This week we look at Park City without Sundance and things to do in our mountain town during the pandemic. Vogue's Sheila Marikar has written How America’s Most Star-Studded Ski Town Is Faring Sans Sundance and she sits with our friends Sara and Rob Sergent, the owners of Alpine Distilling.

From January 28th to February 3rd, attendees will be able to participate in panels and screenings from home; several cities around the country will also screen this year’s entrants at their own theaters. The new format is a boon to potential participants who may not have been able to travel to Park City in years past. For local business owners, though, it’s kind of a bummer.

But a recent visit suggests that for some out-of-towners (me, for one), the glare of Sundance obscured what’s truly special about this place: the snow, the sky, the abundance of fresh air, and a plethora of ways to reward yourself after you’ve availed yourself of that trifecta. Over the past 10 months, Park City’s bars, restaurants, and hotels have reinvented themselves to meet the needs of COVID-era patrons; sleek new homes are flying off the market faster than they can be built. And it helps that one of the region’s prime pastimes might as well have been made for social distancing.

Like the slopes, the restaurants at Park City Mountain require advance reservations, via a QR code plastered inside every gondola. It’s an innovation that ought to outlast the pandemic. Alpine Distilling’s Pie Bar have reformatted their interiors, spacing out tables and adding high-tech bells and whistles. “Sara has a sanitizer gun,” says Rob Sergent, referring to his wife and co-founder in Alpine Distilling, which makes award-winning, small-batch gin, whiskey, and vodka. “We take it very seriously,” says Sara. She points underneath a table on the other side of the lounge—cozy, clubby, with piping hot pecan pie and a bracingly good boulevardier—at a foot-tall mechanical fan emitting a bright, violet light. “We have a collection of these air purifying units,” Sara says. “One of those would do a space twice our size.”

One of the hottest tables in town is actually a yurt. In December, the St. Regis Deer Valley erected three insulated yurts that look like pop-up ski chalets, complete with chandeliers, framed art, personal heaters, and the sort of cross-hatched wood paneling you’d expect to find inside an Alsatian hut.

But to experience the best meal in Park City, you’ll have to book a room at the Washington School House. This 12-room boutique hotel, which occupies a 19th century schoolhouse and feels like a cross between a Parisian atelier and a Nancy Meyers movie, only serves guests. Sheila says "Park City’s got is well worth the trip".

Outside of Sundance, Park City Magazine shares How to Navigate Park City This Season On- and off-mountain tips to make the most of pandemic conditions. Utah is open for skiing and riding. Following is a rundown of what Park City’s skidom looks and feels like this winter. As of this publication’s print date, there were no Covid-19 travel restrictions in Utah, meaning out-of-state visitors were not required to quarantine upon arrival. In the event you think you may have contracted Covid-19 during your visit to Park City, call one of three testing centers in town for information and to make an appointment to get tested: Redstone Clinic, 435.658.9200; Snow Creek Medical Center, 435.655.0055; and Intermountain Healthcare Park City Hospital, 435.658.7000.

Face coverings are required everywhere on Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain property (and at all of Utah’s other 13 resorts). And while one of those thin neck gaiters is OK for when you’re actually skiing, it is not enough for riding chairlifts or spending any time indoors at the resorts. Have a mask on or with you at all times.

If you’ve got a Deer Valley Season, IKON, or IKON Base Pass, you can stroll directly to the lifts at Deer Valley as you have in the past. Advance reservations are required for Epic passholders to ski or ride Park City Mountain, but Epic passholders do have priority over day-ticket purchasers. Make those reservations through the EpicMix app, parkcitymountain.com, or by calling 435.649.8111.

Advance reservations are required for ski and snowboard rentals from Deer Valley and Park City Mountain. If you’re an adult and have rented from DV before, you may reserve and pick rental gear without being fitted at the rental shop. At PCM rental shops, gear delivery is available and rental shop hours have been expanded to allow for social distancing.

On-mountain dining and drinking is significantly different this season. Deer Valley’s cafeterias at Snow Park, Silver Lake, and Empire Canyon Lodges have all been converted to table-service restaurants with full bars where reservations are required (435.649.1000). Grab-and-go items are available outside the dining areas at Snow Park and Silver Lake lodges. While the service hours and frequency of Park City’s free bus system have been scaled back a bit due to the pandemic, its service imprint—which covers Park City proper, Kimball Junction, the resorts, Summit Park, and Kamas—remains the same. Passengers are required to wear nose-and-mouth-covering masks when both riding and waiting in line for buses.

As you might guess, lodging deals are in abundance for this winter season in Park City. Properties like Stein Eriksen Lodge and Montage Deer Valley are offering unheard-of wintertime booking incentives including flight vouchers, generous resort credits, and relaxed cancellation policies. There are plenty of services in Park City that will stock your condo or house’s fridge for you (including wine, liquor, and beer), many even before you arrive, minimizing the chance of exposure—and the hassle—of making a trip to the supermarket: Grocery Girls, 866.278.2254; Park City Grocery Express, 435.729.0090; Store 2 Door, 435.633.1650.