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Park City, Utah
You may have heard of Park City from such places as the 2002 Winter Olympics—you know, the American full medal sweep and all that. But even before the “Games,” Park City put a lot into its park program. With a name like that, you kinda have to, right? Yep, Park City is basically ground-zero for Utah park riding. The place rocks three parks and a gigantor 22-foot Superpipe, which is where Shaun White apparently trains when he’s not off traveling the world. The really sweet thing about getting to choose from three different parks, though, is that if you’re not feeling the pro-style 80-foot booters in the King’s Crown Park (maybe you’re just not quite on point that day or whatever), then you can cruise on over to Jonesy’s or Pick n’ Shovel and dork around for hours. Plus, everything’s more spread out and thus less crowded.
Freeriding at Park City ain’t bad. Of course, the parks are why you go there, but if the powder does fall, you’ll find loads spaced-out Aspen tree glades and the like. The terrain tends toward the less-steep, though, and there’s quite a bit of traversing to be done. But that’s not to say that you can’t scope out your own natural hit and jib line and lap it all day long—at least that’s what we did last time we were there.
Village-wise, Park City is set up to be a posh cowboy ski town—does that make sense? It’s not uncommon to spot movie starts decked out in floor-length fur jackets and ten-gallon hats walking down Main Street, especially during Sundance Film Festival in early winter when the town really goes off. The place does have a sweet concrete skatepark that’s usually thawed out by mid-spring, and since the town is built on a hillside, when the ground is covered with snow, there’re handrails a-plenty to hit up on your snow-sliding device.
Torestein
“Park City is an all around fun resort—with three different terrain parks that have everything from simple jumps to pro-level ones. They also have a 22-foot Superpipe, and the lift access is great to reach all the powder when it falls. Plus, it’s only a 30 minute drive from Salt Lake City!”—Erin Comstock
Drew Fuller
Average annual snowfall: 355 inches
Summit elevation: 10,000 feet
Vertical drop: 3,100 feet
Rideable acres: 3,300
Adult lift ticket: $79
Major events: Queen’s Cup Open (Feb. 23¬–24), World Superpipe Championships (March 8)
Web site: pcride.com
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