For the last 16 years, I have been going on an annual ski and snowboard trip with some of my closest friends from Penn and from Toronto. Two years ago we went to Park City. Last year we went to Les 3 Vallées. And this winter we'll be going to Hokkaido, which has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I enjoy doing a lot of different sports, but nothing comes close to snowboarding for me. It's my first love. There's just something about being in the mountains. So I look forward to our "annual" all year.

Because of this, I have long had the goal of building a house and short-term rental in the mountains. Firstly, I felt that there weren't a lot of design-focused options in many mountain towns. You know, something clean and minimal. And secondly, I wanted a place that could embody and share our love of the mountains with others. As many of you know, this resulted in Parkview Mountain House. Globizen partnered with two regulars on the trip and we created what we refer to as a "creative retreat."

Here are a few photos of the house:

Today, I'm super excited to announce that bookings are now open at PMH! If you'd like to book a stay, you can visit AvantStay's website (who is our hospitality manager) or you can book through Airbnb, if you prefer that. Because we've just gone live, all of the rates are at an introductory level while we build up our initial review base. So now is a good time to get something in the calendar this winter (or next summer which is also a really beautiful time). Neat B and I, and a few friends, will be there later this month and we can't wait.

Cover photo by Alex Moliski on Unsplash

People like ski and snowboard towns. Here's an excerpt from a recent WSJ article talking about Park City:

Prices continued to rise in most luxury ski towns this past year, but none grew as much as Park City, a former silver mining town 32 miles east of Salt Lake City. The average home sale price there grew 35% in 2023 from 2022, compared with a 9.4% increase at Vail and Beaver Creek and 3.2% at Aspen, according to the resort report by Summit Sotheby’s International Realty. 

The main point of the article is this: Park City has gotten really expensive, and so people are now looking and buying homes further out in places like Heber City, Midway, and Kamas. Here's how expensive expensive is:

Over the last four years, Covid has stoked demand for western resort real estate. In Park City, single-family homes have sold for a median price of $4 million year-to-date, up from $1.996 million in 2019, according to Redfin, which averaged the monthly median sales prices weighted for the number of homes sold. One home was listed in September for $65 million, which could set a record for the state. It’s now under contract, according to listing agent Paul Benson of Engel & Völkers, who declined to disclose the sale price.

This, of course, isn't a novel phenomenon. It's the whole "drive until you qualify" thing. But what's interesting about this particular mountain example is that it's not centered around access to a CBD or downtown; it's centered around "how fast can I get to a ski and snowboard resort?"

For example, Deer Valley has a new East Village that is expected to open up in 2025. This brings the cities mentioned above closer in. And buyers seem to be doing that math: "It's a 25-minute drive today, but next year I'll be able to get on a lift in 15 minutes. Score."

Given that Deer Valley also doesn't allow snowboarders, it's interesting to think about how these trends could be bifurcating the region between skiers and snowboarders. I don't have any data on this, but I bet if you mapped it out, there would be some sort of clustering happen.

The article also goes on to talk about transportation. Because you can't talk about new development and real estate without talking about traffic. But I think Bill Ciraco (Park City Council) gets it exactly right in the article: This is a car problem, and less of a people problem.

In my mind, the Wasatch Range is destined for something like this ONE Wasatch concept, which is/was a proposal to link seven resorts through a handful of new skiable connections. This is similar to what you'll find in Europe, and it means less driving and more time on the mountain.

That's what everyone wants to be doing anyway.

Photo by Lauren Pandolfi on Unsplash

We spent the last few days in Scuol, Switzerland. Scuol is a small mountain town with under 5,000 people (2018 figure) near the eastern border of the country. The town first achieved notoriety in the 1860s because of the various naturally-occurring mineral waters that can be found in the area. They were / are thought to have healing properties, and so a spa tourism destination was created. Skiing and snowboarding were later added to the town’s repertoire.

We tried the water from this fountain — the Lischana source:

The best way I can describe the taste is to say, imagine water that has had pennies soaking in it for the last 100 years. That’s what it tastes like, which is not good. But it is rich in magnesium and other things, which is why people (especially athletes) seek it out. It comes out clear from the source but if you let it sit in a bottle it will naturally become carbonated and turn brown. That’s why the embankment above has the color that it does.

I had a handful of respectable sips. Hopefully that’s enough to make me strong. A big thank you to Klaus, Peter, and Jaimie for the invite to Scuol!