Park Record file photo
It’s a common sight for those lucky enough to get a spot on the hill at Park City area ski resorts: people in lift lines without masks, or with a nose hanging out, often standing within 6 feet of each other.
Skiing and snowboarding can offer a brief reprieve from the pandemic, an outdoor activity that feels different and safer than many aspects of everyday life.
But officials say the coronavirus can still spread even in the most beautiful settings, and the same mask-wearing and social distancing rules remain in effect at resorts as everywhere else: Guests must wear a mask over their nose and mouth and maintain 6 feet of distance from people who live in different households.
| Updated: Jan. 9, 2021, 1:12 a.m.
A 31-year-old man from Clinton, Utah, died after being caught in an avalanche Friday in the backcountry near Park City Mountain Canyons Village.
He has not been named yet because his family has not been notified.
The man’s girlfriend saw the man get caught in an avalanche as he tried to snowboard down a steep slope, according to a news release from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. Numerous agencies, including Summit County Search and Rescue, Park City Fire District and Park City Mountain Ski Patrol helped search for the man. A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter deployed avalanche control measures so that rescuers could safely ride snow machines to the area where the avalanche happened.
Two avalanche slide paths are seen amid more than a dozen ski tracks in the popular but deadly backcountry site known as Dutch Draw just outside the boundaries of Park City Mountain Resort. The path seen on the left claimed the life of a 31-year-old man from Clinton on Friday. The avalanche on the right released after experts used explosives to make the area safe to search.
Courtesy of the Utah Avalanche Center
A man died in an avalanche Friday morning in Dutch Draw, according to Summit County Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright, the fourth life lost in the last 15 years in the easily accessible but avalanche-prone backcountry skiing spot just outside the boundary of Park City Mountain Resort.
Park City has tapped an official from the government in Louisville, Kentucky, to become the planning director at the Marsac Building. The Ohio River city has an independent streak that is encapsulated by the term “Keep Louisville Weird.” There have long been similar independent impulses in Park City.
Courtesy of Jay Hamburger
Many Parkites see the community as having lost the funk of the early skiing days of the 1970s as real estate prices soared starting in the 1990s, making it difficult for rank-and-file wage earners and small, independent stores that are regarded as adding to the fabric of the community.
Park Record file photo
Park City Councilman Tim Henney said he intends to seek a third term in office during the municipal election later in 2021, describing a platform that will be heavy on City Hall priorities and saying he does not anticipate the spread of the novel coronavirus or the economic havoc it has wrought will be major issues in the upcoming campaign.
Henney, who is 62 and lives in lower Deer Valley, has lived in Park City since 1992 and manages real estate investments. He said he enjoys the process of governance and the service to the community as a member of the City Council.