Park City, Utah — Last Sunday, Deer Valley wrapped up its 2024-25 season, a winter which marked the beginning of a new era for the Utah ski resort.
On December 31st, 2024, Deer Valley opened the first phase of its Expanded Excellence expansion. Nineteen new trails, one trail extension, and three new lifts opened in the East Village area. Day trippers will also be excited to hear that 500 free parking spaces opened in this new base area, with 700 more spaces planned for next season. In addition, the new Grand Hyatt Deer Valley opened at the base of the East Village, which has several food and dining options for overnight guests and those who are just there for the day.
This is just the start of Deer Valley’s growth in the next five to ten years, as more expansions are planned. Here’s a breakdown of the expansion this past ski season and what’s coming in the future at Deer Valley Resort.
This Season’s Expansion: The biggest North American ski resort expansion this season occurred at Deer Valley Resort. The ski resort saw the addition of 19 new trails, the extension of the McHenry run, and three new chairlifts. One of these new trails is Green Monster, which now holds the title for the longest ski trail in Utah.
Back in January, I made a trip to Deer Valley to check out the new terrain and lifts. At that point, only a limited amount of this new terrain was open, as they were completing snowmaking efforts on the new trails. I was able to try out two of the new lifts, both of which are very comfortable riding experiences.
The Keetley Express is a Doppelmayr D-Line detachable high-speed six-pack chairlift, and it’s also Deer Valley’s first bubble chairlift. Keetley directly services beginner and intermediate terrain. However, it also gives very convenient access to the Mayflower and Sultan Express chairlifts, which serve more challenging trails.
The second chairlift, Aurora, is a fixed-grip quad chairlift that services a small beginner trail. When you reach the end of the McHenry trail, this is how most will get back to the East Village. The chairlift connects guests from the McHenry run to the Green Monster trail, which gets guests back to the East Village and the Keetley Express.
The third chairlift, Hoodoo Express, was the one I didn’t get to ride. This one opened up on March 7th. Hoodoo services a sole beginner run, Prospect, and appeals to beginner skiers.
Next Winter’s Expansion: But wait, there’s more. Next winter will see the opening of 80 new trails and 7 new lifts, one of which will be a multi-stage gondola that goes to the top of Park Peak. This expansion will be a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced terrain. The other signature lift addition will be the Pinyon Express, Deer Valley’s second six-pack bubble chairlift, which will service beginner terrain around Park Peak.
More expanded terrain and lifts are planned in the years ahead, which will include South Peak, a terrain pod with advanced and expert trails and glades. When fully complete, Deer Valley will have 238 trails, 37 lifts, and 5726 skiable acres.
Snow Park: In lieu of the significant additions at the East Village, Deer Valley’s Snow Park base area will see some substantial changes in the coming years.
The plan is to redevelop Snow Park into the best ski village in North America. This area will include a new hotel with 120 rooms, 80 condos, 50,000 square feet of commercial space for shopping, dining, and gathering spaces, a parking garage with up to 1971 spaces, and a state-of-the-art transit and arrivals hub. The Snow Park base lodge will undergo a refurbishment that will modernize the facility. For skiers, the marquee addition will be a new two-stage gondola that will connect to Park Peak.
The original vision for the Snow Park base area was to create a village there, so it’s a project that’s finally coming full circle.
Recently, Deer Valley received the approvals needed to start the project. In February, the Park City Planning Commission approved a permit to begin building the parking garage structure. The plan is to start work on the Snow Park development next month.
It’ll be exciting to see all these changes in the years ahead, as these improvements are the latest examples of Utah’s rapidly evolving ski industry.
Image Credits: Deer Valley Resort
