PARK CITY, Utah -- For Dillon Cook, sitting across from us in the gondola, The Canyons was a whole new world peopled with kids who came from everywhere just to be in ski class with him.

''I liked the Tunnel of Fun,'' said the 9-year-old from Houston, describing the bumpy trail through the trees where the instructors take their classes to cut loose. ``We had five boys and one girl. . . . The girl was Ally, and she was better than any of the boys.''

Sherri Williams from Atlanta, on the last day of her vacation, noticed The Canyons' people-friendly design, a terraced layout that separates cars on the lower level from the Resort Village at midlevel, a pedestrian zone with the ticket office, rental shops, restaurants and the Grand Summit Hotel.

''The cabriolet saves a lot of walking,'' she said, meaning the canlike baskets (nicknamed ''the teacups'') that carry skiers from the parking lot up to the village. And Red Pine Lodge, tucked into the forest at midmountain, well, that was brilliant. ''No traffic, no cars, no noise -- just us and the snow,'' she said.

Then there was Brian Price, wiry and tan. Taking advantage of two inches of new snow, the Salt Lake City resident was steering out-of-town friends around the first of this former mining town's ski trio: The Canyons, Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort. With 8,925 acres to cover, he was in a hurry.

''I stick to the highlights,'' he said -- the new terrain parks, the best-groomed cruisers and the photogenic vistas. The speedy new ''six-pack'' chairlifts, too. ``But The Canyon's my favorite.''

Strung in a ragged crescent above Park City, the three ski resorts are part of the same range and even the same ridge, called the Wasatch Back. Yet we'd forgotten how different they are, one from another.

WIDE OPEN CANYONS

We fell for The Canyons.

The Canyons, its 3,700 acres open and uncrowded, is a bona fide best-kept secret. Spread over adjacent ridges, the resort's 152 trails flow and turn, challenging and entertaining in turn.

The heart of the resort is Red Pine Lodge, where the gondola unloads and ski school meets. A half-dozen lifts climb from here to near and distant peaks, each one connecting skiers with a new set of slopes.

Plenty of expert-only chutes, most rated double-black-diamond, plunge into Murdock Bowl and off Apex Ridge. But The Canyons really seems to be a bonanza for intermediate recreational skiers, people who are happiest carving turns on groomed trails.

On the lower slopes, look for a tangle of woodland trails providing ski-in, ski-out access to a cluster of multimillion-dollar homes. Some of these places, big enough to sleep 20 of your closest friends, are actually in the rental pool.

Mainly, The Canyons is so spacious and spread out that you need a trail map just to find a restaurant. Chili and hot dogs are staples at some of the mountain's five chow lines. Pass them up for Lookout Cabin, where you'll dine on gourmet cuisine, with tablecloths, wine and 30-mile views. Or get down and jitterbug on Saturdays at Western Barbecue at Red Pine Lodge. Beef, chicken and the trimmings come with a live country band.

PARK CITY

We rented a cottage in Park City, so we skied its eponymous resort first; it seemed like the thing to do. The base area -- bustling with skiers coming and going, window shoppers, kids waiting for their parents and newcomers renting skis -- felt like a block party in progress.

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