Park City Powder Cats

[mbaydala]

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Here is part of the write up from the blog I put up on Ski Utah



An incredible day with the Park City Powder Cats! Every year Ski Magazine ranks ski resorts in numerous categories and Alta is consistently ranked number one for Value and Snow. If they did a ranking that ranked snow cat operations Park City Powder Cats would have to be number one in both value and snow quality.

On Saturday morning we arrived at Thousand Peaks Ranch just 30 minutes from Main Street Park City. Temperatures were in the 20's but the forecast called for high temps in the lower 40's. Needless to say I was a little concerned about snow quality. Our guides Ralph and Joe Devos (owner operator / lead guide) should have told me to relax because the amount of terrain this operation has is simply mind blowing! I bet temperatures could have reached 50 degrees and these guys would have still been capable of finding us the cold smoke.

I've been told that in recent years the operation has been taken over by new ownership and if you haven't had the opportunity to experience the Park City Powder Cats, now is really the time to do it. This is a full on first class operation. At the end of the day I was trying to think of one thing that could have been done better and I couldn't come up with a single thing. That's how incredible the day was.

During our adventure we had the pleasure of skiing with 4 other groups of tourists. Here is what they emailed me after the day was done.

Matt it's Lawrence, we skied today together with a fun group of enthusiasts at Park City Powder Cats. This is the first Cat trip for me and it couldn't have been better! The crew at P.C.P.C. was incredible and the operation was seamless. Food was incredible and the snow and the terrain was second to none! I have had the chance to ski many areas including a Heli trip and I can honestly say the conditions in Utah were as good as it gets. POWDER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt, Michael here, I am an Ohio flatlander, that grew up skiing in Colorado.....until I found Utah! This is all we ski now!

Matt from Beverly Hills California told me he has skied Utah every year for about 10 years, and had his first trip in 1979! Utah has the most consistent high-end snow and easiest airport access in the West!

So to wrap up this little love fest, if powder and awesome terrain is what you seek look no further then the Park City Powder Cats, I promise you, you will walk away with a smile from ear to ear. Oh and did I mention they run a boutique heli skiing operation as well? That's next on the bucket list, I hope...

To find out more info visit them at www.pccats.com

 

[Admin]

I've been trying to get out there for years to write a feature. The closest I came was two years ago when I was booked on a perfect bluebird day one day after a long storm cycle...and the damned cat broke down the day before my reservation. ](*,)

 

[Tony Crocker]

I'll be interested to see what admin has to say when he gets a day to compare to Blue Sky at Steamboat. Price here is $449 vs. $400 at Blue Sky. 8-12K vertical of skiing is fairly typical for a day operation when you consider that you're not skiing until late morning due to orientation, safety drills etc. Did anyone in Matt's cat track vertical? How compatible was the group in terms of pace/ability? It sounds like they have multiple cats to help sort that out, as at Blue Sky. Anyone in Matt's cat done cat skiing elsewhere to compare?

 

[mbaydala]

We were in the Cat by 9:30 skiing by 10:15.
Didn't track vertical but checked the terrain on google earth. We skied 8 shots 6 of which were 1200-1500 feet. The last two were shorter more like 1000. On most of the bigger shots the real vertical on the steepest terrain was probably closer to 1100 feet. Three of the shots had long, long run outs. Skied with a very good snowboarder, but I could imagine an amateur rider may have some difficulty on the longer flatter terrain.

I've cat skied at Powder Mountain and the experience was totally different. PC Cats was big open bowls, Powder Mountain had shorter shots but no run outs at all. Straight 900-1100 foot shots. First 15 turns on the Powder Mountain tour were much steeper than anything we ran into with the PC Cats. Two totally different experiences but both really enjoyable. Headed back up to Powder Mountain to Cat ski again this Thursday and I'm bringing the Admin so we will see what he thinks. Should be a storm day so more challenging terrain may be limited...

PC Cats has two or three cats depending on reservations. We were lucky, everyone in our group made it down with out a problem but none of them were really good skiers but at least they could hold their own. Everyone had a blast

 

[EMSC]

Blue Sky at Steamboat. Price here is $449 vs. $400 at Blue Sky.

FYI, It's back to Steamboat Powder Cats (no longer Blue Sky). There are several other cat operations here in Colo I've been wanting to try out that are all cheaper than the $400 Steamboat option... Maybe next year. (Vail pass area, Winter Park area, Ski Cooper's Chicago Ridge, Monarch, etc...). I've been wondering if it's just profit margins reduction or if the other operators skimp somewhere...

 

[Tony Crocker]

I've been wondering if it's just profit margins reduction or if the other operators skimp somewhere...

Not always, but usually less terrain, less snow. That leads to many fewer operating days with actual powder conditions where people are willing to pay more than a regular lift ticket price. I'm reasonably convinced that PC Powder Cats and Steamboat have the product in terms of terrain and snow. Most of these small places I would only consider on very short notice knowing they had the snow.

 

[Skrad]

Cat skiing at Steamboat is a waste. Flat and lots of snowmobilers going after the same goods. Was on a South America trip with Devo in 2003. Guess I know why we no longer see him at the Bird.