Park Record file photo
As Woodward Park City entered the 2020-21 winter season, it did so like other ski areas, under the shadow of COVID-19. With time to prepare and with lessons learned from the summer season, though, the resort’s leadership says the season is off to a smooth start.
A major new addition to Woodward Park City comes in the form of new General Manager Chris “Gunny” Gunnarson.
Gunnarson took the reins at the action-sports and ski resort in September after joining parent company Powdr’s leadership team in 2018. Gunnarson has an ideal resume for the job. A former professional snowboarder and the founder and former president of Snow Park Technologies, Gunnarson spent time in Big Bear, California, as well as Lake Tahoe before moving to Park City, and he served previously as terrain park sub-committee chairman for the National Ski Areas Association.
Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun
More than 4,100 skiers and snowboarders were transported to emergency rooms in ambulances or helicopters across 2018, 2019 and the first part of 2020, which is about 10 patients every day of the season.
Chris Arnis was with his crew, carving spring snow on his home hill. It was a good Sunday for the lifelong skier.
It was a little shy of 4 p.m., March 15, 2015, when it happened. Arnis, a ski coach in Steamboat Springs, hit some deep ruts where a speed-controlling fence had just been pulled to prepare for snow grooming that evening. He lost a ski and flew face first into the flats on a run called Rainbow.
Photo by Liz Copan / Studio Copan
Safe Slopes Colorado, a coalition with the goal of increasing safety and transparency at ski areas, recently released a report detailing the number of traumatic snowsports injuries over the course of the 2017-18 ski season. The report includes data from the Colorado Trauma Registry and was compiled by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The report tallies 1,426 injuries that took place at Colorado ski areas and were treated at Level I-III trauma centers from Nov. 14, 2017, to April 15, 2018. A hospital’s designation equates to the level of care it can provide, with a Level I center capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury
The ski mountain that overlooks Rangeley Lake, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) from Portland, closed before the 2015-16 winter season despite what longtime skier Lizzy Reinholt described as a loyal following that appreciated the mountain’s laid-back vibe, down-to-earth people, plentiful snow and old-school New England trails. Advertisement
“Because it’s always been family owned and hasn’t been so commercial, people forget you’re skiing on one of the biggest mountains in Maine,” Reinholt said.
It’s been a long, rocky road to reopening.
A local foundation tried unsuccessfully to reach a deal with the Berry family that owned the ski area. Then an Australian businessman promised to transform the ski area into a four-season resort. It never happened.