More information - The Canyons - USA

The most remarkable North American resort development of the late 1990s, The Canyons has evolved from 'pretty much nowhere' into a world class destination resort in less than two years. Everything changed at this ski area in July 1997 when the American Skiing Company added it to their 'family of resorts'. Formerly Park West and, for a brief period, Wolf Mountain, it was the poor relation to neighbouring 2002 Olympic destinations Park City Mountain Resort and Deer Valley. The Canyons had $20 million lavished on it within a few months of the American Skiing Company take-over to create the biggest ever single-season expansion in Utah and North America's largest resort growth for that season. Five new quad chairs and Utah's first gondola, an eight seater, were installed as well as the Red Pine Mid-Mountain Lodge. By the following season The Canyons was the largest resort in Utah and the potential is for it to overtake the long standard US giants of Colorado and California to become the largest ski area in the US. The opening of Ninety-Nine 90 peak added a further 800 acres for 1998 - 99 and the plan is to reach 6000 acres by 2002, served by 20 high speed detachable quad lifts. These figures would give The Canyons the biggest ski area in the US, second only to Whistler-Blackcomb in North America, and the world's most high-speed quads, depending on what other resorts do in the meantime! If a lift link was ever made to Park City Mountain Resort and/or Deer Valley - a relatively easy operation physically, if not politically - then the area would certainly be North America's and one of the world's largest ski areas. The phemonenal on-mountain development is being matched by development at the base of the mountain where construction of The Canyons Resort Village Center is underway. Centred on the 360 room four-star slopeside Grand Summit Resort Hotel, the village has been skillfully designed to give easy pedestrian access to all amenities. The village is designed using indigenous materials like Utah red rock and Wasatch pines. Native Utah designs like petroglyphs and pictographs will be featured prominantly.