The Nordic Track Next to Park Meadows Still Waits on the Sky, and City Hall Is Weighing Whether It Should

The fairways of the Park City Golf Club are watered by an irrigation system the city's golf staff say has reached the end of its life. Lines have burst, and leaks can take a long time to find. In winter, the same fairways become the White Pine Touring Nordic track, and that track has no water lines of its own. Its snow comes only from storms.

Those two facts are now on the same Park City Council agenda. Replacing the golf irrigation means digging up the course anyway. At a September 17 work session, the golf director gave council a price for laying separate lines for Nordic snowmaking while the ground is open. For anyone in Park Meadows who skis the loops off Thaynes Canyon Drive, last winter shows why that price matters.

Thirty-eight Days on the Course

White Pine says its Nordic Center grooms about 20 kilometers of classic and skate track, laid out as 3-, 5- and 10-kilometer loops, from its base at 1541 Thaynes Canyon Drive. In a good winter that track stays open a long time. The Park Record reported in March that the center ran about 130 days the season before. This past winter it was open 38.

Here is how that season went, as the Park Record recorded it:

1. The shop opened at the end of November.
2. The track opened at the beginning of December and closed four days later when warm weather moved in.
3. Trail operations stayed mostly on hold for the rest of December.
4. Colder weather in early January let crews groom and run lessons for several weeks.
5. Another warm stretch closed the track for much of February.
6. A storm on February 17 brought it back briefly before rain and warm temperatures ended the season in late February.

In a normal year, White Pine runs through the end of March, and skiers keep using the trails into April when snow hangs on. Last March, the track had turned to mud and grass, and a few golfers were already on the course. Nordic Center director Richard Hodges described the last storm of the season to the Park Record:

"We had the final storm and we had three days of some of the best skiing of the year, and then it was 60 degrees again."

The track's reliance on weather also shows in the payroll. The center employs dozens of winter staff: instructors, groomers, retail workers, and rental and tuning techs. Hodges told the paper, "When we groomed, the groomers worked. When we didn't groom, the groomers didn't work."

Where the Skiing Went When the Course Went Brown

A bare course closes more than one trailhead. It sends a whole winter of activity elsewhere, and last season showed where it went.

White Pine canceled lessons booked for the second half of the season and refunded customers. The Wasatch Citizen Series, a community race series that usually brings recreational skiers of all ages to the course, couldn't run there. Hodges turned it into a "ski your own race," where participants completed a 5K wherever they could find snow, or ran, hiked, biked or roller-skied it, and reported their results for a prize.

Park City Nordic's teams trained at White Pine on the days it was open. On most other days they went to Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow. Youth Sports Alliance programs finished only a week short of their schedule. The Park Record called Bonanza Flat one of the most reliable Nordic options in the region last winter, thanks to grooming by the Mountain Trails Foundation. In February, KPCW reported that the foundation was still grooming above Empire while the golf course sat closed. Snowshoe tours, which don't need groomed track, kept running through much of the second half of the season.

All of those options are farther from Park Meadows than the course at the end of Thaynes Canyon Drive. That distance is what Park Meadows skiers lose in a winter like the last one, and it is the reason the council discussion matters to them.

The Pipe Question on the Council's Desk

The golf master plan staff presented on September 17 includes new irrigation, 18 rebuilt putting greens, renovated tees and bunkers, better drainage and cart paths, and a larger short-game area. It also says the course would "continue to accommodate winter Nordic operations." Staff estimated the full package at about $15 million spread across FY27, FY28 and FY29. Park City's budget director said that is roughly double what had been budgeted. KPCW reported that construction would take two summers, with half the course closed each year.

Snowmaking came up when Council Member Parigian asked about it. Golf director Vaughn Robinson estimated it would cost $3 million to lay separate water lines for Nordic skiing. Council Member Miller said she wanted snowmaking included. Council Member Toly said she did not want all the money spent without it. Their interest wasn't new. The Park Record reported last March that early talks had started on what limited snowmaking on the course might look like.

The money question is harder. Golf is run as an enterprise fund, which is supposed to pay its own way. Council Member Ciraco asked to see revenue figures before approving the full project. Mayor Ryan Dickey told KPCW, "We've treated it as an enterprise fund, but clearly we're giving it now a massive general fund subsidy." Ciraco also pointed to the council's goal of keeping golf affordable for residents. Resident golfers pay $72 for 18 holes, and non-residents pay $122.

That makes the Nordic question part of a bigger one. If the course has to fund its own upgrades, every dollar for snowmaking competes with greens and drainage that golfers pay for. If the course is treated as general recreation, as Dickey suggested discussing, a $3 million line for winter skiers is easier to justify. The mayor said the next session would cover the budget, the business case, the financial model, the conceptual design and the cost of Nordic snowmaking. KPCW reported the council plans to take up the course again later this year. Our summer look at Park Meadows covered the early stages of this renovation, when it was still a golf story.

This Winter Still Runs on Weather

Whatever the council decides, it won't affect this season. The 2026-27 track opens on natural snow, the way it always has.

The forecast doesn't settle much. TownLift's summary of NOAA's winter outlook says Utah has equal chances of below-, near- or above-normal precipitation from December 2026 through February 2027. Up the hill, KPCW reported that Park City Mountain and Deer Valley started making snow on November 2. Park City Mountain began at the top of Payday and on Homerun. Those guns can be seen from much of Park Meadows, and they show the difference snowmaking makes. The resorts can build a base before the storms arrive. The golf course has to wait for them. Our post on Park City Mountain's opening target looks at how that early snowmaking has gone in past seasons.

For now, passes are the main thing a resident can sort out ahead of time. White Pine's track pass page lists these prices, effective November 1, for the 2026-27 passes that went on presale in September:

The 84060 local pass is sold in store only, and buyers must show a current Utah ID card or Utah driver's license. Since October 9, passes have been picked up at the White Pine Touring shop on Bonanza Drive. Pickup moves to the Nordic Center on Thaynes Canyon Drive once the season starts. The Nordic Center's posted winter hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with rentals, group and private lessons, and classic and skate instruction. Dogs are not allowed on the White Pine Nordic Center trails. Our post on which Basin trails come back first after snow covers dog-friendly routes and other options when the course isn't ready.

After 38 days last season, Hodges told the Park Record what he expected next: "I'm anticipating that we'll have a normal year next year and we'll be laughing about this all." Weather will decide whether that comes true this winter. Whether the track depends as heavily on weather in later winters depends on the golf course budget the council takes up next.

A winter amenity like this one shapes everyday life in Park Meadows, and it is the kind of local detail Jake Doilney follows for the people he works with. If you'd like to talk about how the golf course renovation, or any other project around Thaynes Canyon, could affect your home, Timeless Properties can help. Schedule a free consultation.