On March 9, 2026, the only snow on the Park City Golf Club sat in the shade under the pines. Above the course, the groomed runs of Park City Mountain were still white. The fairways in between should have been 20-odd kilometers of classic and skate track, and they were bare grass and mud. A Park Record photo caption that day summed up the winter: White Pine Touring ran its Nordic trails for 38 days, "a fraction of a typical season that often extends well over 100 days."
The winter before, the same track was open for roughly 130 days.
Weather explains the gap, and nothing in the muni's winter operation can make up for a bad one. This fall, for the first time, City Council has put a price on changing that. The price came up while council was weighing a much bigger rebuild of the golf course, and that rebuild is still undecided. Meanwhile, the deadline for the cheaper 2026–27 season pass arrives before anyone knows what kind of winter is coming.
What a 38-day winter looked like from Thaynes Canyon Drive
The Park Record's season wrap laid out the sequence. The course opened briefly in early December, and four days later warm temperatures closed it. The shop had opened at the end of November, but trail operations were mostly on hold through December. Colder weather brought the course back in early January, and staff groomed and taught lessons for several weeks. Then another warm stretch closed it for much of February. A storm on Feb. 17 brought a short revival before warm temperatures ended the season for good.
Halfway through, KPCW reported on Feb. 3 that White Pine had stopped grooming many trails after only six inches of snow since Jan. 5. Four of the five loops were closed and there was no continuous loop to ski.
"The cruelness of this winter has just continued," Richard Hodges, director of the White Pine Touring Nordic Center, told 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 impact went well beyond casual laps. According to the same report, White Pine couldn't host the Wasatch Citizen Series races scheduled for the season, so Hodges switched to a "ski your own race" 5K that participants could finish wherever they found snow. Park City Nordic trained at White Pine on open days and spent much of the rest of the winter at Utah Olympic Park and Soldier Hollow.
Why the course has no fallback
White Pine doesn't make snow. In a November 2025 Park Record story, the center said skiing depends on natural snowfall and that it can open once a storm leaves a few consistent inches.
The other limit is the course itself. White Pine and Park City have shared the property for decades, with the land working as the municipal golf course every summer. Even in the strong 2024–25 season, the Park Record reported two closed days in early February, when warm temperatures and rain melted the tracks down far enough to put the golf course underneath at risk.
So thin cover does more than make for poor skiing. Under thin cover, grooming can damage the turf that pays for the course from May through October, and that is a cost to the city. A Nordic track on top of a golf course closes earlier and more carefully than a track built only for skiing would.
The Sept. 17 question nobody had priced before
The opening came from an irrigation problem. At a Sept. 17, 2026 work session, Golf Department staff told council that the course's irrigation system had reached the end of its life. A Golf Department staff member said some lines had burst and that leaks were slow to find. The draft master plan bundles a new irrigation system with rebuilt greens, renovated tees and bunkers, drainage and cart-path work, and an expanded short-game area. It would also "continue to accommodate winter Nordic operations."
Council Member Parigian then asked about snowmaking for the Nordic track. Vaughn Robinson of the Golf Department estimated it would cost $3 million to lay separate water lines for Nordic skiing. Council Members Miller and Toly both wanted snowmaking included, and Toly said she didn't want all the money spent without it.
The reported figures don't all match, so here is each one with its source:
| Item | Figure | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Irrigation replacement | $6 million | Staff estimate in the Sept. 17 minutes, up from an earlier consultant figure of $3 million |
| Irrigation replacement | About $5.4 million | KPCW, Sept. 21, 2026 |
| Full master plan package | About $15 million, split across FY27, FY28 and FY29 | The Sept. 17 minutes; KPCW also reports about $15 million |
| Separate Nordic water lines for snowmaking | About $3 million | Staff estimate in the Sept. 17 minutes |
The minutes also note that the full proposal is double what was budgeted. Council members asked for a business case before committing to the whole package. Snowmaking's place in it hasn't been settled either way. KPCW reported that the full project would mean construction over two summers with half the course closed each year, and that council will take up the course again later this year.
For Park Meadows, the timing matters. Water lines are easiest to lay when the ground is already open. If the irrigation work goes ahead without the Nordic lines, adding them later means digging up the course again. The next council discussion will likely decide whether the muni's winter is still a bet on the weather a decade from now.
The pass decision arrives first
None of that will be settled by Oct. 31, the last day of White Pine's pre-season pricing. Passes have been available since Oct. 9, bought on site or online with pickup at the White Pine Touring shop, 1790 Bonanza Drive.
| 2026–27 season pass | Through Oct. 31 | Beginning Nov. 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | $320 | $380 |
| Family | $425 | $540 |
| 84060 individual | $307 | $358 |
| 84060 family | $407 | $508 |
| Senior, 65 to 74 | $145 | $145 |
| Super Senior, 75 and up | $20 | $20 |
| 10-punch | $220 | $220 |
Prices don't include sales tax. The application also states that all sales are final, with no refunds, and that passes are non-transferable. In a winter like the last one, that last line counts most.
Comparing against the day rate shows what you're betting on. An adult day pass is $26, and an afternoon pass after 3 p.m. is $17.
- At the 84060 individual price of $307, the pass pays for itself on the twelfth full day of skiing.
- At $358 after Nov. 1, it takes 14 days.
- In a 130-day season like 2024–25, either number is easy to reach.
- In a 38-day season like 2025–26, the pass pays off only if you ski about a third of the days the track is open.
Seniors face a different calculation. The senior season pass is $145 whenever you buy it, and the senior day rate is $13, so the timing question doesn't apply to them.
What to expect once it snows
White Pine's pass application describes the Nordic Center at 1541 Thaynes Canyon Drive as "usually open by November 20th." That is a typical date, not one announced for this season. Ski Utah lists Park City Mountain's anticipated 2026–27 opening as the same date, Nov. 20, conditions permitting. The resort can make snow, and the muni track can't.
When the snow comes, White Pine grooms more than 20 kilometers for classic and skate skiing in 3-, 5- and 10-kilometer loops, with rentals, lessons, tours and on-site tuning based at the center. KPCW notes that the terrain runs near McPolin Farm as well as across the golf course. Last winter, the Park Record reported that snowshoe tours kept running through much of the second half of the season and reached Round Valley even when the Nordic trails couldn't be kept up.
The key date after Oct. 31 is the council's return to the golf course plan later this year. That discussion will decide whether the $3 million for Nordic water lines is part of the course's next rebuild.
At Jensen and Company, we follow decisions like this because what happens to the muni each winter affects everyday life in Park Meadows. If you'd like to talk through how the course's future fits your own plans in the neighborhood, Brad and the team are glad to help.
