Home to Deer Valley Resort—named the number one ski resort in North America by Ski Magazine in September 2007—Park City, Utah has long been the alpine destination of choice for savvy outdoor enthusiasts. Now that December has arrived, snow bunnies are itching to hit the slopes and carve their way through Utah’s perfect powder. But why cut the vacation short? Second home options abound in Park City, and the latest fractional ownership residences offer not only perfect mountainside locations, but also ambience and service befitting world-class resorts. In honor of the official start of ski season, let’s sneak a peak at a couple of the newest ownership opportunities in Park City.

If you haven't visited Park City in several years, brace yourself for discombobulation. Sure, Main Street hasn't gone anywhere, and it's still achingly picturesque under a confectioner's sifting of Utah's famously light snow. That is, when it's not jammed with smoking S.U.V.'s. In the last few years, thanks to several factors — the 2002 Winter Olympics, the Sundance Film Festival, a growing realization among wealthy skiing baby boomers that this former silver-mining town is “in Utah but not of Utah” — the area is booming so fast as to be nearly unrecognizable. The negatives to this classic New West story include traffic and unbridled second-home development across the mountainsides. But the upside is an infusion of ambitious new hoteliers and chefs in Park City proper, injecting new life and urban sophistication into the city of 7,400 people.

Need somewhere to crash during Sundance? Try the new Sky Lodge, a 33-suite property opening the day after Christmas in Park City. The flats come with granite counter tops and Sub-Zeros in the kitchen, in addition to stuff like leather sofas, flat-screens, and Bose surround sound—and, oh, yeah, jaw-dropping views of the Wasatch Mountains. Wannabe Weinsteins can book the top-floor penthouse ($2,500/night) and screen DVDs in the theater den, mix drinks at the wet bar, and let indie starlets beat them at pool on the house table. The lodge also has four restaurants, including a seafood spot, Fin, and Zoom, which features American cuisine and is owned by the blond dude who started the festival. And if you need to thaw out after a day on the slopes, try one of six handmade, wood-heated Japanese baths, known as ofuro. As if Sundance was ever about the movies.

Sure, it's got all the amenities you look for in a five-star resort—private decks with cedar hot tubs, 400-thread-count sheets, and wet bars in each of its 22 condos—but the lodge, opening a block from the lifts on Park City's main drag this December, is more about the experience than the accommodations. Fire pits in the lounge, a Zen-inspired meditation room, and the spa's Japanese hinoki-wood tubs will tempt you to spend as much time inside as out on Park City's 3,300 acres of skiable terrain. Complimentary cocktails and hors d'oeuvres are served nightly at five in the Sky Club, which has a sunken bar and fireplace. One-bedroom condos from $925; theskylodge.com

Ideas for Families

This year, the kids will learn valuable skills (snowshoeing, sailing, how to hula). The parents, meanwhile, get to veg.

Deer Valley—Park City
Utah

Drop the kids off at Park City Mountain Resort, where your snowboarding teens can perfect their switch rodeo maneuver at Jonesy’s while neophytes learn how to board in small classes. Meanwhile, you can schuss off to nearby Deer Valley, one of only four U.S. ski areas where snowboarders are verboten. Or bring up the whole family for a snowmobiling adventure on Deer Valley’s 7,000 acres of open, hilly backcountry. Stay at the new 33-unit Skylodge (opens December 26, high-season rates start at $925; 435-658-2500 or theskylodge.com) in the center of historic Park City.

For those who travel to the Los Angeles suburb of the Sundance Film Festival: Park City's Sky Lodge isn't open yet, but its reservation line is.

A media lunch provided advance looks at the restaurants' menus (Easy Street Brasserie and Fin); descriptors like "wasabi froth" and "filet mignon tartare" suggest that reservations will be sufficiently impossible January 17-27. (Good news: the foie gras hot dog appears to have been an empty threat.)

As for the boutique hotel, it promises to be the height of (pick any three) eco/sustainable/luxury/chic. There's only 33 suites, the smallest of which is 1,265 square feet. They're under fractional ownership; a rep claims the slots are 70% sold. During the festival, rooms start at $1,650 a night, up to $3,500 for the penthouse suite; expect them to be gone before the hotel opens Dec. 26.

Sky Lodge, 201 Heber Ave. Park City, UT. (888) 876-2525

Getting There

The resort is a straight thirty-six-mile shot, mostly on Interstate 80, from Salt Lake City International Airport. One of the area's claims to fame is that you can hop an early-morning flight from New York City or Chicago or Los Angeles and be skiing by lunchtime. On this trip I tried a different tack: I flew out of New York in the evening and was in bed at my hotel by 10:00 p.m. The next morning I awoke refreshed and rested and ready for a full day on the hill.