One thing I love about living in a mountain town, specifically a ski town, is the winter buzz that begins in November as snow starts appearing on the peaks and sticking on the ground enough to start Nordic skiing. The colorful soft shell and light down coats start coming out of the closets, and it’s best to get Christmas lights up by Halloween so your hands don’t freeze and bulbs don’t break when stringing them on porch railings. It’s also when I’m receiving tidbits about what’s new in ski country. Here are just a few highlights of interest to the meetings and events world in the U.S. Mountain West.
Vail Resorts has been working hard on projects to combine Park City and Canyons Resort into the largest ski resort in the United States, including the eight-passenger, high-speed, two-way Quicksilver gondola to transport guests from the base of the existing Silverlode Lift at Park City to the Flatiron Lift at Canyons. A new restaurant, Miners Camp, located at the base of the Silverlode Lift, will accommodate 500 indoor seats and Summit House Restaurant is being improved and Red Pine Lodge expanded.
The new Empire Room at Montage Deer Valley is the most recently added event space in Park City and features the 2,000-square-foot Empire Terrace overlooking the Uinta Mountains, the 3,000-square-foot Empire Lounge with a fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows and The Empire East and The Empire West, each 1,375-square-feet and combinable into one grand social space.
News from Colorado focuses on food and beverage angles except for Vail Resorts’ refreshing of Keystone Lodge and Spa in Keystone with new carpet, woodwork and room doors in the hallways and new soft goods for guest rooms.
Crested Butte Mountain Resort is introducing a new umbrella bar located mid-mountain at Ten Peaks featuring glass walls, a 35-foot diameter retractable umbrella roof, seating for 75 and a 2,400-square-foot deck. Menu highlights include fish tacos, grilled panini sandwiches, gourmet sausages and a full-service bar. Since the umbrella bar was manufactured in Austria, classic Austrian mulled wine, known as Gluehwein, is a menu highlight.
Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort & Spa is debuting a beer hall. Powder 8’s Kitchen and Tap Room will transform into a festive, German-inspired biergarten after 5 p.m. The restaurant, flooded with ski guests throughout the day, becomes a family- and group-friendly, casual beer hall at night complete with games, live music, 16 premium beers on tap and house-made sausages and mustards, brick-oven roasted pizza, calzones, meatballs and organic vegetables.
A formal arrival lounge at Four Seasons Resort & Residences Vail has undergone a $2.5 million transformation into The Remedy, a new cocktail bar with floor-to-ceiling views. The bar consists of three distinct areas offering restaurant-style dining options as well as inviting furniture and outdoor fireplaces. The menu is seasonally and Colorado-inspired, and beverages include signature “Remedy Elixirs,” a selection of seasonal tap beer, small-production bottled beers, and extensive wine and whiskey lists.
This will be the first ski season for the totally renovated Sun Valley Lodge and its brand new 20,000 square foot destination spa, The Sun Valley Spa, with 15 treatment rooms located adjacent to a totally redesigned pool, large patio deck and revamped Poolside Café. The historic lodge maintained its character and now features modern amenities and more spacious guestrooms (now 94, down from 148 and including six celebrity-themed suites). An expanded and remodeled lobby showcases Duchin Lobby Lounge.
On another exciting note for the Sun Valley area is the progress being made on Aspen Skiing Company’s new Limelight Hotel Ketchum that will feature 99 hotel rooms, 14 condominiums, 12 lock-off rooms and restaurant and lobby lounge. Modeled after the company’s existing property in Aspen, Colorado, the hotel is in close proximity to downtown shops and restaurants as well as Sun Valley’s River Run base area and is projected to be completed in December 2016.
