Canyons magazine 2013 lr

Utah’s largest ski resort has something to satisfy everyone on your family vacation: the only heated chairlift in North America, a vibrant village après ski scene, plus world-class accommodations just a snowball’s throw from all of the action. All only 35 minutes from the Salt Lake City international airport.

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WELCOME

WELCOME TO CANYONS RESORT W

elcome to Canyons Resort, long a favorite of locals and this year honored as a Top Ten North American resort, according to SKI Magazine’s annual reader survey.

The transformation of Canyons has been an exciting process. We have added lifts like the heated-seat Orange Bubble Express, expanded our terrain to Iron Mountain, showcased the iconic Waldorf Astoria Park City, introduced a dozen dining outlets including the award-winning Farm at Canyons, enhanced our snowmaking and added adventures like the Zip Tour, snowshoeing and more. This is truly a magical time to be at Canyons Resort.

The secret to our success lies in our employees, whom we call “guides.” One survey named us “the friendliest resort” in North America, while at home we have twice been recognized as “the best place to work in Utah.” That’s why we’ve chosen to highlight many of our guides in this magazine. To find out about one of our guides’ most important resort-wide initiatives, sustainability, be sure to read the article on page 16.

On behalf of the 2,000-plus guides at Canyons Resort and Talisker, thank you again for visiting. We hope your experience is extraordinary!

Mike Goar Managing Director Canyons Resort

888-CANYONS www.canyonsresort.com

4 Elevations

Snapshots of the Canyons’ lifestyle, including après ski beverages, family activities and ways to pamper yourself.

20 Ready, Set, Ski

With 4,000 acres of mountain to explore, Canyons delivers in just about every way you can imagine. Now, where to start?

By Roger Toll

26 Chill Out, Heat Up

Canyons is a feast of activity and fun throughout all the seasons.

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34 Dining at Canyons

Talisker restaurants have redefined ski resort dining.

By Mary Brown Malouf

42 Talisker by Design

Talisker’s commitment to design is all-encompassing.

62 Resorts Dream Big

The proposed SkiLink project would connect Canyons to Solitude Mountain Resort in minutes and elevate the Utah ski scene to new, international heights.

By Ray Grass

CANYONS MAGAZINE Published for Canyons Resort by Utah Partners Publishing, LTD 888-CANYONS

canyonsresort.com

PUBLISHER

Margaret Mary Shuff

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Scott Cullins

Jessica Adams, Karen Cakebread, Ray Grass, Melissa Fields, Mary Brown Malouf, Nate Parkinson, Penelope Rowlands, Roger Toll

PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

ART INTERNS

EDITOR

Marcie Young Cancio ART DIRECTOR

Damon Shorter SENIOR DESIGNER

Blain Hefner

Gemma Gough, Ashley Lunt

© 2013, Published by Utah Partners Publishing, LTD, 515 S. 700 East, Suite 3-i, Salt Lake City, UT 84102, 801-485-5100. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher.

COVER: Skier Kaylin Richardson, Photo Scott Markewitz

ELEVATE YOUR SKIING & RIDING SKILLS In addition to offering a great selection of Learn to Ski or Ride Programs,

CANYONS SKI & SNOWBOARD SCHOOL offers a full range of group and private lessons, specialty clinics and afternoon workshops designed to improve your skills and strengthen your technique.

For more information and reservations, visit Canyons Ski & Snowboard School Sales Office in the Resort Village or call 435.615.3449.

CANYONSRESORT.COM

E L E VAT I O N S | F E S T I V I T I E S

FOR MORE DETAILS

about these and other events, visit canyonsresort.com.

ON THE CALENDAR

If having a winter wonderland at your fingertips isn’t enough, special events at Canyons highlight almost every weekend of the winter season.

Nov. 23 CANYONS OPENING DAY Weather conditions permitting Dec. 14 CHARITY LIFT Canyons and Park City’s Kimball Art Center join forces to keep community art programs thriving.

Dec. 15 DEMO DAY Take the latest in ski and snowboard technology for a spin today, free with any lift ticket or season pass.

Dec. 22 SANTAS SKI AT CANYONS Dress up as Old St. Nick and ski or ride free at Canyons today.

Dec. 22-25 SANTA SKIS THE SLOPES AT CANYONS Santa will shred down the mountain, passing out candy and spreading holiday cheer.

Dec. 31 NEW YEAR’S EVE CELEBRATION Canyons marks the end of 2012 with a bash in the resort village, complete with a DJ and free fireworks show.

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Jan. 16 AN ARTIST AT THE TABLE This intimate gathering of filmmakers and film-lovers has become one of the most anticipated events of the Sundance Film Festival. The event includes cutting-edge Talisker cuisine, an exclusive film screening and a chance to get a first glimpse at storytelling innovations shaping the year ahead.

Jan. 17-27 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL This is the nation’s premier showcase for independent film and Park City’s biggest wintertime party. The hit celebrity news show EXTRA! films from Canyons the first weekend of the festival, drawing scads of celebrities to the base area and up on the mountain.

Feb. 28 – Mar. 2 SPRINT U.S. SNOWBOARDING AND FREESKIING GRAND PRIX Check out the country’s best snowboarders and ski cross racers as they compete head to head with an eye on the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. A concert follows the finals on Saturday. All events are free and open to the public.

Mar. 9, 16, 23, 30 SPRING CONCERT SERIES Grab a cool beverage at the Umbrella Bar and listen to some live music in Canyons’ resort village.

Mar. 22-31 SPRING GRÜV This weeklong celebration of spring includes concerts and a pond-skimming contest where costumes are highly encouraged.

Mar. 30 2013 OPERATION SMILE DOWNHILL FUNDRAISER Watch as some of Hollywood’s brightest stars ski Canyons to benefit Operation Smile. Last year’s famous contestants included Katherine Heigl, Ty Burrell, Lisa Kudrow, Kate Walsh, Tony Hawk and Olympians Billy Demong and Derek Parra.

Apr. 14 LAST SCHEDULED DAY OF 2012-13 SEASON Subject to weather conditions Clockwise: Hillary Swank, Cory Monteith, Ty Burrell and Justin Bieber are some of the many celebrities who frequent Park City events.

Easy access, stunning scenery and some of the best skiing and riding in the world are why most people visit Canyons. That includes Hollywood’s elite, who book wintertime vacations here, too. Of course, events like the Sundance Film Festival and Operation Smile Downhill attract famous faces like bees to honey.

Canyons has also served as the backdrop to popular television shows, including EXTRA!, The Bachelor and Entertainment Tonight and is one of just two North American resorts featured in this year’s Warren Miller snow sport film, Flow State. Keep your eyes peeled.

You never know when you might share a chair lift ride with an Olympian or Hollywood star.

PHOTO JUSTIN BIEBER, WIREIMAGE; HILLARY SWANK, GETTY IMAGES.

WHO’S WHO

E L E VAT I O N S | F A M I LY

QUALITY TIME

Hang with the family on the slopes or on a Zip Tour though the trees.

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here’s a whole lot more to a family ski vacation than sliding on snow. Canyons gets that. Yes, the Ski and Snowboard School is one of the best in the country, and with 4,000 acres to explore at Canyons, you can ski or ride your family silly. But along with perfecting your turns, bundle up for a nighttime sleigh ride and show your kids the Big Dipper, find out how Canyons got its name on a heart-thumping Zip Tour or simply wrestle in the snow at Ski Beach. Canyons makes it easy not only to give your kids a good time but to help you remember what it’s like to be a kid yourself. Call 877-472-6306 for more info.

Kid-centric Après At the end of each ski day, the base area near the Red Pine Gondola is transformed into a mini carnival complete with roving magicians, jugglers and balloon artists. On select days kids can meet and pet Canyons’ Mountain Patrol canine search and rescue dogs or raptors from the Ogden Nature Center. On Fridays at 4 p.m.

Canyons’ mascot Murdock the Moose leads a parade through the village.

Canyons’ Zip Tour Flying is the best way to describe the adrenalinepumping, ear-to-ear grin-inducing ride on a zip line. But rather than simple gliding in a harness from point A to point B, Canyons’ Zip Tour spans two separate cables—one 675 feet long, the other 1,954 feet—taking riders high above the resort’s deep gullies at speeds up to 45 miles per hour.

Launch and land on a knoll just a short walk from Red Pine Lodge. Ages 8 and up.

Snowshoeing

Scenic Gondola Rides Want to join your family for lunch on the mountain but your quads are telling you to take a day off? The eight-person Red Pine Gondola is open for foot passengers as well as skiers and riders.

Below: Murdock the Moose leads a parade of kids through the Canyons village. Right: Learning to ski is a blast at the Canyons’ ski school.

W H E N YO U NEED SOME A D U LT T I M E

Canyons’ Little Adventures Children’s Center, located on the second floor of the Grand Summit Hotel, offers high-quality, state-licensed childcare and activities for children age 6 weeks to 6 years.

The center also offers an optional onehour private ski school lesson for children age 2 and up. For more information or to book, call 435-615-8036.

Do some bonding with your kids while you get a fantastic workout on a snowshoe tour along trails in the Red Pine Lodge area. Daytime options include a two-hour hike or three-hour excursion with lunch at Lookout Cabin. For a fun after-dark adventure, try a moonlight snowshoe.

Sleigh Rides Scenic 30-minute horse drawn sleigh rides through Willow Draw, complete with complimentary non-alcoholic beverages at Red Tail Grill, are offered Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings and daily during holiday weeks throughout the winter season.

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FIVE GREAT APRÉS-SKI DRINKS Sean Marron, director of wine and spirits for both Talisker and Canyons, works with all the lead bartenders at the resort and at Talisker on Main. Together, they shake up the finest original drinks–alcoholic and non-alcoholic–for guests to enjoy at any time of day. But here are five favorites for that exhilarating time when you’ve just come off the slopes. Cheers!

The Talisker Hot Toddy “The traditional hot toddy is a simple drink and should stay simple,” says Marron. “We make it our own by using the finest ingredients available, including the whisky that speaks to our heritage and Utah’s own high-altitude honey.”

Ingredients: Talisker 10-year single-malt Scotch whisky, Slide Ridge honey, fresh lemon juice, Mighty Leaf black tea and sous-vide lemon rind spiked with cloves and allspice

Canyons Coffee This hot coffee drink harkens back to Utah’s Southwest roots–with the sweet addition of a little Irish lilt.

Ingredients: Patron XO Café, Baileys Irish Cream, agave nectar, fresh-brewed coffee, house-whipped cream and a house-made brandied cherry on top

Above: Rye’s Indulgence is a unique blend of whiskey and wine.

Above right: The Tuña Margarita, rimmed with pink Hawaiian lava salt.

Right: Canyons offers many spots to sip your favorite aprés ski drink.

Rye’s Indulgence “Here’s where we go right over the top,” says Marron. “A decadent Spanish dessert wine, along with a unique red sparkling Italian wine form the foundation of this one.” Kudos to Ryan Koemans, bartender at The Farm, for coming up with the basics of this one.

Ingredients: High West Double Rye Whiskey (made in Park City), Alvear Pedro Ximenez 1927 Solera fortified wine, strawberry reduction, Brachetto d’Acqui (a red sparkling Italian wine) and dark chocolate-infused cream

Tuña Margarita This unique margarita is named “tuña,” after the Spanish word for the fruit of the prickly pear cactus.

Serve either frozen or on the rocks rimmed with Hawaiian pink lava salt and garnished with a lime.

Ingredients: El Jimador 100% Blue Agave tequila, homemade sweet and sour mix (fresh lime, fresh orange juice, a touch of simple syrup) and prickly pear puree and a float of Cointreau

Summit Solstice “Our chefs do a lot of canning and preserving of local fruits and vegetables so guests can enjoy authentic Utah produce all year,” says Marron. “This non-alcoholic drink is based on our famous Utah peaches.”

Ingredients: An emulsion made by wrapping preserved Utah peaches and mint in a cheesecloth ball, then steeping it for an hour with Mighty Leaf White Orchard Tea and Buckler non-alcoholic beer 6

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E L E VAT I O N S | H O M E

A PIECE OF SKI COUNTRY TO CALL YOUR OWN With residences ranging from studios to multi-million dollar homes, Waldorf Astoria Park City could be your home away from home.

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ou know you’ve made the transition from visitor to local when you wake to the booms of pre-dawn avalanche control work. It’s the little things like this socalled wintertime alarm clock–and big things like getting to know Canyons’ 4,000 acres–that make owning a home in ski country one of life’s sweeter pleasures.

Waldorf Astoria Park City Before purchasing at Waldorf Astoria Park City three years ago, Chicago natives Mike and Belinda McConnell searched the West for mountain prop-

erty tailored to their busy professional lifestyles.

“We wanted something close to an airport, located in a year-round community and within a development offering all the services and amenities of a world–class hotel,” says Belinda. The McConnells initially purchased one unit at the Waldorf but, after a few months, bought two more.

“Talisker is constantly raising the bar with their properties and amenities. It makes owning at the Waldorf not only a great second home for us, but a good investment as well.” Waldorf owners have full access to valet parking, luxury shuttle, concierge, ski storage/valet and the Golden Door Spa.

Top: The Waldorf Astoria sits at the base of Canyons Resort.

Above: Belinda and Mike McConnell, owners at Waldorf Astoria, enjoy a day of skiing at Canyons.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

about these properties, call 435-333-3600 or visit taliskerrealty.com.

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E l e vat i o n s | C a n y o n s C a n i n e s

DOGS ON THE TEAM Canyons’ search and rescue dogs bring a whole new meaning to being man’s best friend.

PHOTOS BY MARK MAZIARZ.

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n many ways, Molly is a typical Labrador retriever. She likes to be scratched behind the ears, spends a lot of time sleeping, loves to swim in the summer and roll in the snow in the winter. But when Molly’s working, her similarities with most other dogs end.

At 10 years old, Molly is the oldest member of Canyons’ canine avalanche search and rescue team. From the time she and Canyons’ six other search and rescue dogs–Voodoo, Linus, Abby, Scoop, Murdock and Tucker–were just 8-weekold puppies they have trained for one purpose: to find a person buried in an avalanche.

“Search and rescue dogs are a common and very important tool in avalanche recovery at ski resorts across the country and in the backcountry,” says Paul Santana, Canyons Ski Patrol snow safety coordinator.

With more than 355 inches of the Greatest Snow on Earth annually, avalanches are a fact of life in Utah. And though preventive avalanche control work vastly minimizes in-resort slides, the prevalence of backcountry access statewide makes avalanche rescue dogs an integral component of Wasatch Back Country Rescue. The nonprofit search and rescue organization is made up of ski patrollers and search and rescue dogs from 11 Utah ski resorts, including Canyons.

Like Molly, Canyons’ six other search and rescue dogs are Labrador retrievers. “Labs are bred to search birds in dense cover or water, which is essentially the same as searching for a person in an avalanche,” Santana says. And unlike other search and rescue breeds, Labs are amenable to performing for multiple handlers and are very people friendly.

Though these dogs are trained to perform searches quickly–a successful dog team will locate and dig up a buried skier within 20 minutes–the term “search and rescue” is a bit of a misnomer.

Carrying the correct equipment gives a skier or snowboarder the best chance of surviving being buried in an avalanche. In other words, if you do choose to ski or ride outside the resorts, you should always have a transceiver, probe, shovel and, most importantly, a buddy with you at all times. Better yet, hire a guide service like Wasatch Powderbird Guides (powderbird.com), which offers heli-skiing excursions from Red Pine Lodge when conditions are right, to show you around in Utah’s stunning backcountry wilderness.

Canyons’ search and rescue dogs are a typical sight at the top of chair lifts and at ski patrol outposts throughout the resort. A respectful rule of thumb when you see these pooches on the mountain is to ask the handlers if they are working before you reach down to pet or play. “These dogs aren’t like seeing eye dogs that can’t interact with anyone but their owners. And most of the time we are happy to let them have attention and meet guests,” Santana says. “But when our dogs are working, they need to focus on what they are doing. It takes lots of practice to be able to find a person in an avalanche quickly, so practice is what we do every day.”

Opposite Page: Canyons ski patroller Sam Lee and Linus.

Left: Patroller Nat Grainger works with Paul Santana’s dog, Scoop. Above: Brett Jeppesen’s dog, Murdock, hangs out in a ski patrol hut.

MEET

these hardworking, lovable canines weekly in Canyons resort village (check with Guest Services for times).

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A GOLDEN EXPERIENCE

Whether your muscles need a ski break or you’re looking to zap the stress, the Waldorf Astoria’s Golden Door Spa has you covered.

BY MELISSA FIELDS

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lift the small bowl to my lips and take a sip. Swallowing the fragrant liquid feels like stepping into a warm bath. Somewhere in the background is the sound of flowing water–a brook? Moments pass. A woman appears.

She is smiling warmly. “I’m Velanie. I’ll be giving you your facial today.”

This is the Golden Door Spa at the Waldorf Astoria Park City. The original Golden Door– founded by Deborah Szekely in the 1958–marked the birth of spas as we know them today. Quite honestly, the past is insignificant to me at this moment. Today is all mine–not chasing children or hunching over a keyboard. And I’m not messing around. I came to the Golden Door because it’s the best. Period.

The 16,000-square-foot Golden Door Spa is one of only five in the world and the only one located at a ski and snowboard destination. The spa’s main entrance is just off the Waldorf’s main lobby. Every detail here is carefully considered, from the plant filled Living Wall to the post-rainstorm-fresh purified air.

“We begin every treatment with an essential oil application to your feet,” says Velanie Willet, an aesthetician here since the spa opened in 2009. As Willet kneads my feet, I can almost feel my blood pressure drop. She steps out and I get comfortable under the warm sheet and blanket. She returns and applies a series of cleansers, masks and moisturizers to my face and neck, all smelling good enough to eat. I’ve chosen the Ultrasonic Triple Peel Micro Exfoliation facial–a mouthful to say but fantastic to receive–with results similar to microdermabrasion. Willet tactfully offers advice about products she’s using including the ultrasonic exfoliator–which along with all other products used at the Golden Door is available for purchase. She also leaves plenty of time for silence so I can just be.

When I leave the treatment room, I run into the spa host who gave me my pre-treatment tour. She greets me by name and asks how I enjoyed my facial.

“Everyone here is genuinely invested in what we do,” explains Golden Door Spa Director Scott Cowdrey. Though many people go to the Golden Door to bliss out, Cowdrey says that what separates the Golden Door from other destination spas is how all wellness aspects are addressed, not just the touchyfeely stuff. “We want to teach people how they can

take a piece of the Golden Door and roll it into their everyday life,” he says.

I head back to the women’s Onsen relaxation room for the other half of my “me” time behind the Golden Door. I have a seat on one of three tile covered repose chairs, which at first glance, look about as comfortable as laying on a sidewalk. But when I sit down, the little tension left in my body quickly drains away as my muscles melt into the heated tile.

Eventually it’s time to go. All Golden Door treatments include full day access to exercise and wellness classes, the state-of-the-art fitness center and the huge and lovely outdoor pool at the Waldorf. I resolve to spend more time here on my next visit. Until then, I’ll use my experience at this incredible sanctuary to breathe, relax and view the glass as much more than half full.

H OW TO S PA

For a complete list of treatments and spa experiences at the Golden Door, visit parkcitywaldorfastoria.com or call 435-647-5555.

For information about the Canyons Resort Spa and Health Club, visit canyonsresort.com or call 435-615-8035.

Opposite page: The Golden Door offers room for guests to relax in between treatments.

Below: Treatment rooms offer a calming environment.

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E L E VAT I O N S | S K I W I T H A P R O

THE ULTIMATE FANTASY The Ultimate Mountain Experience combines a 4,000-acre playscape with a roster of wintersport icons as guides.

The perfect match of terrain and talent is found only at Canyons.

BY NATE PARKINSON

PHOTO LEFT JON MARGOLIS; PHOTO LOWER RIGHT USSA GDICKEY; PHOTO RIGHT USSA JONATHAN SELKOWITZ.

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he perfect ski day is as complex an equation as any in quantum physics.

There are constants—you’re riding well, it’s a bluebird day—but then the variables spin into scenarios as unique as the daydreamer who spawned them: Maybe you’re blasting through gates to the unmistakable sound of edges against the ice or to the intermittent roars of a crowd as you stomp jib after jib in the park. But amidst the intangibles, one thing is certain—if the perfect ski day were your last on Earth, you could die happy.

The Ultimate Mountain Experience, a joint venture by Canyons’ Ski & Snowboard School and former U.S. Ski Team coach Phil McNichol, was created to make these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities daily fare. Some resorts can accommodate one or two of these fantasies, but just one is big enough to house them all. Only Canyons has both the terrain and the decorated personnel to make daydreams a powder-laden reality.

Billed as, “the most comprehensive and unique sports fantasy camp series ever,” the Ultimate Mountain Experience boasts a roster of iconic names in the industry—nearly a dozen pros with various backgrounds in skiing and snowboarding.

Imagine a day on the slopes with McNichol, as he shares some of the same advice he gave a generation of USA skiers. Ever wonder how the Olympic Games in Vancouver were different from Torino? Find out while you traverse the mountain with Kaylin Richardson and Graham Watanabe, who competed in both.

Whether you’re looking for big turns, riproaring downhilling or terrain park trickery, the Ultimate Mountain Experience has a world-class guide who can get you there. Take a second to meet some of the program’s headliners.

of Canyons. “Canyons is full of sweet spots where a lot of people can have a magical time,” she says of the resort. It’s the same kind of magic Richardson is elated to share with other skiers, whether they lap the park or go off-piste. She’s also happy to monitor how you ski or dispense professional wisdom, but as she describes it, the Ultimate Mountain Experience, “isn’t a lesson, it’s a shared experience; it’s about what you want to do.”

Erik Schlopy During his 18-year racing career, Erik Schlopy was the consummate technician. His carving precision molded him into a three-time Olympian, and seven-time National Champion, and it’s a trait he brings to every experience he guides. “My focus has always been technique oriented,” he says of his approach to skiing, “and that’s something I pass on to guests. I can really help people who

THE ROSTER Ski Phil McNichol Holly Flanders Bryon Friedman Justin Johnson Doug Lewis Kaylin Richardson Erik Schlopy Snowboard Jonathan Cheever Graham Watanabe Opposite Page: Canyons pro Kaylin Richardson skis at the 2010 Visa U.S. Alpine Championships.

Below: Three-time Olympian and seven-time national champion Erik Schlopy can teach you how to carve with precision.

Kaylin Richardson Richardson calls the mountains her office, and she’s been commuting to work with skis in hand since she started competing at 15 years old. She skied in the last two Winter Olympics, and “retired” only to win the 2012 North American Freeskiing World Tour Championship. Richardson’s broad experience enables her to tailor tours to the skiers she’s with, a skill that mirrors the multi-faceted topography C A N Y O N S

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SIGN UP

Three-day Ultimate Mountain Experience signature camps are scheduled for Jan. 11-13 and March 8-10 for intermediate or better skiers. The three-day camps cost $1,275.

If you prefer, ski or snowboard with one of the pros any day during the season for experiences tailored to all skill levels (advance booking required).

Rates start at $1,325 for the first skier and $400 for each additional person (up to four people per group).

To book the Ultimate Mountain Experience, visit canyonsresort.com or call Canyons Ski & Snowboard School at 877-472-6306.

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want to put a lot of horsepower into their turns using proper technique.” But don’t mistake his penchant for precision as a militant demeanor.

Schlopy stressed that his measuring stick for a good tour is “how big your smile is at the end of the day.” After an afternoon of setting land speed records off of Super Condor Express, you’ll likely be grinning for days.

Holly Flanders If you want local color, nobody can give it to you in deeper shades than Holly Flanders. She was born in Massachusetts, but her skiing career ultimately led her to Park City. After competing in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, she began working at Canyons and has been here for 17 years. Stashes that normally go untouched at a resort as large as Canyons are daily runs for Flanders. She isn’t just the most accurate powder GPS in the area; she’s also the firsthand historian of the resort’s many incarnations through the years. If her clients can handle the challenge, Flanders takes them to a couple of runs that never get old for her. “I love the Grande and Red Pine chutes if people are up

for it, but it’s fun to weave through some of the trees off Tombstone if they’re not.”

Phil McNichol Phil McNichol, the fantasy camp’s director, founded the Ultimate Mountain Experience with the goal to create the most comprehensive ambassador program in the world. McNichol succeeded in putting the program together, but his contribution didn’t stop there. In a roster of pros with “impeccable resumes,” he brings a distinctive skill set developed over the last 28 years as a ski coach. “I’m a bit of a chameleon,” McNichol says of his unique role, “and people can tap into my varied experiences differently than with an athlete who was always just focused on being the fastest down the hill.” Like all the athletes in his program, McNichol is quick to point out that the Ultimate Mountain Experience isn’t instruction based, though clients will still be able to get tips and techniques. “We’ve all had different journeys down the mountain. The Ultimate Mountain Experience isn’t about how much I can teach, but what we can enjoy together.”

PHOTO UPPER LEFT FIS/OLIVER KRAUS; PHOTO MIDDLE LEFT USSA/JONATHAN SELKOWITZ. PHOTO LOWER LEFT COURTESY HOLLY FLANDERS.

Top: Canyons pro snowboarder Graham Watanabe competes at the 2012 Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. The 2013 edition comes to Canyons Feb. 28 – Mar. 2, 2013.

Right: Phil McNichol has coached for 28 years and heads up the talented fantasy camp pro staff.

Below: Holly Flanders competed at two Olympics and was a U.S. Ski Team athlete for 10 years prior to joining Canyons.

E L E VAT I O N S | P R O F I L E

KAYLIN RICHARDSON Olympic racer, Warren Miller co-star and Canyons skiing ambassador

PHOTO: RIGHT COURTESY U.S. SKI AND SNOWBOARD ASSOCIATION; FAR RIGHT COURTESY KAYLIN RICHARDSON.

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ou might have seen her barreling down the hills of Torino in 2006 and Vancouver in 2010. You might have caught her costarring in this year’s Warren Miller Entertainment feature film, Flow State. But it’s just as likely you can watch her carving some fresh powder right here on her favorite runs at Canyons Resort.

As Canyons’ Ambassador of Skiing, Kaylin Richardson shows skiers a whole new side of the mountain when she participates in the Ultimate Mountain Experience, a one-of-a-kind “fantasy camp” with an impressive roster of world-renowned skiers and snowboarders.

“Canyons has created very unique experiences for families or groups,” Richardson says. “And it’s exciting to be part of an organization that really centers around those special experiences. If you want a skiing or snowboarding experience with Olympians and national team coaches, the Ultimate Mountain Experience is perfect.”

Not many people can say the Waldorf Astoria Park City was once home, but after winning Canyons’ contest for the Ultimate Mountain Gig in 2011, Richardson not only scored three months of lodging in a private suite but free reign of the surrounding peaks.

This opportunity came at a perfect time for the Minnesota native looking to relocate to Utah after her retirement from competitive skiing after the Vancouver Olympic Games. “I’m the first to admit, I am the luckiest person in Park City,” Richardson says. “It is so much fun to get up every morning and not have to think, ‘Where am I going to go skiing?’

That was a pretty great gift Canyons gave me the first season I wasn’t competing.”

Whether you’re looking for an outing for your family of four, or just an adventure with your

sweetheart, Richardson is ready to be your guide.

“One of my favorite things in the whole world is sharing skiing with people,” she says. “It’s really fun to share my unique story.”

—Jessica Adams

Left: After competing in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics on the U.S. Ski team, Kaylin joined Canyons as one of its resident pros.

Below left: Richardson trains with fellow U.S. Ski Team members Stacey Cook (right) and Resi Stiegler (rear) at the Center of Excellence in Park City.

WA R R E N M I L L E R ’ S F LOW S TAT E

Canyons Resort and Kaylin Richardson star in the 63rd annual feature film from Warren Miller Entertainment, Flow State. The segment highlights stunning tree skiing, the vibrant aprés ski scene of Ski Beach, Park City’s only resort-based heli-skiing operation (Wasatch Powderbird Guides), and the world-class accommodations at Waldorf Astoria Park City.

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E L E VAT I O N S | S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y

SUSTAINABLE SLOPES Canyons is on an ongoing quest to reduce its carbon footprint.

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reening up Canyons Resort has been an evolving project that began nearly 10 years ago.

Driven by the devotion and assertiveness of Canyons’ employees known as the Sustainability Task Force, Canyons is initiating and completing short- and long-term projects to help the resort reduce its carbon footprint and is on track to

meet its goal of reducing carbon emissions by 15 percent by the year 2017. “We’ve been environmentally conscious for quite awhile,” says Dana Edwards, Canyons’ sustainability and mountain dispatch manager.

Canyons is a founding member of the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) Climate Challenge, an initiative to help ski resorts reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut costs for energy use. “This is the first year we’ve done a full carbon footprint for the resort,” says Edwards. “We knew that in order for us to grow we needed to make sure that we started with a benchmark.”

The Sustainability Task Force is comprised of employees from all levels and departments, including managers, supervisors and frontline employees, who are constantly conceptualizing new ideas for sustainability. Restaurants like The Farm have planted gardens, cut waste dramatically through recycling and are implementing composting programs.

The NSAA recently provided Canyons a grant to install a 1,470 watt grid tie solar electric system on the ski patrol hut at Tombstone. The panel is the first of its kind at the resort and will allow the building to use 2,100 fewer kilowatt hours of electricity per year, which is equal to 1.4 tons less carbon dioxide.

Guests are doing their part, too. Rooms at the hotels are equipped with recycling bins, and management has been pleased to find that the guests are filling them faster than the trash bins. And, in the spring, Canyons holds a community yard sale in conjunction with Recycle Utah. Hazardous and recyclable waste is collected and locals donate, sell and recycle goods.

Read more about Canyons’ environmental initiatives at canyonsresort.com/environment.

Above: New solar panels, on the ski patrol hut at the top of Tombstone, generate 2,100 kilowatt hours of green electricty per year. Left: Locally grown flowers are sold at Canyons’ weekly farmers market, an example of the resort’s resolve to support environmental and economic sustainability.

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E L E VAT I O N S | P L A N N E R Left: Snowshoe Magazine named Canyons one of the Top 10 resorts in the U.S. for snowshoeing.

tasty burgers and brews at the Umbrella Bar. Evening: Take the free Park City Transit bus to Main Street where the clubs and bars keep the party going until 1 a.m.

DAY 3

Morning: Heli-ski with Wasatch Powderbird Guides (801-742-2800, visit powderbird.com).

Afternoon: After the helicopter drops you at Red Pine Lodge, unwind on the 1,954-foot-long Zip Tour (877-472-6306).

Evening: Enjoy a Talisker scotch and the latest Chef’s Cut from Utah’s top-notch ranchers at The Farm, named 2012’s Best New Restaurant in Utah

by Salt Lake magazine (435-615-8080).

Family Time at Waldorf Astoria DAY 1

MILKING EVERY MINUTE Canyons has the perfect prescription for a weekend with the ladies, guys and family.

Ladies Weekend

DAY 3

DAY 1

All Day: Ski with two-time USA Olympians Holly Flanders or Kaylin Richardson during Canyons’ Ultimate Mountain Experience (877-472-6306) Evening: Dine at The Farm for exquisite, locally sourced fare (435-615-8080).

Morning: Hire a private instructor to show you around Canyons’ 4,000 acres (877-472-6306).

Midday: Have a gourmet meal with killer views on the side at Lookout Cabin.

Late afternoon: Après ski at Red Tail Grill with a margarita on the sunny deck.

Evening: Take the free Park City Transit bus to Main Street for the countless shops and galleries.

Night: Make reservations in advance for dinner at stunning Talisker on Main, two-time winner of Salt Lake magazine’s Best Restaurant in Park City and winner of an AIA Jury Award for best restaurant design (435-658-5479).

Just the Guys DAY 1

Morning: Ease into your first day with some intermediate laps at Tombstone Express, followed by some tree-skiing off Peak 5.

Afternoon: Load up on a healthy salad on top of the world (9,270’) at Dream Peak’s Cloud Dine.

Evening: Dine at Bistro at Canyons. Can great sushi also be kosher? Yes! (435-615-3400).

DAY 2

Morning: Call the Resort Activities Desk and book a mountain snowshoe tour with a welltrained guide (877-472-6306).

Afternoon: Spa time! Golden Door Spa (435-6475555) or Canyons Resort Spa (435-615-8305).

Evening: Dinner at Slopes Restaurant, located inside the Waldorf Astoria (435-647-5566).

DAY 2

Morning: Rise early for First Tracks and have Canyons to yourself for the first 90 minutes (Tuesdays and Saturdays only).

Midday: Afternoon laps in Ninety-Nine 90’s experts-only terrain.

Afternoon: Time to party. Hit the resort village for

Morning: Breakfast at Slopes Restaurant located inside the Waldorf Astoria Park City.

Midday: Skip the crowds and ski Sun Peak Express with lunch at Sun Lodge.

Afternoon: Put the kids in an afternoon half-day private lesson while you take the long runs off Super Condor Express.

Après ski: It’s a must to take the kids to Murdock’s and join or watch village activities like the kid’s parade or Birds of Prey demonstration.

Evening: Take a horse-drawn sleigh ride through Canyons’ Willow Draw followed by dinner in the village.

DAY 2

Morning: Grab an on-the-go breakfast and coffee. Then hop on the gondola and huck and jib in Canyons’ three terrain parks.

Afternoon: Canyons Zip Tour thrills kids 10 and up, but who can resist dog-sledding? Pick one, then snag s’mores and gelato at Waldorf Astoria’s poolside treatery, Scoop.

Evening: Hop on Park City Transit and head to Main Street for a Park City Ghost Tour.

DAY 3

Morning: Mom and Dad can relax in the Golden Door Spa, while kids hang out in the steaming outdoor pool.

Midday: Hit the slopes! Iron Mountain is Canyons’ newest terrain.

Afternoon: Enjoy Canyons’ Resort Village kidcentric post-ski day entertainment from 3 to 5 p.m. while you enjoy short rib nachos and other creative Southwest-inspired cuisine at Red Tail Grill.

Evening: Take the Park City Transit over to Redstone’s hip Jupiter Bowl (1090 Center Park Dr., 435-658-2695) for drinks, bowling and an arcade.

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CANYONS SKIER/RIDER RESPONSIBILITY CODE Safety on the slopes is everyone’s responsibility. Ski safely, not only for yourself, but for others as well. Know your responsibilities.

1. Always stay in control and avoid excessive speed. You must be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.

2. People ahead of you have the rightof-way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.

3. Do not stop where you obstruct a trail or are not visible from above.

4. Before starting downhill or merging onto a trail, look uphill and yield to others.

5. If you are involved in an accident or collision, you must exchange contact information with the other party.

6. Always use proper devices to help prevent runaway equipment.

7. Observe and obey all posted signs and warnings.

8. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas.

9. You must have sufficient physical dexterity, ability and knowledge to safely load, ride and unload lifts.

10. You may not ski or snowboard at Canyons if you are impaired by drugs or alcohol.

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READY, SET SLUG TK

This page: The Orange Bubble Express includes heated seats and an orange-tinted canopy to keep you out of the weather as you zip up the mountain. Opposite page: Acres of powder await more advanced skiers and riders, from the top of Murdock Peak.

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SKI

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With thousands of acres of mountain to ski and board, Canyons delivers just about every experience you can imagine.

Now, where to start?

BY ROGER TOLL C A N Y O N S

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S

TRETCHING ACROSS 4,000 ACRES of skiable terrain, Canyons Resort is a massive place. Its nine peaks, each with its own charm and personality, offer flowing, groomed trails for intermediate-level skiers, idyllic tree runs and double-black diamond bowls. First thing in the morning, as they start out on the ski day, visitors may gape at the mountain and wonder where and how to conquer it.

There are ways to make the task easier. For the less advanced, jump into a class and follow your instructor. For the more advanced, hire a guide to show you all the secrets and hidden stashes for your particular set of skills. Or ask one of Canyons’ helpful “guides,” the resort’s word for

employees, about their favorite spots. You might even get in on a few coveted secret tips.

Once ready to brave it on your own, spend some time with the ski map the night before you head out.

It takes awhile to absorb it all, and repeat viewing may ingrain it in your head even if you have a hard

time judging east from west when you’re perched atop the Ninety-Nine 90 Express lift.

Mike Goar, Canyons’ managing director, considers the resort’s huge variety of terrain its most distinguishing feature. “The vast expanse of our mountains leads to a great sense of adventure and discovery. We have a lot of what I like to call ‘adventure skiing.’ For intermediates, it means discovering new areas on the mountain, and for advanced skiers the surprise of entire forests of steep tree runs. Maybe it’s heli-skiing out of Red Pine Lodge or flying down the Zip Tour. In the summer, try mountain biking downhill on our freeride flow trails as well.”

A great mountain needs impeccable guides and, for Goar, the development of a service culture at Canyons has been priority No. 1. “Our guides understand and embody that commitment, and our customers feel it. We hear that time and again.”

Guest service is one reason why SKI Magazine readers named Canyons a Top Ten North American resort. Goar attributes the recognition to having built a service culture brick by brick, encounter by encounter, always engaging Canyons’ guests with a friendly, caring attitude. “When we hire people, we keep a sharp eye out for personality and people who care.

They have to embrace the culture we want to create.”

With that in mind, we enlisted several of Canyons’ friendly guides to help you chart a course on the mountain.

Super Condor Express / Murdock Peak On the far right is Murdock Peak with the Super Condor Express aimed right towards its summit, and Apex Ridge running right below it. Just across the canyon to the left—Canyons’ many canyons prompted the resort’s name—is Sun Peak Express, which ends right below Sun Peak itself. This is the oldest part of the ski area echoing back to the days when the resort was called Park West in the 1970s and 80s.

It is ski patroller Brianna Binnebose’s favorite spot on the mountain. “I love walking up to Murdock Peak above the top station of the Super Condor. It’s a 10-to-15-minute hike, and the views are great,” she says. “In fact the whole Super Condor area feels different than the rest of the mountain, a little more laid back. The south side chutes, which drop off to the right as you come down Apex, are tons of fun when the snow is fresh.”

Binnebose, 29, started her career working for the National Forest Service as a seasonal worker on trails and wild fires after moving west from Left: Canyons’ terrain park offers dozens of features. Opposite page top: Tree skiing doesn’t get any better than this. Opposite bottom: Canyons ski instructor Heather Fielding-Owen enjoys skiing the mountain’s most established runs, using the Orange Bubble Express to get there.

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her native Wisconsin. A fellow fire fighter worked winters as a patroller at Canyons, so she applied for a job and landed a spot in lift operations in 2006. “I couldn’t ski at first, so some ski patrol-

lers I lived with would offer to teach me, then yell back as they took off at full speed, ‘Keep up!’”

“The people who work here are great, some of the best I’ve ever known,” she says. “You really feel part of a family. Everyone says the same thing: This place is amazing. There really is a living sense of camaraderie. I can’t imagine ever working somewhere else in the ski industry.”

Orange Bubble Express / Lookout Cabin Continuing southward on the map, you come to the Orange Bubble Express, one of the principal arteries onto the mountain. Since Talisker bought the resort and began transforming it in a dramatically new fashion four years ago, the Orange Bubble, inaugurated in 2010, has become mascot and icon (and favorite color). If you get off at the mid-station next to Lookout Cabin, the front face of the mountain, right above the base village and the core of the old

ski area, lies at your feet. Or stay on until the top and you can access everything from three terrain parks to challenging black diamonds.

Ski instructor Heather Fielding-Owen, 39, arrived at Canyons in 1997 when the resort, then called Wolf Mountain, was about a quarter of its present size. “I still gravitate to the old part of the mountain, the one I remember from 16 years ago. Now it’s so fast and easy to get there on the Orange Bubble, which is the single greatest improvement of recent years.”

Fielding-Owen loves the “heartbeat” of the resort, which she says hasn’t changed much since she arrived, “even if it is sometimes hardly recognizable outwardly.” She came to work at Wolf Mountain from her home in the Adirondacks after a family ski trip to Utah.

The first day she skied there, she remembers flying down Doc’s Run, still one of the prettiest trails on the mountain. “I could really get attached to this place,” C A N Y O N S

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she remembers thinking. There were only about 30 instructors then, she says, compared to 300 today.

When it is time to eat, she heads to Lookout Cabin, which is the closest restaurant if you are skiing the front side. But, she notes, “My friends and I jump around a lot. For après ski, we head to the Umbrella Bar near the top of the Cabriolet, especially in the spring when there’s live music.

Après ski builds warmth, friendliness and passion for the lifestyle.” She shares a locker with her father, also an instructor, and her brother is on the ski patrol. “I tell myself, ‘don’t take this for granted.’ It is too special to forget how lucky we are.”

Red Pine Gondola / Saddleback Express Red Pine Gondola, the other way up the mountain from the village, lies at the south end of Ski Beach, right across from the top of the Cabriolet lift that serves the main parking lot. The Gondola whisks you up to Red Pine Lodge, the center of mid-mountain activities and the base area of two important lifts: High Meadow, a beginner and ski instruction

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staple, and Saddleback Express, a favorite of many advanced skiers and snowboarders for the forest access. Ian Dailey, director of organizational development, is one of them. “Saddleback’s North Trees and the Pines offer up some of the best advanced and expert skiing on the mountain,” he says, but it’s also the fastest way back to the village when he has to return to work.

Dailey, 33 and a native of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., moved to Park City 12 years ago. He snowboarded 100 days a year during his first five seasons. “I’d get off the mountain just in time to head over to the Grand Summit for my night job as a bellman.”

“It may sound cheesy but, honestly, it’s my fellow guides that make this place special for me, and for our guests,” he says. “There’s a lot of effort put into finding leaders among young people here and guiding them to bring out the best qualities in themselves.”

Dailey is now down to skiing about 30 days a year, sometimes just a few laps a day when he can find time to take a break or get in a quick lunch

at Red Pine Lodge, usually at 11:30 or at 2. “The best time to grab something to eat is just before or after the crowds get there.”

Tombstone Express / Ninety-Nine 90 Express From the south side of Red Pine Lodge, the run called Chicane takes you to the bottom of Tombstone Express. From the top of Tombstone, you can drop down to the base of Ninety-Nine 90 Express, which climbs to the resort’s highest elevation: 9,990 vertical feet— and some of the most challenging, double-diamond

Opposite page top: Ian Dailey, director of organizational development, recommends Saddleback’s North Trees and the Pines. Opposite page bottom: Untracked corduroy beneath the Red Pine Gondola.

Right: Canyons offers a big mountain experience including backcountry access.

Below: Canyons’ expert instructors can help you master the mountain.

terrain in the area. If you’re wary of black diamond skiing, maybe warm up your ski legs a bit before trying it out. Head instead to the next lift over, Peak 5, which accesses multiple groomed runs.

“I have a lot of favorites,” says Goar. “But if pushed, I’d have to say Ninety-Nine 90. There are fewer people there, nothing is groomed, you are in your own world.

And on a powder day it is spectacular. Sometimes I’ll take a run through Paradise Chutes off the top of Tombstone, just to check out how the snow is holding up. I love that whole big Paradise Bowl area as well.”

Dream Peak / Cloud Dine At the far south end of the resort, as far as you can go from the resort village, lie Dreamscape and Dreamcatcher, among Canyons’ most lovely, most peaceful and most remote areas. “It is my favorite place on the mountain,” says Bruno Schwartz, a Canyons human resources executive from Brazil. “I love the freshness of the snow, the ungroomed, wide open landscape and the natural terrain. Every time I’m there, it’s as if it’s all mine, there just for me.”

Schwartz is a 31 year-old beach volleyball enthusiast raised in Brazil’s state of Espiritu Santo, north of Rio de Janeiro. Now in his eighth year at Canyons, he has climbed from front desk clerk to his current position as senior human resources manager assigned with the task of hiring the many international employees who work at Canyons. Faced with negotiating the State Department’s growing gauntlet of visa restrictions on foreign citizens, he has launched a program that hires refugees from countries like Bhutan, Burma, Nepal, Iran and Iraq, now legal residents of nearby Salt Lake City.

Bruno is typical of Canyons’ guides: passionate, energetic, outgoing, a lover of the outdoors. “We all share one thing: to make this a wonderful place to live and work,” he says. “There is a strong family feeling and a spirit beyond the physical beauty that comes from

the guides who work here. It is alive. There are 1,600 people on the payroll in winter, and the one thing they share is wanting to make our guests happy.”

Canyons encourages guides to get out and ski, to use and know the mountain, Schwartz says. “The whole mountain is our office.” He takes ski breaks when he can, but his job also requires him to keep in touch with employees in far-flung areas of the mountain, such as the restaurant, Cloud Dine, at the top of Dream Peak. “It offers some really healthy choices in on-mountain food, and I like that.”

Iron Mountain Express Two years ago, Iron Mountain’s 300 acres of skiable terrain became Canyons’ most recent addition.

Reached either from the base of Tombstone Express via the Timberline lift or from Dreamcatcher, the area offers beautiful views back on Canyons’ ridgeline of peaks. Intermediates love it for its bounty of groomed blue runs along with a few advanced trails and glades that have become very popular.

“It’s my favorite place on the mountain,” says Sally Whittle, 29, from Melbourne, Australia. “I’m sort of a weird creature around here: a cat track freak instead of a trees- and powder-hound. I love carving it up on my snowboard on Copperhead and Mercury and popping off the sides of the run. They are wide, long, groomed and sometimes pretty steep. ” Whittle, a seven-year Canyons veteran, is an operations supervisor in mountain dispatch. She applied for a job at Canyons in 2005 while working at a ski area in Australia and was hired long distance. Two years ago she married a 15-year veteran lift mechanic. “There is a real sense of fun, and the culture builds on itself. Good people attract good people.”

Seconds Goar, “Our staff cares, really from bottom to top. That’s important to us as a family and to our guests, who feel their involvement and caring disposition. The mountain is wonderfully young, vibrant, diverse and fun, and it’s our collection of great guides that make it that way.”

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Chill out or HEAT 2 6

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Up The Orange Bubble Express is one of the principal arteries at Canyons. The highspeed chair offers heated seats and a canopy to keep you out of the weather. c a n y o n s

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CHILL OUT

Above: Sunshine and incredible alpine vistas are on the menu at Lookout Cabin. Above right: Fresh powder = contagious excitement.

Lower right: Obstacles for others are viewed

by Cooper Hoffmeister as undiscovered terrain. Right: Experience a horse drawn sleigh ride while wrapped up in a cozy blanket with a cup of hot cocoa.

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“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.”

–Anton Chekhov

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“Summer afternoon, summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

–Henry James

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HEAT UP

Upper left: Take flight and zoom high above the trees on the thrilling Zip Tour.

Above: In its first full year, Canyons Bike Park has become a destination for cyclists of every ability.

Left: Canyons’ summer concert series has been a fixture on Park City’s summer calendar for years.

Lower left: Aspen groves and tranquility abound on a multitude of hiking trails at Canyons.

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TALISK

KER

Where Natural Wonder and Uncommon Luxury Come Together.

At Talisker Mountain Realty, our real estate advisors specialize in the most amazing communities in and around Park City including the following Taliskerdeveloped communities.

Red Cloud, high atop Deer Valley with ski in/ski out single family homes and homesites, Tuhaye, the land of infinite sky, with homes and homesites surrounding a Mark O’ Meara designed championship golf course, Waldorf Astoria Park City Residences, effortless ownership with a private gondola delivering guests directly to the Canyons’ Ski Beach.

Homeowners in any of the Talisker communities are eligible to become part of the exclusive Talisker Club which offers the most extraordinary all-season outdoor mountain experiences in the West. Our real estate advisors hold the keys to the most breathtaking neighborhoods in Park City. We are dedicated to helping you find your perfect mountain home.

Your ideal mountain life is here.

Let us help you find it.

FIND US AT WWW.TALISKERREALTY.COM OR CALL US AT 435.333.3600

SLUG TK

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Opposite Page: The Farm offers seasonal slopeside dining at its best. Right: Summer salad of compressed watermelon and plums with pansies and homegrown sorrel.

dining CANYONS beyond AT

AND

Talisker restaurants have helped redefine ski resort dining.

FÂ

BY MARY MALOUF

ROM THE MINUTE you step into Talisker on Main, you sense the difference. A crystal chandelier hangs over the marble bar separating the dining room from the performance kitchen. The ceiling is shining pressed tin, the chair seats are covered in sheepskin. The whole place is light, bright and elegant, a little polished jewel on the old mining town’s historic Main Street.

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Above: Talisker Executive Chef Zeke Wray works the line in all Talisker restaurants. Above right: Bistro’s kosher take on a salad Nicoise. Lower right: Speck-wrapped roulade of wild hare loin and frenched rack with roasted heirloom root vegetables, arugula and brown butter-pumpkin puree.

Talisker on Main was the first public venue from the prestigious and private Talisker Club, and the world’s introduction to the level of service and food found at Talisker’s communities. In the years since it opened, Talisker on Main has become the star of a collection of restaurants that has redefined fine dining in Park City. It has been named “Best Restaurant in Park City” by Salt Lake magazine for the past two years–quite a feat since it only opened in January of 2010.

“Part of the pleasure after a day of playing hard on the slopes is sharing a meal with your family and friends,” says Mandy Scully, Talisker’s Executive Vice President. “That’s been our philosophy from the beginning. Local, excellent and healthy food is a cornerstone of the Talisker and Canyons experiences.”

At its core, Talisker is the epitome of world-class luxury, Park City-style. When Talisker acquired Canyons Resort, the company infused the resort with the same level of service and quality. That means that in every Canyons restaurant, you can sense posh without pretension. Guests are served 3 6

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with sensitivity as well as style, and the cuisine is as comforting as it is cultured.

The Dining Experience: Talisker Sets High Expectations There are more than 20 private and public restaurants under the Talisker banner, from the refined showcase of Talisker on Main to the new familyfriendly eatery called Murdock’s. As wide-ranging as they may be in terms of the cost and complication of the food served, they all share the same values and approach.

“It’s the kitchen culture,” explains Talisker’s Executive Chef Zeke Wray. “We all support each other. We’re not rivals. It’s about teamwork and how we all work together.”

Wray joined the Talisker team in 2006. A graduate of the California Culinary Institute in San Francisco, he worked in the private dining rooms at Talisker Tower and Tuhaye Table Café, as well as with the Talisker Events Group, where he contributed his creativity to many of Talisker’s special events, before joining the

Canyons’ culinary team. Now, he’s in charge of a dozen kitchens.

But forget the cliché of the tyrannical chef ruling by raising his voice and throwing his pots.

“None of us are driven by ego,” says Wray. To better understand each restaurant he’s responsible for, Wray works the line in various Canyons kitchens. He confers with and listens to everyone in the restaurant. “We all listen to our line cooks and prep people,” he says. “We all work with the attitude you can never stop learning, and we learn from each other.”

All the chefs are dedicated to providing a great guest experience and are genuinely concerned that guests have a great time. “We want to exceed their expectations,” says Chef Briar Handly of Talisker on Main. “We take hospitality very personally–it’s like we’re welcoming guests into our own homes.

We want them to love Utah and our mountains and feel like this is an extraordinary place, like no other.

Anything that’s ‘typical’ is not Talisker.”

Partly, this is because each chef feels a personal stake in the restaurant they work, an attitude

S AV O R T H E S U M M I T S TA R O F T H E S H OW

The annual Savor the Summit dinner, a fundraiser for the Park City Area Restaurant Association held each June, is the pinnacle event of Park City dining. One nearly continuous table stretches all the way down Main Street. Different restaurants design and cater their tables, each rivaling to outdo the others in feats of culinary showmanship.

Talisker on Main and The Farm are stars of the show.

In 2012, The Farm created a living table to honor its commitment to fresh, local and sustainable cuisine: a planter was built down the middle of the antique barn wood tabletop and planted with all kinds of living herbs–lavender, sage, rosemary, basil, parsley. Servers snipped leaves and blossoms right off the plants to garnish the plates.

Scully says is encouraged by Talisker’s management. “We have a first-class culinary team in our restaurants. The chefs have a passion for their

work and the freedom to create and try new things. That freedom gives them a real sense of ownership,” Scully says.

The Farm: A Utah Sense of Place The Farm, Canyons’ signature restaurant at the resort, is a showcase for Utah farmers. The menu relies on relationships with local farms and food producers, partnerships that have been personally nurtured by the company’s chefs. All the restaurants at Canyons rely on local sources as much as possible, but it’s The Farm’s mission to find and present the best cheese, meat, fruit and vegetables produced in Utah and surrounding states.

“We are very aware of a sense of place,” says Scully about the resort’s food philosophy. “We want food that is appropriate in the West. We want to enhance and highlight the bounty of the land around us.”

Last spring, Canyons’ chefs invited a group of journalists to meet some of the many farmers, ranchers and growers that provide the food for Talisker’s and Canyons’ tables. The day-long trek included visits to Zoe’s Garden, an organic farm near Layton,

The centerpiece of the main menu was Summit County beef. The Farm bought an entire cow from the local ranchers’ coalition and used different parts of the animal in different courses.

For dessert, the chefs painted a sweet masterpiece on a backlit glass tabletop. Guests watched as swirls of sauce, scoops of gelato, wedges of cake and cookie rounds were splattered and streaked across the glass like a giant edible Jackson Pollock-meets-Morris Louis painting. Then guests ate the art, serving themselves from the creation as they sipped champagne on Main Street.

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MEET THE WINE DIRECTOR

As Director of Wine and Spirits, Sean Marron enchants guests.

Every Talisker restaurant offers a beverage list to complement the food. From gourmet hot chocolate to The Farm’s 400-bottle wine collection, Sean Marron is in charge of them all. This is not simply a matter of making sure the soda dispenser is filled, and that there’s a choice of red, white and rosé in every cellar.

“The challenge is making each one unique,” says Marron. “Every restaurant here is unique, and the beverage menu should complement that uniqueness.”

So The Farm’s wine collection focuses on the integrity of the product: There is an assortment of biodynamic, local and organic wines on the list to further the restaurant’s commitment to sustainability and community. At Talisker on Main, Marron tries to show the diversity of wine in a very tight space, so there’s a range equaling Chef Handly’s inventive menu.

The Bistro’s kosher list, of course, is especially unusual. “It took a lot of time to research the list and put it together and I had to bring in a lot of it by special order.

But it’s been worth it.

We receive letters from all over the world, thanking us for doing this. It’s a great example of the level of service we strive for,” says Marron.

Marron is supremely qualified to handle such a huge multi-faceted task. He spent years at the world-famous Phoenician in Scottsdale, known for its iconic wine collection of more than 45,000 bottles. But Talisker and Canyons, he says, “represent a whole different approach to wine.” The Phoenician has a Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning wine cellar (five stars, five diamonds) and is almost museum-like. “At Canyons, while we’re selling wines; we are also getting people excited about the wine. It’s more lively and vibrant, which suits this place extremely well.”

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and Slide Ridge Honey in Mendon, which makes exquisite honey and honey vinegar from bees that feed on alpine flowers. The group ventured further north to Mountain Valley Trout, which raises trout–blues, browns, rainbows and more–for The Farm’s kitchen; and to Rock Hill Creamery in Richmond, a microdairy making prize-winning cheese from the milk of six Brown Swiss cows.

Finally, the chefs and guests ended at the family-owned Willis Ranch, up near Bear Lake, where the Willis family has raised all-natural lamb for generations. All these special foods find their way on to The Farm’s plates as carefully conceived dishes. For the Summit County Beef Oxtail Soup, local Beehive cheddar replaces Swiss. The Rocky Mountain Lamb features local lavender ricotta and chive blossom couscous.

Roast beets dazzle with Slide Ridge Honey.

“Food is all about relationships,” says Wray.

“These are small, artisanal producers. We work with them very closely to ensure a successful business for them and the best possible product for our kitchens. Along the way, we become friends.”

Talisker on Main: The Jewel in the Crown From the beginning, Chef Handly has orchestrated the kitchen at Talisker on Main, or ToM (Tee-oh-em), as regulars call it. The restaurant was originally conceived as a place where poten-

Above left: The Farm specializes in local Utah products, like grass-fed beef from Summit County. Above right: Bistro at Canyons is the only kosher restaurant at a ski resort in North America, but its menu appeals to all. Opposite, lower left: Talisker on Main is located in the heart of historical Park City.

tial Talisker Club members could experience the benefits of belonging to the private Talisker Club.

But word has spread and now “we often have a waiting list for dinner,” says Handly.

He’s a young chef, a native Vermonter who attended New England Culinary Institute and then cooked haute everywhere from Breckenridge to Bermuda. He’s retained the simple aesthetic of his birthplace. However posh his clientele, however esoteric the ingredients, his cooking retains a beautiful clarity. Garnishes have flavor and meaning–delicate corn shoots, a pickled scape, fennel petals. “It’s all about letting the ingredients shine,” he says.

Part of Talisker’s secret is insisting on the freshest ingredients to be found. Handly and his staff tend rooftop gardens on nearby buildings and have started raising their own mushrooms.

“We try to find local sources, because freshness is the most important thing. And I’ll pay more money out of respect for what the farmers do.”

ToM is one of the only restaurants anywhere that serves wagyu beef from a local source.

Many Talisker chefs have developed relationships with local farmers and growers; for example, the ToM kitchen sends its vegetable scraps to feed the pigs at Clifford Family Farm in Provo. “Then, we buy from them for the restaurant, coming full circle,” Handly said. He also built his own charcuterie dry box to cure his own meats. His energy seems limitless, but behind it stands the company’s enthusiastic support for its chefs’ growth and imagination.

As Scully says, “Our whole approach is to be inventive and innovative.”

The Bistro: A Taste for Innovation An example of the company’s commitment to innovation? Consider Bistro at Canyons, the newest fine dining experience at the resort where the chefs’ favorites range from beef cheek gnocchi to sushi.

Bistro is the restaurant that Wray launched in December 2011. Despite his promotion, his chef clogs remain planted here. At Bistro, food is carefully sourced, of the highest quality. All desserts and

breads are made in-house. Dairy-free and glutenfree options abound. The reason? This restaurant is the only one in a North American ski resort that follows kosher standards. It sounds a little unlikely, but since it opened last year, Bistro has been an unquestionable hit, for anyone who likes fine food and for observant Jews who like to take ski vacations.

“I try to approach kosher ingredients and rules with a whole new point of view,” says Wray. “I want to make it new.”

That doesn’t mean Sabbath dinner doesn’t include some old-fashioned classics, or that Bistro doesn’t serve a terrific chicken soup. It just means that Wray is always looking at ways to make kosher food exciting and unexpected. Take this year’s addition of sushi on the menu. “We have found a Utahbased fishmonger who has incredible relationships on the docks in places like California, Washington and Hawaii. The quality is extraordinary – and our diners are going to love it.”

Mainly what it means is that Bistro’s kitchen, like all the other kitchens under Talisker, is based on the chefs’ creativity.

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ca n yo n s d i n i n g

dining guide

B = B rea k fa st

L = Lu n c h

A = A p ré s

D = Di n n e r

Re staurant

Locat i on

Menu

Price Meal

First Tracks Café Escala Provisions Company Red Tail Grill The Farm Bruges Waffles Cloud Dine Dreamscape Grill Lookout Cabin Red Pine Lodge Sun Lodge Tombstone Grill Western BBQ Drafts Drift Murdock’s Umbrella Bar Bistro Crave Scoop Slopes Edge Steakhouse

Grand Summit Hyatt Escala Next to Ski Beach Next to Ski Beach On Mountain On Mountain On Mountain On Mountain On Mountain On Mountain On Mountain On Mountain Resort Village Resort Village Resort Village Resort Village Silverado Lodge Waldorf Astoria Waldorf Astoria Waldorf Astoria Westgate Resort

Café/Coffee Shop Locally Sourced Comfort Food Southwest Flavors Farm to Table Belgian Waffles Fresh American Outdoor Grill Rocky Mountain Cuisine American Cafeteria Style Made-to-Order Salads & Sandwiches Outdoor Grill Slow-Cooked BBQ (select weekends only) Fun and Elegant Atmosphere Food Truck Fare Family-Friendly Eatery Burgers and Brews New American Kosher Grab & Go Coffee Shop Poolside Drinks & Desserts Modern Mountain Cuisine Las Vegas Meets the Mountains

$ B / L $ $ B / L/A/ D $ $ L/A/ D $ $ $ L/A/ D $ B / L $ $ L $ L $ $ L $ L $ L $ L $ $ $ D $ B / L/A/ D $ L/A/ D $ B / L/A/ D $ L/A/ D $ $ $ $ D $ B / L $ L/A $ $ $ B / L/A/ D $ $ D c a n y o n s

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Talisker BY

Design Tapping into its impressive mountain setting, Talisker has designed buildings as beautiful as the surroundings.

BY PENELOPE ROWLANDS

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HEN TALISKER CORPORATION acquired thousands of acres around Park City with resort communities in mind, CEO Jack Bistricer knew where to turn for design inspiration—outside.

Inspiration was all around him in the form of soaring peaks and jagged valleys of the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains, surely one of the most exhilarating settings around.

“We’ve worked with some of the top architects in the world and learned that design is a process,” Bistricer says. “You have to first think about what would be appropriate for the landscape and site. Then you make it fresh and relevant to today’s needs, with innovative and even surprising touches.”

The Talisker Tower clubhouse at Deer Valley Resort’s Empire Pass was envisioned by Bistricer and Nancy Vignola, former President of Ralph Lauren Home, with architecture by Jim Tinson, CEO of Hart Howerton, and interior design by Paul Duesing Partners.

The design for the clubhouse is based on the great mountain lodges in America’s national parks. Since

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the structure will be serving as “the mountain’s living room,” as Jim Tinson puts it, “you want it to feel connected to the outside. You need to feel that you’re on the mountain.”

The building they came up with uses traditional elements, including local stone and timber, and sits lightly on the ground. It is timeless, yet somehow whimsical, with crisp, inventive detailing and a soaring tower that uses generously-sized windows to open the structure to the surrounding landscape with its dramatic views.

“The idea of incorporating a tower in the structure arose as Jack and I were hiking in the vicinity one day,” Tinson recalls. Bistricer adds that the clubhouse needed “something vertical” to ground it, and not just in a physical sense. “It should act as a beacon. It should become a meeting spot, a place where people say, ‘I’ll meet you at the tower.’”

The interior has a sophisticated take on a lodge-like feel. It seems traditional yet new, with a comfortable grandeur that’s particularly evident in the great room where guests gather on their way to and from the

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“It [the clubhouse] should act as a beacon.

It should become a meeting spot, a place where people say, ‘I’ll meet you at the tower.’”

– Jack Bistricer

slopes. The strong verticality of the tower outside is echoed in an intriguingly sculptural-looking fireplace and chimney that Tinson describes as “clean-lined, grounded in tradition, but assembled in a more contemporary way.” Its stacked stones rise almost buoyantly to a ceiling that, although vaulted by beams, feels paradoxically light. “We picked really clean square timbers,” he explains. “They’re not ‘loggy.’”

The interiors by Paul Duesing pay slight homage to the West, incorporating such elements as cashmere-upholstered ottomans and blue leather walls. “No brown! No antlers!” insisted Vignola, who took her inspiration from the bright colors and patterns of the American Cavalry, while blessedly avoiding some of the region’s more notorious design clichés.

At Talisker Club Park at Tuhaye, a very different landscape—ranchland, in this case—set the tone. “Tuhaye had beautiful views, but the land itself was high desert when Talisker bought it,” Vignola recalls.

Beginning the project at the land-planning phase offered Talisker complete control, from determining the best en-

trance to the property to siting its buildings so that they take advantage of the best views. Everything, from retaining walls to street signs, was new. “Design is in every detail,” Vignola says. “It was thought out on every level.”

Bistricer enlisted an award-winning team for Tuhaye: Mark O’Meara for the golf course; architect Robert A. M. Stern for its clubhouse. With typical inventiveness, Stern reimagined the clubhouse form by creating a cluster of art-and-crafts style pavilions—five in all, each with a specific purpose, from fitness to children’s activities—rather than a single building. Each chalet-like structure has a soaring roofline that rises to Alpinelike views of Mt. Timpanogos to the west.

The pavilions are colorful and sprightly, down to the Native American-style painted detailing on the porch crossbeams. At the Tuhaye Table Café—one of the two private club restaurants in the lauded Talisker line of dining—the cheer is infectious.

“We wanted it to be joyous,” says Vignola who, along with Paul Duesing Partners, was responsible for its interior. “We wanted elements of surprise that make people smile.”

Above: The clubhouse at Talisker Club Park at Tuhaye includes fireplaces on decks overlooking the pool.

Opposite page: The strong verticality of the Talisker Tower clubhouse exterior is echoed by the intriguingly sculptural-looking fireplace in the great room.

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“Design, for us, isn’t just something you look at.

It impacts your entire experience.”

– Jack Bistricer

Above: The wine cellar at Talisker on Main offers an intimate setting for guests.

Opposite page: The main dining room at Talisker on Main offers a sleek, appetizing interior.

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There are many of these, from the curtains, with their hand-embroidered bees, ladybugs and delphiniums to what Bistricer calls the “very happy red chairs” that enliven its dining room. “The red is the surprise to counteract the wood, and we use it throughout Talisker,” he explains.

Another in the Talisker family of restaurants, Talisker on Main also combines a sleek yet refined interior with outstanding, farm-fresh cuisine. Talisker on Main was a design challenge: Its historic building in downtown Park City is fairly modest in size with a Victorian feel. Vignola, along with Rebecca Buchan of Denton House Design, opened up the space so that the rooms seem larger, and enlivened the spaces with a subtle, sophisticated palette and design.

At The Farm, which features cuisine made from ingredients sourced from local farms, Buchan aimed for a sim-

pler, more rustic look. She’s also the design force behind magical restaurant interiors such as Murdock’s and the Talisker Outpost Yurt.

It doesn’t take a connoisseur or design aficionado to appreciate the warm ambiance and atmosphere that Talisker has created. As Bistricer points out, “Design, for us, isn’t just something you look at. It impacts your entire experience.”

Almost any corner of Talisker’s properties could serve as an example, but perhaps none better than Tuhaye’s clubhouse porches on a winter night, when the crackle and warmth of outdoor fireplaces lure guests to their hearths. Once they’re gathered together, the Rocky Mountain air does its work.

You can just inhale the well-being.

It’s exactly as Bistricer envisioned—exhilarating, appropriate and memorable.

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A

Family Affair At Talisker Club, the bounty found in Park City transcends generations.

T

BY KAREN CAKEBREAD

ALISKER CLUB SPECIAL EVENTS are truly family celebrations, often replete with fairground entertainment, gourmet dining stations, children’s activities and more.

This year’s Fourth of July party at Tuhaye was a perfect example.

Dyan and Jim Pignatelli reveled in the time spent with their children and grandchildren, unaware they were carrying on an annual tradition that began 140 years ago in this magnificent Rocky Mountain setting. For it was on July 4, 1872, that a few miners and millworkers, along with members of Judge George Snyder’s family, gathered to observe the official naming of their small settlement as Park City, partly because Snyder had deemed the area “a veritable park.” Records indicate the celebrants hoisted a 37-star flag that Rhoda Snyder had made from a white sheet, a blue silk handkerchief and a red flannel baby blanket.

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Clockwise from top left: Relaxing on the deck of the Talisker Outpost Yurt; Refreshing drinks and stellar service mark Talisker special events like July 4th celebrations; Snowshoeing among the aspens; Fly fishing is a favorite way to keep cool in summer.

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“What I really love is the quality they provide... everything they [Talisker] do is top notch.”

–Dyan Pignatelli

Right: Jim and Dyan Pignatelli, with their daughters, sons in law and grandchildren.

Below: Another bluebird spring day on the slopes.

Far right: Conversations are lively around the fire pits at the Talisker Outpost Yurt.

Park City—with all its reasons to celebrate—has become a recreation destination its founders could have never imagined. Above all it is a place for generations, like the Pignatellis, to enjoy together. And there is no better place in Park City to celebrate life than at Talisker Club.

Numerous residents tell remarkably similar stories of their arrival at Talisker after searching for the spot they would want to return to year after year. Dyan Pignatelli relates how three generations in her family have come to adopt the Talisker Club lifestyle. “We came to Park City in 1980, wanting to ski as a family,” she says. At the time, Dyan and Jim Pignatelli and their children lived in Los Angeles and didn’t have much disposable income, she says, but they loved Park City and kept coming back.

After 10 years they built a vacation house, but still, they continued to look at other property. By this time, the Pignatellis had moved to Tucson, where Jim was a CEO of a utility company. “I’d vacate [Tucson] in May and come back in October,” Dyan recalls. “We’ve had second homes in different places, but we wanted to have a home we’d want to live in for a long time.

We started looking at Tuhaye, bought a lot and decided to build.”

Soon, their two daughters followed suit with their own families, seeing the opportu-

nity as a good investment financially and for their lifestyle. Melissa Pignatelli O’Brien and her husband, Marc, who are both attorneys, now live at Tuhaye year-round with their two young sons, and Marc has a law office in Park City. “Talisker’s facilities make it a very easy day, especially with young children,” says Melissa. “We take advantage of a lot. We spend a lot of time at the pool—sometimes the boys and I are there two or three times a day—and Marc golfs. In the winter, we set up shop at Deer Valley. The kids ski a ton, and the Talisker Tower and Talisker’s Empire Pass Ski Lodge makes it easier for them.”

The Talisker Club ski experience is one of the members’ favorite winter amenities.

In the Park City area, skiers have access to some of the world’s finest powder, and 5 0

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Talisker Club members have direct access to the best of the best, Deer Valley, voted by readers of SKI Magazine as the No. 1 resort in America five years in a row.

Members also have access to Canyons Resort, which has been named one of North America’s top ten resorts by the same SKI Magazine survey. And more opportunities for winter fun with the Talisker Club include private snow tours—on snowshoes or even snowcats—dogsledding and crosscountry skiing in the backcountry.

When the snow melts, there are even more ways for Talisker Club residents to enjoy the spectacular Wasatch surroundings. For starters, there’s the 18-hole championship golf course designed by Mark O’Meara at Tuhaye. In the same

neighborhood is the Jordanelle Reservoir, where members can catch thrills behind the club’s 24-foot wakeboarding boat, or just take a picnic and a day trip. Guided and self-guided hiking, mountain biking and fly-fishing expeditions are a few more of the ways to appreciate summer in the mountains, or riders can explore the pristine wilderness on horseback.

Close to the golf course is the Talisker Club Park, a collection of clubhouses designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects.

A hub of activity, this arts-and-crafts–style cluster includes a spa and fitness center, pool, tennis courts, dining and picnic areas and a cabin that serves as headquarters for the Wildstar Ranger Kids Club, offering a fun recreational curriculum that includes

camps, instruction and field trips. A new teen center called T3 offers a pool table, Wii games, a cinema room and a spacious snack bar. Joining the group will be a new golf clubhouse, which broke ground in summer 2012. The addition of the golf clubhouse will increase the community space square footage to 31,500. The space will house a golf shop that also will carry fly-fishing and Nordic ski equipment, locker rooms and an elegant dining room and a sunny patio.

When it comes time to break bread together, a collection of outstanding restaurants satisfies every appetite. Members in the mood for a quiet, elegant repast can opt for fine dining at the Talisker Tower or with several notable Talisker-created and C A N Y O N S

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operated dining venues to choose from, they can match the mood of the day. “Being able to eat at Talisker facilities is so much easier,” says O’Brien. “There are so many dinners Talisker does that are coupled with activities, like archery or kids crafts in the tepee.” A favorite for all the generations of this family is the Outpost, a cozy yurt nestled in an aspen grove that is used for member events like campfires and barbecues.

But aside from its world-class skiing and golf and all the other amenities that members enjoy, what distinguishes Talisker Club is its focus on putting members at ease and paying attention to all the details that create the definitive alpine experience, while retaining a friendly, unstuffy atmosphere.

“What I really love is the quality they provide,” says Pignatelli. “Everything they do is top notch. If you were sitting by the pool, someone might ask if they could clean your sunglasses. Talisker is the best I’ve ever seen about delivering services. The employees are incredibly well trained and dedicated.”

All resident members have access to all Talisker amenities in each of the club’s distinct community environments. In addition to Tuhaye, which is clustered around the golf course, Empire Pass occupies some prime real estate high on the slopes at Deer Valley. Higher still, at 8,900 feet, is the Red Cloud Community, perched atop Flagstaff Mountain. With less than a dozen homesites left, Red Cloud is a private stash of powder and exclusivity, where members gather with friends and family to share the pleasures of living on the highest point of a top-rated ski mountain. A fourth Talisker resort home option is available at the Waldorf Astoria Park City, which is found within Talisker-owned and operated Canyons Resort.

An important aspect of the Talisker Club is its legacy membership, in which all benefits, privileges and access are granted to the extended family, up and down the age range—parents, children and grandchildren.

“When you purchase a second home or a piece of real estate now, the entire family can use the home and club and are not limited by the primary members’ schedule or their ability to attend every golf round, ski lesson or mountain bike ride,” says Michael Radovan, Talisker’s VP of Real Estate Sales. But at the same time, he adds, “This also allows the entire family to accompany their guests or friends, which is what a second home is all about: family and friends.”

Legacy membership translates to extra value, Radovan says. “Everything we build and program has that thought in mind— who in the family will use each amenity, how will they use it, and how this will enhance the experience.”

Community happenings bring members together to take in the fresh air, the camaraderie and delectable victuals. Hikes, wagon rides or trail rides on horseback, barbecues, picnics and wine socials are just a few of the diversions available. Every program by Talisker naturalist Chas Rauch is a huge hit. In addition, there are organized events that members look forward to each year. These include golf tournaments, the Tower Cup annual ski race, a spirited Super Bowl party at Talisker Tower, and, of course, Independence Day at Tuhaye.

The July Fourth event was part of what made Marc and Melissa O’Brien decide to purchase at Talisker. That, and family. “My parents were the first to buy a lot there,” says Melissa. “We went for the Fourth of July party, then Marc and I bought a lot; we wanted to get in early. Then my sister bought a lot. Then we bought an existing house.”

After 140 years, families are still falling in love with this remarkable setting on the Fourth of July and throughout all seasons of the year.

“Talisker’s facilities make it a very easy day, especially with young children...we take advantage of a lot.”

–Melissa Pignatelli O’Brien

Opposite page: The football is up for grabs on an early winter afternoon.

Left: Dyan Pignatelli, with daughters Melissa and Tina.

Below: The wonders are big and small on a summer hike.

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TA L I S K E R | M E M B E R S O N LY

FAMILY LIFE, ELEVATED New and improved family activities at Talisker Club Park and The Outpost.

BY MELISSA FIELDS

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Top: Talisker Club Outpost offers a variety of winter activities, including dog sledding. Above: The T3 teen center at Talisker Club Park.

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t Talisker Club, immersing oneself in the awe-inspiring Wasatch Mountains is a way of life. The long list of year-round, familyfocused activities and events that members enjoy here bring new meaning to the term “quality time.”

Now some of the Club’s most discerning members—the teens—have a hot new “chill out zone.” In T3, named for its location just off the Tuhaye Golf Course third tee, teens can play shuffleboard, darts, pool, cards, air hockey, foosball and video games as well as screen movies in a private room for up to a dozen people.

This winter, the Tuhaye Golf Course is transformed into a cross-country ski center complete with 12-kilometer track, groomed for both skate and classic skiing. Or residents and their guests can book a guided snowshoe and cross-country skiing excursion into the nearby Uinta Mountains with Talisker’s in-house naturalist Chas Rauch. And kids ages 5 to 12 can take part in supervised ski days at Deer Valley through the Wildstar Rangers Kids Club.

The 2,300-acre Outpost high on Bonanza Flats remains Talisker Club’s four-season center for

outdoor adventure, located just west of the Red Cloud neighborhood at Guardsman Pass. Activities include private yurt dinners, snowmobiling, dogsledding, tubing and guided snowshoe and cross-country ski tours.

Back by popular demand are the teen tubing and movie nights. “We pile kids in Talisker’s 11-passenger snowcat and take them up to the yurt for a night of tubing, dinner and a movie,” says Christian Corbett, Talisker Club director of activities.

During summer, Talisker Club members take advantage of the waters, hillsides and forests of Summit and Wasatch counties. Summertime at The Outpost includes dog sledding on wheeled sleds, archery, horseback riding, chuck wagon dinners and geocaching, a scavenger hunt-like endeavor using all of The Outpost’s 2,300 acres.

Finally, don’t forget that ground was broken on a 14,000-square-foot addition at Talisker Club Park.

The addition will house an expanded golf pro shop, dining and bar area and full locker room. “The expansion deepens services and amenities our members already enjoy here,” says Michael Radovan, VP of real estate sales at Talisker.

TA L I S K E R | P E O P L E

CHAS RAUCH Avid outdoorsman and Talisker Naturalist

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n a sunny summer morning, it’s not uncommon to find Chas Rauch in a cowboy hat, leading a discussion on Great Basin rattlesnakes with Tuhaye residents while they sip coffee on the veranda of the community’s quiet café.

As Talisker’s on-staff naturalist and wilderness guide, the educator shares his love of the outdoors as he guides club members on hikes and horseback rides in the summer and, in the winter, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing excursions through Park City’s surrounding backcountry.

“Anything I can do to slow them down and turn off their phones,” Rauch chuckles. “Surprisingly, it becomes the best part of their vacation. They had something not just different, but educational.”

During the winter months, Rauch’s unique mountain man expertise shines as he directs snow expeditions, teaching the groups survival tips and pointing out weather patterns and animal species and behaviors, which he determines by reading disturbances in the snow.

On one occasion, Rauch noticed 5-foot wide wing marks on either side of smaller tracks in the snow.

“It was an eagle that picked up a snowshoe rabbit,” Rauch remembers. “It came in, picked up its feet, and part of its wing feathers touched the snow. I was following the tracks, and they just disappeared.”

Spying tracks that indicate animal presence is common in most of Rauch’s family-oriented group excursions. Survival strategies he provides for safe exploration of the wild may include turning snow into drinking water or dressing for extreme weather and other tips to stay safe.

“We get our exercise, but it really is about seeing the area,” Rauch says. “It’s not intended to be an Olympic event, just something that [people] can do, and [we] encourage them to go out on their own adventures as well.”

One of his proudest accomplishments was in 1997 when he and his quarter horse, George, completed a 3,600-mile cross-country trip beginning in Chesapeake Bay and ending in Oregon.

For four consecutive summers, the pair made their way across the country, with Rauch camping in tree houses, sleeping in open fields and, on occasion, milking dairy cattle. “We worked throughout the trip and earned our keep cowboying,” Rauch says.

“The beauty of it was meeting people along the way.”

—Jessica Adams

GO ON AN OUTING WITH CHAS RAUCH

Talisker Club members may contact the activities desk for Rauch’s next scheduled adventure. Check with hotel concierges for info about talks at Canyons Resort.

Right: In the winter, Chas Rauch leads snowshoeing and cross-country skiing excursions throughout Park City’s surrounding backcountry.

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TA L I S K E R | L I F E S T Y L E

NEW FROM TALISKER For more than a decade, Talisker has perfected its vision of the luxury mountain lifestyle. Now, they’re making it even better.

BY MELISSA FIELDS

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alisker offers a bounty of unrivaled amenities and services. World class skiing, snowboarding and golf? Check.

Award-winning dining? Done. Stunning mountain real estate located just 35 minutes from an international airport? Got it. High-end private clubhouses and multi-generational activities? Of course.

But what really sets Talisker apart is the company’s ability to take what’s good and make it great.

Here’s what’s next.

Talisker Home Launched in summer 2012, Talisker Home streamlines every aspect of the real estate purchase and new home construction process, from hiring and managing a contractor to outfitting a new home with towels and sheets. The professionals at Talisker Home begin by helping families choose the Talisker neighborhood— Tuhaye, Red Cloud, Empire Pass, the Waldorf Astoria Park City or Canyons Resort—that best suits their lifestyle and needs. Using local expertise and networks, Talisker Home then helps owners hire architects, contractors, interior designers, landscape designers and other trades and crafts people they’ll need to get their home completed. Then, Talisker Home staff members manage the entire construction process, from billing and making sure deadlines are met to receiving deliveries and finishing selections. Bottom line—Talisker Home can be involved as much or as little as the homeowner desires. “We take care of all the hassles and headaches while the homeowner gets to enjoy the fun part of building a legacy home here in Park City,” says Bill Fiveash, SVP of Talisker Mountain Realty.

Talisker Events Group Event production and coordination is another area where Talisker is expanding its impeccable reputation.

The Talisker Events Group is a full service event-planning group encompassing all aspects of event organization and execution from décor and outstanding food and beverage services to activities and what Director of Catering Brooke Hafets calls the “wow” factor. “Events are about much more than just food. Of course, the Talisker Events Group provides the amazing culinary experience for which Talisker is known, but we want to provide not just a great meal, but those extras that make a good event great,” she says. Last winter, Talisker catered the exclusive Artist at the Table gala that heralds the opening of the Sundance Film Festival. The Talisker Events team scripted the entire experience from fire pits upon arrival to custom-created curly willow chandeliers that provided dramatic lighting befitting the occasion. “We created the feeling of an enchanted forest,” Hafets says. “Enchantment is what we do.”

Left: Talisker Home acts as your eyes and ears on the ground. From furnishings to flooring and finishes, Talisker Home streamlines the entire process throughout the visioning and decision-making phases, allowing you to focus on what matters most.

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TUHAYE Land of Infinite Sky One visit to Tuhaye and you know you are in a magical place. Tuhaye’s amazing vistas of the Jordanelle Reservoir and the awe-inspiring Mt. Timpanogos confirm why the land is called Tuhaye, the Ute Indian word meaning “good land”.

Tuhaye, a Talisker mountain community located minutes away from Park City’s historic Main Street, features a Mark O’Meara designed championship golf course with homesites organically integrated into the natural landscape. The innovative clubhouse, reinvented by Talisker as a series of five pavilions, ensures an intimate community feel that maximizes outdoor views.

Ownership of homes and homesites at Tuhaye invites membership in the exclusive Talisker Club, one of the most extraordinary all-season mountain experiences in the West.

Your ideal mountain life is here. Let us help you find it.

FIND US AT WWW.TALISKERREALTY.COM OR CALL US AT 435.333.3600 Obtain the Property report or its equivalent as required by Federal or State Law and read it before signing anything. No Federal or State Agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. This is not an offer or solicitation in any state in which the legal requirements for such an offering have not been met. Void where prohibited by law.

TA L I S K E R | S P A S

SOULFUL APPROACH Utah native Jackie Olson emphasizes total wellness and healing at Talisker Club’s spas.

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ackie Olson’s calm demeanor and soothing voice make chatting with her a bit like getting a massage. The Kamas, Utah native was hired at Talisker Club Spa & Fitness in 2009 and was promoted to manager of Talisker Club Spa & Fitness and the the Talisker Tower at Empire Pass in February 2012. Both spas are exclusively available for Talisker Club members.

Q: What is your wellness philosophy?

A: I am very passionate about the mind, body and spirit connection. Wellness is an attitude of learning and active participation in a lifestyle that includes regular bodywork, skincare, nutrition, fitness and personal spiritual study.

Q: If you had to choose one, daily self-care routine, what would it be?

A: Exfoliation. For your skin to function and look its best, you need to get rid of dry and dead skin cells on a daily basis. A very gentle exfoliating scrub is ideal. We use and carry the Éminence line of organic skin care products. A deeper microderm abrasion or chemical peel is appropriate on a seasonal basis, typically around the spring or fall shoulder seasons.

Q: What new additions can members expect this season?

A: One of our newest philosophical features is encouraging members to enjoy the benefits of the spa’s water circuit rooms—what we call “Taking the Waters”—before or after a workout or spa treatment. The water circuit begins with exfoliation and then proceeds to a series of rooms consisting of a directional shower, steam and cold shower.

OLSON’S PICKS

Talisker Club Spa & Fitness offers new treatments at the turn of every season. Don’t miss these three. Members can call the Spa & Fitness Desk at 435-333-3050 to book.

Above: Jackie Olson, manager of Talisker Club Spa & Fitness and the Talisker Tower at Empire Pass. Right: Heated and jetted whirlpool baths inside the women’s and men’s changing rooms.

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Earth and Sky Thai Massage Focusing on deep stretching, compressions and relaxation, Thai massage is received on the floor on a traditional Thai mat.

(Traditional Thai clothing allowing for ease of movement is provided.)

Blue Bird Facial Inspired by birds often seen at Tuhaye in the spring, this facial is customized for each individual skin type leaving you feeling refreshed, purified and renewed.

Red Cloud Journey Stone Massage Basalt stones native to high altitude rivers are heated and gently massaged over the skin, warming and softening tired, tense postskiing muscles.

Q: Sounds like it has a broader connotation than simply blissing out. True?

A: Ancient civilizations believed “Taking the Waters” was beneficial and healing in many ways, especially for cleansing the body, relaxing the heart, refreshing the mind and purifying the soul. It was, and is, a physical venture into healing, cleansing and rejuvenation and a tradition that is the very heart of spa culture.

TOUCH THE SKY, FEEL THE EARTH Red Cloud, secluded elegance at the top of Park City’s Deer Valley.

A limited number of homesites, which include membership in the exclusive Talisker Club, are still available. Purchase your new homesite before 3/31/13 and enjoy 20 days of stay at Talisker’s Waldorf Astoria Park City Residences during the time your home is being built.

FIND US AT WWW.TALISKERREALTY.COM OR CALL US AT 435.333.3600

Statements, materials, depictions or information herein may be preliminary or conceptual and subject to change at any time, without notice, as the Talisker communities, Talisker Club, development details and amenities continue to evolve.

TA L I S K E R | R E D C L O U D

ABOVE IT ALL

Talisker’s distinctive Red Cloud community offers exclusivity and privacy in a stunning high-alpine, resort-side setting.

Right and opposite page: Red Cloud offers 30 distinctive home sites near Deer Valley Resort. Below: Ski trails wind through the neighborhood.

BY MELISSA FIELDS

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top Flagstaff Mountain high above Deer Valley Resort is the exclusive gated community known as Red Cloud. Ponderosa pines, quaking aspens and Gambel oaks characterize the alpine landscape. Red Cloud’s 30 distinctive home sites (just 11 remain) offer the best, and last, available ski in/ ski out single family home lots in Deer Valley. Each lot is a generous one to three acres, affording the ultimate in privacy and opportunities to commune with nature.

Multiple chairlifts create seamless access to Deer Valley’s award-winning slopes and services.

“You really can’t compare Red Cloud to anywhere else,” says Michael Radovan, VP of real estate sales at Talisker. “The views are incredible everywhere within the development and include Mount Timpanogos, the Deer Crest Reservoir and even up into the Uinta Mountains.”

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Red Cloud residents enjoy all of the Talisker Club amenities, including playing the greens at the Mark O’Meara-designed championship 18-hole golf course at Tuhaye, the opulent and modern Talisker Spa & Fitness at Talisker Club Park and the amenities and services at the Empire Pass Tower Club. Residents also have priority access to the gorgeous pool, state-of-the-art fitness center and 35,000-square-foot spa at the Montage Deer Valley.

By bringing together the best architects, designers and developers, Talisker ensures that every home in the Red Cloud neighborhood is the essence and vision of each individual owner. From décor to landscaping, the building process is streamlined and state-of-the-art and makes completing a dream home in the clouds uncomplicated and fulfilling.

Red Cloud home sites start at $3 million.

For more information, contact Talisker Mountain Realty at 435-333-3600 or visit taliskerrealty.com. c a n y o n s

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SKI LINK

RESORTS DREAM BIG The proposed SkiLink project would connect Canyons to Solitude Mountain Resort in minutes and elevate the Utah ski scene to new, international heights.

BY RAY GRASS

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t’s been a long time in the making, but a great idea is getting traction.

Even before there were ski lifts, cross country skiers saw the possibilities of linking the Wasatch front canyons with the Wasatch back.

Back in the 1960s the late ski legend, Alf Engen, 6 2

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even talked about connecting resorts, and as the 2002 Winter Olympics ramped up, talks of tunnels, gondolas and trains were all floated.

Then, in 2008, Mike Goar, Canyons Resort managing director, thought maybe–just maybe– it was possible and threw out the idea of linking Canyons

SKILINK

to Solitude Mountain Resort in neighboring Big Cottonwood Canyon. “There was nothing on paper,’’ says Goar. “It was just an idea–a good idea.’’

That good idea became SkiLink, a plan to connect Canyons with Solitude. While interconnects are fairly common in Europe, this would be the first gondola in North America to connect neighboring canyons. And, it is the first interconnect idea to garner significant support –so much so that four members of Utah’s Congressional delegation introduced it in a joint bill in Washington, D.C. called the Wasatch Range Recreation Access Enhancement Act. The House Natural Resources Committee approved the plan. And it may soon come before the full Congress for a vote.

If passed it would make it possible for Talisker, which owns Canyons, to gain access to just over 30 acres of Forest Service land to build a gondola lift between the two resorts. Passage of the legislation would then allow Talisker, in conjunction with local governing entities, to proceed with environmental studies and begin the process of getting approvals from both Summit and Salt Lake counties.

When constructed, SkiLink would bring significant benefits to Utah, Park City and especially the Utah ski industry. “[The connection] would add a new dimension to the Utah ski experience that would serve to further differentiate our resorts and enhance the ski product here in Utah,” says Bill Malone, president of the Park City Chamber Bureau. “It also provides a tremendous opportunity to increase skier days at Park City resorts, which would be a great benefit to our local economy.’’

Independent studies show the linking of the two resorts in the first year would add $51 million to Utah’s economy, increase tax revenues by $3 million, add 500 new jobs, eliminate up to 1 million miles driven and cut down greenhouse emissions by a million pounds per year. As Malone points out, “This will be a game changer for Park City by providing a product unsurpassed in North America. An interconnected ski experience can help secure a more stable financial future for the Utah recreational sports industry.’’

This past March the Utah Legislature passed a resolution in support of connecting up to seven of the Wasatch resorts, saying the interconnect would “enhance the ski and snowboard industry’s contribution to Utah’s economy.’’ Gov. Gary Herbert signed the resolution in a ceremony at Solitude, while affirming that the Utah ski industry contributes more than $1.2 billion to the Utah economy each year.

When SkiLink was first presented, the U.S. Forest Service pointed out that regulations did not allow for resort expansion, “and in their opinion this was considered an expansion,’’ Goar notes. “We met

with various groups and lawmakers to see if there was a solution to this problem.”

Once the approval process has been completed, skiers and snowboarders would be able to access the gondola from one resort and make the 11-minute, 1,000-vertical-foot ride to the other resort to ski or snowboard new terrain. Between the two resorts skiers and snowboarders would have access to 5,200 skiable acres, which would make the combination one the largest ski complexes in North America.

That would be quite a distinction for Canyons, which opened as Park City West back in 1968 with three double-chair lifts, four rope tows and an uphill capacity of 3,300 skiers per hour. The old resort is hardly recognizable after a $50 million transformation over the past three years. Today, the resort offers skiers their choice of skiing or snowboarding on nine different mountains, five bowls, 182 runs, 21 lifts and 4,000 skiable acres, making it Utah’s largest, plus North America’s only enclosed, heated-seat Orange Bubble Express, a dozen new restaurants and Iron Mountain with its 300 acres of new blue and black runs.

Just how close are the resort complexes?

Resort boundaries of seven resorts in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons and Park City–Snowbird, Alta, Solitude, Brighton, Canyons, Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley–are separated by less than two miles. Driving time between resorts, however, can take up to an hour or more.

A priority of this project would be to protect water quality for the Salt Lake Valley as the proposed lift would be located on watershed land. But on-site testing over the years has shown that water coming down the Cottonwood canyons is cleaner today than before the resorts were constructed. “We are very sensitive to this,” says Goar. “There need to be safeguards. The challenge we face is making sure we protect the environment, and this includes water quality and wildlife. We are confident the gondola can be built and operated with no degradation to water quality or the watershed.’’

People from all walks of life are rallying around the project. To advocate on behalf of economically and environmentally responsible interconnections, more than 20 prominent civic and business leaders formed the Lift Utah Coalition including Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce President Lane Beattie, Sandy City Mayor Tom Dolan and Jake Garn, former U.S. senator.

These and other winter sports enthusiasts are used to big ideas, having advocated years ago to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Utah. While the scale is not nearly as large (Goar said the cost of the gondola would be around $10 million and take four months to construct), the benefits could be enjoyed by skiers and snowboarders for years to come.

While interconnects are fairly common in Europe, this would be the first gondola in North America to connect neighboring canyons.

Opposite: The SkiLink map shows the proposed connection between Solitude and Canyons Resort. Above: Mike Goar, managing director for Canyons Resort, took a good idea and built a coalition of supporters.

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PA R T I N G S H OT

HOMEWARD BOUND

As winter gives way to spring, Canyons guests chalk up another great ski season, while others prepare for the next adventure at the mountain resort.

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THE HEIGHT OF CULINARY EXCELLENCE. Framed by the mountains. Designed for sophisticated tastes. Welcome to the Talisker Restaurant Collection.

TALISKER ON MAIN

BISTRO AT CANYONS New American bistro fare with an exciting twist

Innovative comfort food sourced from regional farms and local artisans

HISTORIC MAIN STREET • 435.658.5479

SILVERADO LODGE • 435.615.3400

CANYONS RESORT VILLAGE • 435.615.8080

NAMED “BEST RESTAURANT IN PARK CITY” FOR 2ND CONSECUTIVE YEAR

BY SALT LAKE MAGAZINE’S 2012 DINING AWARDS

OPEN FOR THE 2012 / 2013 SKI SEASON

NAMED “BEST NEW RESTAURANT IN UTAH”

BY SALT LAKE MAGAZINE’S 2012 DINING AWARDS

Exquisite cuisine that highlights traditional Rocky Mountain flavors

THE FARM

Real Estate NOW, THE MOUNTAIN LIFE YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED HAS A PERMANENT ADDRESS. Canyons Real Estate by Talisker Mountain Realty is the premier real estate brokerage at Canyons Resort. We are proud to offer a range of ownership opportunities right in the heart of Canyons, Utah’s largest adventure playground. From exquisitely designed mountain homes, convenient condominiums in Canyons Resort Village, or the ultimate in luxury residences at Waldorf Astoria Park City, Canyons Real Estate is your ticket to living well with Canyons Resort in your back yard.

Your ideal mountain life is here.

Let us help you find it.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, STOP BY OUR CANYONS SALES OFFICE LOCATED IN THE RESORT VILLAGE NEXT TO MURDOCK’S, EMAIL SALES@TALISKERMOUNTAIN.COM OR CALL 435.333.3600