Park City’s 2025/26 Season: Bigger Slopes, Bolder Spirit

There are ski towns that quietly get on with the business of being brilliant, and then there’s Park City, Utah — which somehow manages to combine small mountain town charm, Olympic heritage, and deep-powder pedigree with the humble ease of a resort that doesn’t need to shout to impress. But for the 2025/26 season, it’s not so quiet anymore.

That’s because Park City is in the midst of a transformation — and not a small one. With major lift upgrades, a huge expansion at Deer Valley Resort, and a winter calendar packed with stargazing, cultural immersion and world-class competition, this once-sleepy mining town turned mountain mecca is confidently writing its next chapter.

One Town, Two Titans of Terrain

First, a quick geography lesson for the uninitiated. Park City is a single ski town with two major resorts: the all-embracing Park City Mountain — the largest ski area in the United States — and Deer Valley Resort, the ski-only luxury outpost that prides itself on grooming, grace, and gourmet dining at altitude.

These resorts are just a snowball’s throw from each other (less than 10 minutes by car), yet each offers something distinct. Together, they make Park City a uniquely two-sided coin: vast and varied on one hand, exclusive and polished on the other.

Deer Valley’s Expansion: Classic Style, Big-Mountain Scale

The biggest headline this season? Deer Valley’s dramatic expansion — a project that adds nearly 100 new runs, seven new lifts, and a brand-new East Village base to the mix. With continued developments over the next 2 years, Deer Valley will have more than doubled in size to 5,726 acres, making it one of the largest ski resorts in North America.

Not that it’s about chasing size for size’s sake. This is Deer Valley, after all — where every new gondola comes with complimentary ski valets and a side of Wagyu beef chilli. The new East Village Express gondola will whisk skiers from a fresh day-parking hub straight up to Park Peak, linking in with new high-speed lifts and perfectly manicured pistes.

Crucially, Deer Valley is keeping its hallmark promise: a limited daily skier count. More terrain, yes — but never more crowds. It’s one of the few resorts where you genuinely can ski straight onto a chair at 10 a.m. without muttering about queue etiquette.

Canyons Village Gets a Gondola (and a Little More Zen)

Meanwhile, over at Canyons Village, Park City Mountain has been quietly improving the skier experience in ways that might not make headlines, but absolutely improve your day. The biggest change? The old Sunrise chair is being replaced with a sleek 10-passenger gondola that runs 6,500 feet up to Red Pine Lodge.

It’s designed to cut congestion and carry you up the hill in more comfort and with fewer delays — especially welcome during powder panics or half-term surges. The gondola cabins are also weighted and routed along the terrain contours to better cope with the Wasatch’s infamously brisk winds.

Beginner zones are also being expanded, and the Red Pine Lodge is getting a culinary refresh, which means more elbow room and better lunches for all.

Not Just Skiing: Stars, Stories, and Freestyle Fireworks

Of course, Park City has always had a way of delivering more than just miles of snow. This season, it’s doubling down on those off-slope experiences that make a ski trip feel more like a full-blown alpine adventure.

Over at Pendry Park City, guests can now book a Dark Sky Stargazing & Mythology experience — a guided trip into Utah’s certified Dark Sky Parks, where the constellations are crisp, the stories are ancient, and your hot chocolate comes with a side of cosmic awe.

Then there’s something rarer still: a Sage Ceremony with Chief Darren Parry, a respected elder from the Shoshone tribe, hosted at The Lodge at Blue Sky. It’s a chance to engage in a traditional smudging ritual, hear tribal stories passed down through generations, and gain a more thoughtful connection to the land beneath your skis.

And if it’s adrenaline you’re after? Deer Valley will once again host the FIS Freestyle World Cup from 16–18 January 2026, where the world’s best bump, jump and spin their way down moguls, aerial courses, and dual-head-to-head madness — all for free, and all under the floodlights.

Flying from the UK? This Is About as Easy as It Gets

One of Park City’s best-kept secrets is just how easy it is to reach from the UK. With direct flights into Salt Lake City International Airport from London Heathrow with Delta five days a week, , it’s an effortless long-haul journey — followed by a drive of just 35 minutes on snow-cleared, drama-free highways.

Compare that to the multi-leg transfers and mountain-pass odysseys required for many European destinations, and you start to see the appeal — especially for families, group trips or anyone who likes more time on the snow than in a minibus.

A Few New Places to Lay Your Helmet

If you’re the kind of skier who enjoys the hotel as much as the hill, there’s plenty happening on that front too.

The Park City Peaks Hotel is reborn this winter as Hotel Thaynes, a stylish reboot with spa-style bathrooms, bold new design, and upgraded après spaces. Looking ahead, The Ascent — a new Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel — will bring boutique ski-in/ski-out living to Canyons Village in 2026. Or for those with A-list tastes, Mountainhead House, the architectural star of a recent Sundance-featured film, is now bookable for your own cinematic mountain retreat.

Beyond the Slopes: Main Street and MountainKind

Skiing aside, Park City’s historic Main Street remains one of the most charming in North America — all old mining-town facades, art galleries, indie coffee shops, and bustling restaurants. It’s a town with year-round cultural clout, thanks to the Sundance Film Festival, and a genuine sense of place that hasn’t been steamrolled by its success.

This is all part of Park City’s MountainKind initiative — a community ethos that encourages respect for the land, thoughtful growth, and a more meaningful connection to the mountain experience. It’s less of a slogan and more of a sensibility. You feel it when the liftie asks how your day was. You taste it in the local whiskey. You sense it in how the town talks about the future.

Learn more at visitparkcity.com/mountainkind

Park City: The Secret is Out

Park City has long been a well-established and highly regarded destination known for its world-class terrain, vibrant town energy, and serious snow credentials. After this winter, its reputation is more solid than ever.

Still, with thoughtful expansion at Deer Valley Resort, smart upgrades at Canyons Village, and a long list of reasons to visit even if you never buckle a boot, Park City isn’t chasing crowds, it’s chasing excellence. And from where we’re standing, it’s catching it.