Park City Mountain announced Friday that a longtime employee is transitioning into a new role for the 2024/25 season, and she’s more than qualified.
Sharon Ottoson is now the resort’s senior director of base area and village operations, closing the chapter on her previous position as senior manager, product sales and services.
It’s a classic story of loyalty — Ottoson has been employed at Park City Mountain since 2004, two decades to learn the brand, the ins and outs, the beating heart. She started as manager of the central reservations team, a job that brought the U.K. native to Park City, where she’s stayed ever since.
“There are so many things I love about Park City — the beautiful mountains, the seasons, the world-class amenities within a small-town heart, to name just a few,” she said.
At the resort, she later took over oversight of all resort services: lift tickets, season passes, ski school sales, call center, auditing and vault. After that, the senior manager role, in which she continued to work by her own mantra.
“For me, it’s all about the guest experience,” Ottoson said. “At Park City Mountain, we have the opportunity every day to create moments and memories for guests who visit us from near and far. I deeply value the many details, hard work and care that goes into every step of that journey.”
And what’s more influential to the guest experience than the mountain’s base area, the front door to the resort?
Her new role will involve overseeing parking and transportation, public safety, building maintenance, mountain housekeeping, sign shop and uniforms — small details with larger impact and require an intimate understanding of the full-speed engine that is a world-class ski resort.
And after 20 years, she’s the expert for the job.
“Over the past 20 years, my many roles have all been focused — in one way or another — on connecting with our guests and employees, anticipating their needs and providing a high level of customer service and an elevated experience,” she said.
Ottoson worked in event management for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, and was an employee through the merger of Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort in 2015. She’s also helped roll out resources like the Express Lift Ticket Pickup service and the MyEpic Mobile, a hands-free Epic Pass app. She’s also on the board of directors of EpicPromise and is part of the Vail Resorts Employee Hardship Relief Grant Committee.
So, why stay at Park City Mountain?
“First and foremost, my coworkers keep me coming back,” she said. “I truly feel that I have a second family at Park City Mountain.”
Plus, she gets to work for a company that aligns with her passions.
“My work with the EpicPromise Foundation — which donated $5.7 million through partnerships with 32 local nonprofits in Park City alone last year — has been a humbling experience. And the ski and snowboard industry provides an opportunity to live and work in a beautiful mountain environment.”
She said she goes all in, an approach that goes beyond her job at the resort to her hometown as well. Graduating from Class 18 of the Leadership Park City program was one way of doing more to understand the place she calls home.
“To spend a year interacting with passionate and dedicated individuals was incredibly rewarding and opened my eyes to the many ways we can be stewards of this special place and give back to our community,” she said.
She’s come a long way since the days of her youth, operating traditional English pubs in the U.K. But even that contributed to where she’s at now.
“Pubs are often cornerstones of the community, gathering places where you come as you are and all are welcome,” she said. “In addition to lessons about operating a business, running a pub taught me how to connect with guests of all generations, personalities and backgrounds — and that is definitely a skill I use every day at Park City Mountain.”
Now Ottoson and her husband, Greg, live in Heber.
“I am most proud of the opportunities I have had to mentor or share knowledge, to see others flourish in their careers,” Ottoson said. “The number of people who, 20 years later, I am still able to connect with because of our time together at Park City Mountain means a lot to me.”