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The Canyons
A State of the Future Ski Resort
by Valerie Summers
Rising five stories above the central amphitheater of The
Canyons Resort Village, the new Sundial Lodge is the heart of the slopeside
village and all its festivities. I toured the lodge and discovered a roof
top hot tub and plunge pool, perfect for apres skiing. Most of its guest
rooms featured welcoming warm fireplaces and balconies overlooking views
to die for.
This is definitely the year to visit Utah ski resorts.
The finishing touches have been put on the Olympic venues and everything is in
near perfect condition. With all the Olympic hype, the reality is that
only two percent of the total skiable terrain at Utah’s winter resorts will be
affected by Olympic related events. Why was Utah chosen for the Olympic
events? Because its ski season runs from November to mid-June and Wasatch
Mountains are covered in the lightest, driest, deepest snow anywhere. And
at The Canyons, the facilities are definitely world class. For information:
The Canyons -Updated 12-15-00-
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TM
Two years ago I visited the site of The Canyons, a state of
the future ski resort. At the time, there was a lot of building going on,
a promise of things to come. Last winter I returned to a lavish mountain
resort where I enjoyed perfect snow conditions and the delightful accommodations
of the 360-room Grand Summit Resort Hotel. This $500 million skiers
paradise is the 5th largest ski area in America, with eight distinct mountains,
3,625 skiable acres, 10 lifts and an unparalleled variety of terrain.
My choice for home base while skiing The Canyons was the
newly opened all condominium Grand Summit. Accommodations ranged from
spacious singles to luxurious two bedroom suites. My room overlooked
the heated swimming pool and hot tubs. I enjoyed thawing out with a dip in
the pool at the end of each day of skiing Utah’s “greatest snow on earth.”
through the gorgeous slopes of The Canyons. An indoor vestibule allowed me
to slip into the pool’s warm waters without catching a chill entering from
outside where temperatures were a might cold.
There is nothing like being out on a winter day to
stimulate the appetite, and I enjoyed several meals in the hotel’s main dining
room named The Cabin with its upscale log cabin ambience. The dining room
featured regional specialties and everything presented appealed both to
the eye and the palate. I stopped by The Café, near the swimming pool,
for a healthy smoothie every now and again. 
Other mountain dining options included the exclusive Ridge
Room, The Canyons’ premiere on-mountain evening dining experience; the
Smokehouse, a family style restaurant in the base area, and the Red Pine Lodge,
located the top of The Flight the Canyons gondola where I stopped for lunch
breaks during my days on the slopes. For a really unusual dining
experience for the energetic diner, The Yurt features authentic Norwegian
cuisine. Those who choose to dine there are guaranteed to have worked up
an appetite during their snowshoe or cross country ski trek to this
special hideaway. 
One of the best things about skiing The Canyons is
convenience. The brightly colored Flight of the Canyons gondola is just
steps from The Grand Summit and The Sundial Lodge for ski in ski out
accessibility. The ever growing and improving Canyons recently installed another
four-passenger lift called Dreamscape which whisked me up to a
breathtakingly beautiful intermediate ski area where I skied among tall pines
and through an aspen forest. The Canyons offers 125 trails, making the
resort one of the largest in the country. For an intermediate
skier such as myself, the enormous array of blue runs (46%) made every day a new
challenge as I discovered different trails. Snowboarders as well as
skiers have found The Canyons a winter sports paradise. For the
strong of heart and of expert of ski, a newly opened mountain peak, named
Ninety-Nine 90, opened up 800 acres of skiing access to the upper ridgeline of
the resort, offering some of the most dynamic advanced skiing in Utah.
Ninety-Nine 90 is essentially backcountry skiing with a high-speed express lift.
Another mega challenge for extreme skiers is Canis Lupis, over one mile long
with intimidating 15 foot banked walls, long narrow run outs and numerous
obstacles in between This is one of the most renowned runs in Utah and is
known locally as “the James Bond trail,” after the famous skiing scene down
a bobsled course. 
At the other end of the snow sport spectrum, the Adventure
Zone offers tubing at its best with three designated tracks and a surface lift
for pulling the tubes and riders back to the top. I saw childlren as young
as five, and senior citizens enjoying the updated old-fashioned sport of sliding
down a hill in an inner tube.