About Park City's Deer Valley

Yesterday emergency crews descended on the Montage construction site outside of Deer Valley Resort's Empire Lodge after a construction crew discovered what Police Chief Wade Carpenter described as an old mine vault. Dynamite has been discovered in the mine vault! The word is not out yet on how much of the explosive was found....we'll keep you posted.

changing leaves in Park City, Utah

Not like it's a big surprise but....Deer Valley once again took the top spot for the nations best ski resort, according to Ski Magazine. NICE!

It is the fourth time in the last eight years the magazine's readers have put Deer Valley on top, edging out one of its fiercest competitors, Vail Resort for the second year in a row.

According to Deer Valley's Director of Marketing Coleen Reardon, the resort's secret weapon is its guest services. "I think it's our services, the way we provide the whole vacation experience." Reardon says she also believes that the price gap among the country's top ski areas has narrowed, "so people are realizing Deer Valley's value."

Rob and I can't help but agree with Reardon and Ski Magazine...WE LOVE DEER VALLEY! Rob skis there about six days a week in-fact, all season long, and I at least make it out there for the weekends. We both feel that Deer Valley offers amazing slopes both for expert skiers (like Rob - the pseudo Mountain Host and for intermediate skiers (like me) who like to ski the blue runs and whoosh along making turns and taking in the to-die-for scenery.

Plus - Deer Valley has some great food in thier on-property lodges, and Stein Erikson's bar area has a great menu as well - the Bloody Mary's are a must! And if that's not enough, the St. Regis Resort & Residences will be opening for the season after next and they will be slopeside as well. Since the St. Regis in New York INVENTED the Bloody Mary, I am waiting with baited breath for the opening of that bad-boy!

And if all this doesn't make you go out and buy a plane ticket for the upcoming ski season (and also book an appointment while you're in town to have Rob and I take you around to find the perfect property so you too can own a little piece of heaven) then hear this! Park City Mountain Resort was also rated in the top five of Ski Magazine's list. And they got the number ONE spot for Accessibility which makes some serious sense considering that PCMR visitors can ski right down the slopes and onto Main Street in Park City...talk about accesible....PAH-LEASE!

So as you can tell we are getting excited for ski season already and we will be encouraging you to do the same. Deer Valley is the best place I've ever skied and I love to hear when the powers-that-be agree with me. So take a look around our site and feel free to email us with your questions. And when that's all said and done, get online, book your tickets and plan your trip to the best place in the world to ski. Let us know you're coming and we'll meet you at Stein's for some Wild Game Chili and a drink!

Happy Friday!

 What a busy couple weeks Rob and I have been having!...Between the summer concert series at Deer Valley, the locals deals at our favorite restaurants and all the weddings and events that summer-time brings...it's been hard to keep up! Not to mention our ever-more-demanding jobs! ;)

I thought I'd post some ideas for how to make the best of your weekend here in Park City whether it be the weekend we are entering today or another one just as sunny and wonderful in the future.

Restaurant Deals:
-There are plenty of restaurant deals here in Park City. You can find out about them easily via coupons listed in the local paper, the Park Record. What tends to be offered are two-for-one entrees or $25 off your bill for two people.
-Our favorite restaurant in town, Jean Louis' usually comes up with more unique offers featuring reduced priced specials that change day to day (we never miss $2 fish tacos!) or four course dinners at a special price...right now they have a $39 four course dinner with course options that change frequently and tout delicious treats such as duck terrine as an appetizer or unique Hawaiian fish and steak combos for entrees.
-Another good deal seems to be at one of the Bill White restaurants Grappa, (Bill White owns a bunch of restaurants in town including Chimayo, Wahso, Grappa and Windy Ridge) which is offering two for one entrees and has apparently reduced their overall menu prices. Grappa's reputation in town is varied but no one can deny that their Osso Bucco is to-die-for!
-Prime Steak House is also offering their standard two-for-one entree deal which can be a great time to visit their restaurant. Generally the undisputed "best steak" in town, Prime charges an arm and a leg for their delicious steaks and bills there for two people are always over $100. With the two-for-one offer, dinner can be more affordable and well worth it!
-Mustang is another eatery offering deals and although I sometimes get tired of their ever stationary menu, I never tire of their duck empanadas or chile relleno.

*****and for those readers who aren't from Utah and don't know about all our clandestine and undecipherable liquor laws...one good thing to come from the DABC (department of alcoholic beverage control) is the rule that you can ALWAYS bring your own bottle of wine to dinner - the restaurant may charge you a corkage fee but cutting your wine costs in half (most restaurant markups on wine is at least double) can really help in keeping the price of dinners out on the town to a reasonable level - just don't forget that you need the little sticker on your bottle that proves you bought it here in state (OR if your crafty like me you can stock-pile those little suckers and then stick them onto bottles you get from Las Vegas or the like ;) *****

Things To Do:
-I first have to mention my favorite place to hit on a Sunday afternoon...THE PARK SILLY MARKET! It's really just a bunch of local vendors selling everything from dog shampoo to sausages to hand knitted dresses and it is a blast! There is never a lack of people watching or good music on hand and the beer garden and yummy food available doesn't hurt either.
-Open Houses are a common occurrence here in Park City on summer weekends. Rob and I tend to hold Open Houses for Rob's listings between 2pm and 5pm on Saturdays and Sundays and it seems most other Real Estate Agents follow a similar schedule. It's fun to meet new people and chat while checking out all the cool properties PC has to offer...and that's before you realize that a lot of agents put out fresh baked cookies or wine and cheese for interested visitors to their listings...
-Ride the chair lifts! All the ski resorts in Park City have their main chair lifts open during summer. For a small fee you can ride the lift up and either relax and check out the scenery and then ride that puppy right back down or once you're at the top you are free to hike or bike you're way back down....the latter option is the one for those looking to burn some calories and create some adventure ;)

So I guess, that should help out a little...for anyone who needed ideas....hopefully you are now just a bit more inspired....and if you're looking for more info, feel free to email me at rachel.peterman@gmail.com with any questions. I don't know everything but I am a know-it-all! ; Happy Friday!

You know you're as excited as we are because folk-rock icon Bob Dylan is scheduled to perform at Deer Valley in August, according to the artist's wmusiceb site.

The site lists a concert on August 31st, a Sunday. Tickets go on sale on June 28 at 10 a.m., with a presale scheduled June 23.

This will be an outdoor concert at the famed Deer Valley outdoor amphitheater. This place is set in one of the most beautiful settings in West. It's so gorgeous in fact that many times the performers stop their music comment on the view from the stage!

Not to mention, the delicious food that Deer Valley makes available to attendees who sit either in VIP seats up front or out on the wide lawn up the lower slopes of the Deer Valley Ski Resort.

Rob and I are going to this one....who wants to come with!?!? We'll bring the wine, if you bring the cheese!

Rob and I spent this past Sunday in Sun Valley, Idaho for a special ski day with friends.
There's an event in Sun Valley every year where a "private ski day" is raffled off.
Anyone can buy tickets to the raffle and the winner gets to invite 200 friends to the Sun Valley ski resort for a private day on the mountain which they call the "Baldy Balderdash".
Luckily, Rob and I were invited!

So yesterday we spent the afternoon skiing on a practically empty mountain. AND - they provided a delicious lunch to boot! We had a blast and were super grateful for the extra ski day we got to add in to our year totals.....since our local ski resorts have already closed for the year.

Now we are hot to trot to get an event like this one implemented here in Park City.....keep your ears to the ground.....

In terms of an update, over the weekend we saw 39 new properties come on the market, 14 close, and 15 go under contract. Of note:

PENDING
-Single family home in the Oaks in Deer Valley at $3.55m; 6010 sq ft, 5bd/6ba....$590 ppsf is pretty good for this Lower Deer Valley Seller.
-Silver Strike Lodge condo in Deer Valley's Empire Pass at $2.375m; 1697 sq ft, 2bd/3ba. That's $1400 ppsf folks! We are seeing Empire Pass and Deer Crest properties continue to get unheard of numbers for the Park City area.

CLOSED
-Larkspur town-home in Deer Valley's Empire Pass at $4.315m; 3614 sq ft, 4bd/5ba....again over $1000 ppsf and a Talisker Club membership to boot!!!
-Chateaux at Silver Lake condo at $1.350m; 1409 sq ft, 2bd/3ba.
-Town Lift condo on Park City's Main St at $735,000; 1109 sq ft, 2bd/2ba
-2 Silver Star condo's (ski in/ski out to Park City Mountain Resort) both around $1.1m for 1950 sq ft and 2bd/2ba.
-Lower Deer Valley Comstock Lodge unit at $715,000; 1264 sq ft, 2bd/2ba.