. What we’re doing is not for two weeks in 2002, we'd be doing these projects without the Olympics.” Mark Menlove, president of the mountain, Park City’s new Master Plan shows it hopes to build an eight-story hotel, 600 condos, and underground parking for 3,000 cars. This past summer Park City built a new ski lift, cleared several new runs, and installed high-efficiency snowmaking equip- Utah Association, believes the resorts. ment. Randy Doyle, Brighton ski resort’s manager, agrees. “The Olympics might help or might hurt us. Overall expo- In September developers . announced plans to build Deer Crest next to Deer Valley ski resort. Eight new ski runs, three new ski lifts, a 100suite hotel and spa, 172 multi-family units, 83 condos, and a gated community of million-dollar single-family homes will go into the 500-acre expansion. Park City, Deer Valley, and Wolf Mountain ski resorts can expand more easily than their competitors in Salt Lake County. On the Summit County side of the mountains, resorts are mostly on private property. They are served by Interstate - 80, rather than low volume, two-lane blacktop like Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon roads, and are not in the Salt Lake City watershed. However, Park City citizens’ groups are not happy with proposed ski area expansion in Summit County. Is Park City Ski Resort expanding because it expects a boost in skiers visits after holding the 2002 Winter Olympics? No, said Charlie Lansche, sure of Utah skiing will be good, but during the Olympic year all the hotel rooms will be tied up.” ast year Brighton, in Big Cottonwood Canyon, hoped to expand over to the Wasatch County side of the mountains by building a ski lift and carving runs in the Snake Creek drainage above Heber. But in February, a public-private partnership bought the 700 acres Brighton Nature wanted. The Conservancy, Utah Open Lands, and the State Division of Parks and Recreation purchased the acreage for wildlife habitat and watershed, adding it to Wasatch State Park. Brighton did receive permission from the U.S. Forest Service to replace both the Evergreen and Millicent double chairs with one high-speed, fourperson ski lift. That project is scheduled for next summer and will use existing ski lift towers. Also, Brighton wants to upgrade its existing Snake Creek triple chair, which stands on the Salt Lake County side of the mountain, to a 4-person lift. As part of its five- spokesperson for Park City ski resort. “We're just growing based on demand and to be competitive Ski Olympics will have “very little” effect on skier visits to the Wasatch canyon skier with TIMES year plan, Brighton hopes to construct a mid-mountain day lodge at the base of the Snake Creek lift. A connector lift between Brighton and Solitude ski resort is also on the drawing board Why are local resorts building extra capacity then, if not to clean up on worldwide publicity after the 2002 Winter Olympics? Menlove pointed out that Utah's share of skier days is growing 3-5% annually. In the 1995-96 season, Utah had about three million skier visits, off 5% from the previous year Utah’s 1994-95 season saw an 11% increase Menlove agreed that the national market for downhill skiing is flat or But he sees Utah “slow growth.” reaching out to attract international skiers. He noted that 80% of skiers live RESTAURANT SUSHI BAR | Traditional Japanese |Food Designed For Today's Gourmet. Salt Lake City 67 West 100 South 801.328.0929 Park City 738 Main Street 801.655.7100 ria boreal F & Design Live 4 Yark Cncercainment on Fireside Goldener serves cuisine a delightful mountain Winter World Restaurant winning Dining setting. Hours Breakfast © 7:00 - 9:30 a.m. Main 649-2600 Fondue comfortable Hirsch award Florist Historic ¢ Guaranteed Fresh Flowers e European Gardens Curopean Beer List and City’s Favorite (ednesday-Sunday warm ) 580 Main ° Galleria Mall « Park City Apres Ski The outside the U.S. Also, he said, “An increase in the population of teens and young adults is coming, and that has traditionally been a good market for ski resorts.” Menlove refers to the echo of the Boom: the 75 million children of Baby Boomers, some of whom are now beginning to ski. Also, “a growing number of people are moving to Utah for the lifestyle,” which includes alpine skiing, Menlove added. Currently only 7%[i of Utahns say they have skied twice in the past year, though in surveys about twice that number call themselves alpine skiers Local resorts and associated hospitality industries depend primarily on big-spending out-of-state skiers Continued on page 12 [@eeir) Comfort. in by mC Wide Delivery & = Mountain Comfort a get ee re Goldener Ftiesch Jan, SILVER LAKE VILLAGE IN UPPER DEER VALLEY Lunch ° 41330 arm. -*2230%p.m. Aprés ues Ski * 2:30 - 6:00 p.m. 649-770 Dinner ¢ 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. & scenic Five minuce 7 Days a Week From CDain drive Screec. 290 PAGE 11 West Kastnussen 801-647-3880 MOUNTAIN e111 ee |