Park City / Prospector Lodge Trip Report

In article , Mark T. Mueller says...

Just got back last night from Park City. We had a great time skiing Deer
Valley and PCMR. It had been many years since my last visit (when the
gondola was still operating at PCMR), but both areas have improved beyond my
modest expectations. They got a ton of snow by the beginning of Jan, but
haven't really been blessed much since. What they did have, they did very
well with I must say.

According to one of the PCMR Instructors, they have a new Grooming
Operations manager that has really listened to the majority of paying
customers. Someone mentioned that PCMR grooming was approaching DV, and I
would have to agree. My GF is a beginner, and she had plenty of well
manicured terrain to play on at PCMR. I had plenty of groomed blue and black
runs for hard carving fun at high speeds. Jupiter and McConkey's had plenty
of ungroomed stuff that I enjoyed. All in all, PCMR has really improved its
operation and impressed me.

DV's new Empire area is great. Less windblown, it held the powder longer
than any other area I explored. Even 5 days after the last storm, there was
still plenty of soft stuff in the bumps to have fun. It is even served by a
high-speed chair, so you are guaranteed to wear out your legs before the
lift closes.

Chalk it up to luck, but we did not have a singly bad meal the entire trip.
We even enjoyed the Buffalo Burgers at the No Name Saloon...

The ONLY dark spot on the trip was the accomodations. We arranged travel
through MountainVacations.com, and I am not sure I would ever use them
again. We stayed at the Prospector Lodge, and I think it would be fair to
say we paid far more than what the room was worth... We documented the
following problems with the Prospector Lodge:

1) Bed had no mattress pad.
2) Bed sheets never changed during entire week.
3) Floor never vacuumed during entire week.
4) Shower stall never cleaned during entire week.
5) Irregular towel service (sometimes had to ask, sometimes no washclothes,
etc...)
6) Trash not removed every day.
7) Sidewalks never cleared, very icy, you couldn't even carry your bags from
Reception to our building without great difficulty (I hope if, god forbid,
someone gets hurt they sue, they deserve it!!!)
8) Broken window blinds, no drapes, very light in room at night.
9) Drinking glasses never cleaned or replaced, no coffee cups (even though
there was a coffee maker.)
10) No water for shower after skiing on 31 Jan and 1 Feb (entire building
did not have water.)
11) Furniture in disrepair (knobs on dressers fall off, drawers hard to
open.)
12) MountainVactions.com website states "4th night free valid November 22,
2003-January 11, 2004, January 25, 2004 - April 8, 2004", did not appear to
be reflected in the price we paid.

We found out later from some of the "tenants" that Deer Valley and the
Canyons actually leased most of the building we were in for their seasonal
workers, so we had people coming and going all hours.

Some of the stuff was minor, to be sure, but after a while it really started
to grate on my nerves for the money I paid!!!

In all fairness, the room had new carpet and a fresh coat of paint, but come
on, at least give us clean sheets every couple days, and get the gunk out of
the shower drain!!! We were scared to go into the hot tub at night
considering the way our bathroom was cleaned...