|
Things to do in Park City
-
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is held
each year in Park City, Utah, during the month of January and is
the biggest independent film festival in the nation. It is also
held in Salt Lake City and Ogden which showcases the new works
from international independent filmmakers and those likewise in
America. There are various sections for dramatic and documentary
films that run full length and short and non-competitive
sections that include the Spectrum, Park City @Midnight and the
New Frontier. The festival started in 1978 as the Utah/US Film
Festival to bring more filmmakers to the state. It was started
by Sterling Van Wagenen, who was the top exec at Wildwood, the
company that was started and owned by actor Robert Redford; with
John Earle and Cirina Hampton Catania, who were both on the Utah
Film Commission. Robert Redford became the chairperson and with
the assistance of the state's governor, Scott Matheson, the
ultimate goal was to promote and advance the American created
films of the independent companies in this country. The real
center of attention was to begin a competition for the
independent film industry, describe what the potential of those
films might become and improve the opportunities for filmmaking
in Utah, introduce retrospective films and filmmakers panel
discussions and celebrate the Frank Capra award; which was given
to Jimmy Stewart the first year. In other words, it would
showcase the regional filmmakers that worked outside of the
Hollywood mainstream. The first jury in 1978 was lead by Gary
Allison and was made up of Anthea Sylbert, Verna Fields, Mark
Rydell, Linwood Gale Dunn, Charles E. Sellier Jr. and Katherine
Ross. Sterling Van Wagenen decided to head up the new program
that would lead to the Sundance Institute in 1979, and Cirina
Hampton Catania became the executive director of the festival
and over 60 films were judged that year. It made a profit and
the next year Catania decided to go to Hollywood and start her
production career. Many factors assisted the propulsion of the
festival to grow and one of the most important was the input of
Robert Redford, who was a state resident, and was the first
chairman. Next was the hunger that this nation had for a venue
that showcased American created films, with the only other
festival doing this was the new Dallas Film Fest. It was unique
that the Hollywood biggest studios helped all they could to give
their resources. The festival moved to Park City and went from
celebrating it in September to January; on the advice of Sydney
Pollack who had mentioned that having the festival during the
winter at a ski resort would bring in more people, as well as
getting more attention from Hollywood. During the winter of 1984
and 85, the Sundance Institute began managing the festival, with
Sterling still at the helm and renamed it to Sundance. In 1991,
it was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival, in
reference to the part that Redford played in the Sundance Kid
from the movie hit "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
Numerous independent filmmakers would get their big break here
and go on to become famous, and these included; Jim Jarmusch,
Kevin Smith, Edward Burns, Quentin Taratino, Paul Thomas
Anderson, Robert Rodriquez, James Wan and Steven Soderburgh.
-
Utah Olympic Park
The Olympic park is north of
Park City, Utah and east of Salt Lake City, where the 2002
Winter Olympics were held for the Nordic jumping and sliding
events like the luge, skeleton and bobsled. It is presently used
for those events in training year round, and for developing
Olympic level athletes. The area is where the Ski Museum, 2002
Winter Olympics Museum, Nordic jumps and bobsled tracks,
mountain coaster, ziplines and summer aerial training splash
pool are located and used. It is the site of the world's highest
altitude ski jumps and fastest sliding track. Here is where you
can slide down a mountain at 70 miles an hour with 4 Gs of force
slamming into you and your face; as well as do an introductory
camp that will train you in snowboarding, ski jumping, skeleton,
luge or slopestyle skiing. The 2002 Games exhibit are here, as
well as the Alf Engen Ski Museum. The 400 acre park has
many other sporting venues, and is free, with many guided tours
that will show you all the exciting places that the Olympic
events were held. The public bobsled riders can go up to 80
miles an hour depending on the weight in your four person sled
and it is over 40 stories down in less than one minute. They
have a new bobsled driving school there, run by Stephan Bosch
who is the America's Cup champion, a 4 time junior World
champion and World Cup medalist. The Xtreme is a zipline that
goes down the ski hill at speeds up to 50 miles an hour and you
can ride a chair lift up to the top of the highest ski jump
which is 7130 feet into the sky. The snow zone will allow you to
try the luge and skeleton rides on the natural snow track and a
small tubing hill is nearby for the kids. Spend the day here
with your whole family and not only have one of the most
exciting times of your life, but the panoramic views that you
will have are simply amazing and very beautiful.
-
Deer Valley
Deer Valley is in the Park
City area of Utah, that is an alpine ski resort and site of the
2002 Winter Olympics freestyle moguls, alpine slalom and aerial
events. It is quite well known for the top shelf amenities that
can be found here and is considered one of the best ski resorts
in all of North America. Also one of the few places in the world
that doesn't allow snowboarding, and host of competitions for
the International Ski Federation. Although there are numerous
ski resorts in that region, Deer Valley has decided to compete
with them for resort business by catering to the more affluent
visitors, by giving free parking shuttles, free ski valets,
excellent fine dining facilities and unique boutique shopping
the their main lodge. Near mid mountain, the Stein Eriksen ski
lodge has luxurious accommodations and spa facilities; with
Stein, the gold medalist whose name the resort bears is the host
and director of skiing. It uses more grooming equipment than any
other Wasatch ski resort and will limit access to stop
overcrowding; with ticket sales only capping at 6500 each day.
The uphill lift capacity is 50% more than neighboring the
Canyons and Park City Mountain Resort, with 46,500 skiers per
hour lifted up; with 21 chair lifts that have 11 high speed
detachable quads and enclosed gondola. The skiing started here
back in the 1930s when Park City would hold winter carnivals and
the WPA constructed the ski trails and facilities in the winter
of 1936 and 37. In 1946, the initial ski lifts were installed
using lodgepole pines from the mountainside, by locals Otto
Carpenter and Robert Emmett Burns Sr. The resort opened in 1981,
on the snow park ski area, which had been used from the year
1946 until 1969 and now has 6 mountains with 6 bowls, 560 acres
of snowmaking and 930 acres of glade skiing. It was one of the
first to offer valets to carry the bags and equipment of guests,
state-licensed child care, free parking lot shuttles and
uniforms for all its employees. They prefer to call their
customers "guests", give tissues out in the line and give
complimentary overnight ski checks. During the 2007-8 winter,
the Lady Morgan mountain was the sixth added to Deer Valley and
has 9 runs. The Deer Valley resort hosted the 2003 World
Freestyle Ski Championships and will host the 2011 as well and
will become the first American resort to have the honor of being
picked twice. It is a regular host of the FIS World Cup events,
with the men's and women's mogul and aerial competitions being
hosted each year since 2000 and held a skicross in 2008. In
2005, USA Today said that over 20,000 of their ski magazines
subscribers called the resort the best in the country, #2 in
2006, #1 in 2007 and 2008.
|
