Mountain Home — Page 11

Spring Fever

April 10, 2018 by Colony PR

Here in the mountains, the season others know as spring, we affectionately refer to as “mud season” to describe the period in between skiing and hiking, biking and golf. However, there are several options to take care of that case of “spring fever” if you are careful and plan ahead.

Hiking and Mountain Biking

Generally speaking south facing trails receive more spring sun to melt out and dry faster. Typically Round Valley (Hwy 40) and Glenwild (between Kimball and Jeremy Ranch) are the first to be ready to foot or two-wheeled traffic.

The trails you can expect to dry out first are Blackhawk and Stealth in Glenwild and Somewhere Elk & Nowhere Elks in Round Valley. Each of those trails are open to both hiking and biking, and tend to be busier on weekends and warm afternoons.

Both Mountain Trails and Basin Recreation provide great resources for planning a day out including updated trail conditions and handy maps. It is imperative to stay off trails until completely dry, as using them in muddy conditions can cause damage to the surface which could last all season, or permanently widening them from users who walk or ride around wet areas.

Road Cycling

Road cycling is great within The Colony, providing plenty of uphill options and fun loops you can create on your own. Other quiet areas for a road ride are the Pinebrook and Jeremy Ranch neighborhoods, both of which provide a similar set up of climbs and descents. Jeremy gets more sun if the temps are cooler.

For flatter road rides, head out to the town of Heber City and ride a loop that includes the neighboring area of Francis. Stunning views of Mt. Timpanogos dominate the scene above your handlebars, and the surrounding bucolic farmland is a perfect spring backdrop for a pedal.

Wildlife

Due to the immense amount of open space at The Colony, wildlife such as moose, elk, and deer regularly frequent the area. In spring, it is a safe bet to simply grab a pair of binoculars and observe passing wildlife from the comfort of your deck.

Animals respond to longer days and warmer weather much in the same way we humans do – soaking up as much outdoor time as possible and exploring our surroundings. Additionally, much of our local fauna are caring for their young while coming out of a winter slumber at the same time, making them incredibly unpredictable – especially moose – so be sure to give animals plenty of space and keep a safe distance.

The Swaner Nature Preserve offers an additional opportunity to see wildlife – from elk to nesting sandhill cranes – in nearby Kimball Junction. This project of Utah State University offers complimentary nature walks each Saturday morning led by a naturalist.

Golf

The closest option outside Park City is Mountain Dell, located off I-80 in Parleys Canyon between SLC and Park City. As of this writing, they had 18 holes open, with a second 18 holes set to open soon. Stay tuned for a full blog post on golf options in the Park City area to plan your rounds for spring and summer.

Closing Day: April 8th, 2018

April 6, 2018 by Colony PR

The last day on skis, when the lifts spin for the final time, might seem like sad day, but at Park City, it’s more like an on-mountain party. Spring is just ahead with flowers blooming and wildlife sightings, as well as summer hiking, biking and golf – speaking which, stay tuned next week for more on these topics – but saying goodbye for a final time to winter calls for a celebration.

Both Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley Resort plan to close April 8, with several fun events planned. Deer Valley’s closing weekend will feature several live music options, including Lash LaRue and Muddpuddle.

Find the lineup deervalley.com.

Park City Resort hosts one of the most unique parties on Saturday, April 7 – the annual Pond Skimming competition. Contestants don costumes, gather some speed downhill and attempt to cross a near-freezing pond. Most do not make it, leading to roars of laughter from the crowd!

Catch live music, the Thin Air Innovation Festival and more throughout closing weekend at Park City.

All events can be found here.

Thin Air Concert

Deer Valley Resort, in conjunction with Park City Mountain, will host the third annual Thin Air Concert on Main Street. The show will feature Citizen Cope, (a.k.a. Clarence Greenwood). Cope’s music is an eclectic mix of rock, blues, hip-hop, and folk influences that fuse together to form a unique, soulful sound. For Thin Air 2018, he’s bringing along an ensemble of musicians for an amazing night of acoustic-driven rock. The concert will begin at 7 p.m. on lower Main Street.

More skiing

If you are still jonesing for a few more turns, Alta and Solitude both stay open until April 15, Brighton is planning on April 22, while Snowbird intends to stay open as long as they have snow – some years well into May or June.

Epic Pass

It’s never too early to think about next year, and the Epic Pass in on sale already. The Epic Pass will cost $899 and is the best way for Utah skiers and riders to access Park City Mountain’s 348 trails all season long. If you are OK with blackout dates and other limitations, the Epic Locals Pass is available for $669.

There were several upgrades to the Epic Pass as well, including the addition (with limited access) to Telluride in Colorado, Hakuba Valley in Japan and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies across Canada, bringing The Epic Pass to now offer access to a total of 61 resorts worldwide.

Passes can be purchased at EpicPass.com

IKON Pass

With Deer Valley’s sale and acquisition, the newly formed Alterra resort group has introduced the IKON Pass for their family of resorts, which includes Deer Valley, AltaSnowbird, Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Aspen & more.

Offered at two different levels, either $599 or $899, unlimited skiing is available at about a dozen resorts, plus either five or seven days at the rest of the participating 26 worldwide resorts.

More information is available at ikonpass.com

Park City Dinner Dining Guide

April 3, 2018 by Colony PR

New York. Paris. Tokyo. Park City. Those are the first four cities that come to our mind for food, and it should be yours too. With Zagat rated restaurants and award-winning chefs, Park City, is dining destination unto itself.

Chefs like Zane Holmquist at Stein Eriksen Lodge, Seth Adams at Riverhorse on Main and Bill White helped put Park City on the foodie map a few decades ago. The local gourmet scene took off from there and has not slowed down since. New restaurants open regularly, events such as ChefDance (held during Sundance) and a slew of summer dining events keeps diners on their toes year-round.

Need more convincing? Here are our favorite dinner spots.

Firewood on Main

Reclaimed bricks and timber bring the alpine feel of this relatively new Main Street eatery to life, along with the sight of an open flame through a wall of windows peering into the kitchen. Cooking over a custom-made grill—one of only four of its kind—Chef John Murcko rotates fresh, local ingredients to create a “multi-sensory culinary experience.” Chef’s menu includes wild game, such as elk, as well as more familiar cuts such as lamb chops and New York Strip, and several seafood options.

Private dining options are available as well, with the option of using multiple bar areas including the building’s original 1906-era Nickel Bar. The restaurant can even arrange private entrance via Swede Alley.

Reservations Recommended

Handle

Chef Briar Handly is a relative newcomer to the Park City dining scene, quickly earning accolades from food critics, locals and visitors alike. Seasonal ingredients inspire Handle’s locally driven menu of small plates that run the gamut on influences.

Set in a dimly lit dining room with rustic accents and a statement wall of quirky, nature-influenced artwork provides a perfect backdrop for standout dishes like the buffalo cauliflower or Scallops smothered in lobster and crawfish etouffee. Inventive cocktails accompany the menu to round out a memorable meal.

Handle has already expanded to a second location, HSL, in downtown Salt Lake City.

Tupelo

Tupelo is a restaurant where the meal is truly a journey. That journey is the exact intention of Chef Matt Harris. Inspired by global travel through food, Harris and his team have put together a menu that includes everything from local Utah mushrooms to Maine mussels and Sonoma duck breast and everything in between.

Adventurous diners can opt for inventive dishes such as the “Utah Chicken Fried Rabbit” or, for those with more traditional taste buds buttermilk biscuits, kale caesar and local trout are presented with fresh and exciting twists.

Grappa

Bill White’s flagship Italian restaurant blends an alpine villa feel with hearty Italian dishes. While the cascading patio is brilliant in summer months, the warmth of the interior is a cozy place for a winter meal. Let’s be honest – does anything smell better than marinara sauce on a winter evening? Of course not – and Grappa smells, looks and feels like you are in the Italian Alps and you found the local go-to spot for a big meal.

Last Friday Gallery Stroll

March 30, 2018 by Colony PR

The Park City Gallery Association hosts a gallery stroll on the last Friday of each month, falling on March 30th this month. Running from 6 – 9 PM, light refreshments are served to art patrons as they discover some of the incredible local artists who call Park City home.

Most of the twenty or so galleries are on, or within a couple blocks, of Main Street, making for an enjoyable walk – especially if you start at the top of Main and wind your way downhill. Printing out this handy gallery map before heading to town makes finding your preferred stops a breeze.

Some of our favorites are Gallery MAR, and J GO – both between 4th and 5th Streets on Main. The next block uphill is home to seven galleries, including Mangelsen – Images of Nature Gallery, featuring the work or famous nature photographer Thomas Mangelsen. His limited edition prints of wild places and animals would be a perfect complement to a mountain home at The Colony.

Don’t miss galleries on Lower Main as well – each are worth the walk to the other side of town. Julie Nester Gallery is a must stop to take in the ever-rotating collection of contemporary art pieces.

Find up to date information on the Gallery Association facebook page and website.

Weekend of March 16-18

March 15, 2018 by Colony PR

It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend, so expect plenty of green on the slopes Saturday, along with some free concerts! Our pick for Corned Beef & Cabbage is at Flanagan’s on Main – get there early, as it’s always a packed house on St. Patty’s.

Apres Ski: Spring Concert Series

Park City Mountain Resort continues their Spring Concert Series this Saturday. Catch Rage Against the Supremes (not a typo) at Payday and Tony Holiday & The Velvetones on the Canyons Village Stage. Both concerts are free from 3-5PM on Saturday, March 17.

Listen: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone.

The legendary 60’s English beat rock band plays four shows on Main Street at the Egyptian Theater. Dust off the old records, and reacquaint yourself with favorites such as “I’m Into Something Good” and “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.”

8 PM. March 15-17
6 PM. March 18
Tickets

Watch: The Insult

The Park City Film Series shows The Insult, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In today’s Beirut, a civilian dispute blown out of proportion finds a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee, facing off in court. As the media circus surrounding the case threatens a social explosion in divided Lebanon, Tony and Yasser reconsider their values and beliefs as revelations of trauma complicate their understanding of one another.

8 PM. March 9 & 10 – 8 PM
6 PM. March 11.

See: Mountain Trails Gallery

Long recognized as one of the premier fine art galleries of the West, Mountain Trails Gallery proudly represents many of the most renowned contemporary and western artists of our time. The gallery features an eclectic mix of representational and impressionist paintings and sculpture as well as a broad selection of western artifact reproductions. Several new Native American portraits are currently on display, as well as several stunning landscapes.

301 Main Street

Eat: Deer Valley’s Fireside Dining and Seafood Buffet

Deer Valley closes on Sunday, April 8th, and with that, two of our favorites: Fireside Dining and Seafood Buffet. Offering local favorites from the European Alps in the heart of Deer Valley, Fireside Dining features four courses served from our stone fireplaces at Empire Canyon Lodge.

Seafood Buffet, located at Snow Park Lodge, serves a vast array of fresh seafood including poke bar, chilled shellfish, hot seafood appetizers and entrées, carvery specials, vegetable specialties and prime rib along with a baker’s dozen of housemade desserts.

Reservations required

The Colony Gives Back

March 14, 2018 by Colony PR

Giving back to our local community is one of the most rewarding feelings we can have. The Colony, including residents and agents, believe in the credo of “doing well, by doing good.” Last week two of our agents, Bronson Calder and Kurt Peterson, spent an hour on KPCW radio to raise funds for the station during KPCW’s Winter Pledge Drive. They were able to raise funds that keep non-profit community stations on the air.

If you are looking for ways to participate in a philanthropic sense in your Park City community, here are a few of the organizations The Colony works with to support and further their missions.

KPCW Community Radio Connection
On-air since 1980, the aforementioned KPCW (91.9 FM Radio) reaches 73% of all adults in the Summit and Wasatch counties of Utah at least once a week, twelve times more than any other radio station in the area. KPCW also “streams” its programs via its website to listeners around the world. Tune into KPCW for local information and stay tuned for annual pledge drive information with The Colony as an on-air sponsor. KPCW radio is a non-profit, volunteer supported organization whose mission is to educate, inform, entertain and provide access to a diverse community with quality local, national and international programming.

Peace House
Peace House is a non-profit organization located in Park City, Utah, established in 1995. Through education, shelter and support services, Peace House empowers women to break the cycle of domestic violence in their own lives and those of their children. Peace House also reaches out to individuals and groups within the service area of Summit and Wasatch Counties with education and awareness programs to help break the cycle of domestic violence in communities.

Mountain Trails Foundation
Mountain Trails Foundation promotes and preserves trail access for all non-motorized users and maintains the robust trail system in the Park City area. This includes the acclaimed 26-mile “Mid-Mountain Trail,” which runs through The Colony and has been designated an “Epic Trail” by the International Mountain Biking Association. The Colony promotes trail access for public and private use and is proud to support MTF.

Youth Winter Sports Alliance
The Mission of The Alliance is to support winter sports activities for youth in Summit and Wasatch counties, promoting good sportsmanship and healthy lifestyles through participation, education, and competition. The Colony supports YWSA through their annual fundraiser event each autumn.

People’s Health Clinic
People’s Health Clinic is a non-profit, primary care facility that provides high-quality medical services to uninsured individuals and families in Summit and Wasatch Counties. Patients are seen by appointment, and a donation is requested at each visit, yet no one is turned away for inability to pay.

Learn more about these programs and more!

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