Canyons — Resort sports Utah's largest skiing area

History: The resort, then called Park City West, opened in 1968, five years after Park City Mountain Resort, with three double-chair and four rope tows and an uphill capacity of 3,300 skiers per hour. The name change to ParkWest came with the sale of the resort in 1975. Four years later, the resort opened the doors to the ski industry by being the first to allow telemark skiers on its slopes. In 1995, the resort was sold and once again the name was changed — to Wolf Mountain. This was also the year that the resort became the first in Park City to allow snowboarders.

The real growth came in 1997, when the American Skiing Company purchased the resort and changed the name, again, to The Canyons, and began the first stages of a $500 million expansion program. It was always known that some of the best skiing could be found on the upper mountain slopes, and that's the direction the new owner headed.

The resort opened under new ownership in December 1997, after a busy six months, with a new lodge, Red Pine, a gondola and several high-speed quad lifts.

What you know: This is Utah's largest ski area when it comes to developed runs and lift access with more than 3,500 acres of skiable terrain. The resort has made it convenient for skiers by being able to park and ride the Cabriolet right to the resort center. From there, the typical traffic pattern is to move to the Flight of the Canyons gondola for a ride up the mountain to the main staging area. From here skiers can go almost any direction they choose to find good skiing — south into the Dreamscape area or north into the original ParkWest part of the resort, Super Condor Express. The first lifts people see, however, as they come off the gondola are Saddleback and High Meadow, so these are the areas they hit first for good warmup runs.

The next move is to the south to Tombstone Express. The only access to Tombstone is off the gondola. This area is popular because there are a number of great intermediate runs that are always well-groomed and picture-perfect. Tombstone is also the gateway to more advanced and cruising skiing off Ninety Nine 90 and Peak 5. There is also some challenging tree skiing and some great powder runs after a storm in these two areas.

The next stop is the Dreamscape area, to the extreme south, which offers 350 acres of good intermediate runs with great views all around. Among the more popular runs at the resort are Sidewinder off Tombstone and Upper Boa off Super Condor. There are a number of dining areas at the resort, with the Red Pine Lodge at the top of the gondola one of the more popular because of the food and accessibility.