Deer Valley Resort delayed its opening day after persistently warm temperatures challenged snowmaking crews’ ability to meet the Dec. 1 target. The resort hasn’t named a new date yet, saying it won’t commit until the forecast finally delivers the kind of chill needed to build a real base.
“It’s been a funny forecast this year,” President and COO Todd Bennett said on Wednesday. “Every week it says it’s colder next week, and then next week comes, and it hasn’t really been colder. Rather than put out a specific date and then stress that we’re going to actually hit that date the way Deer Valley wants to do it, we’re going to hold a couple more days and see what kind of cool temperatures we get early next week.”
With more than 2,000 additional skiable acres, 10 new lifts and more than 100 new runs coming online in just two years, guests have expressed concerns about whether Deer Valley will be able to match the rapid growth with its commitment to the guest experience.
For Bennett, that comes down less to acreage and fewer lift counts. To him, it’s more about how the mountain feels on a busy day — whether the lodges are comfortable, the food and grooming are consistent and staff feel prepared to deliver the Deer Valley experience guests expect.
“It’s really the soul of this place that is special,” Bennett said, adding that resort staff want to “keep that going.”
Although the mountain is nearly doubling in size, resort leadership said the crowds will not.
Deer Valley has always capped daily capacity. Rather than setting its limit to the amount of terrain it can open, the resort will base it on how many people it can realistically serve in its lodges for food and other services.
“We always look at our pinch point,” Bennett said. “This year, dining is going to be our limiter. We’re going to have a lot more terrain than we can service with dining.”
To accommodate increased skier volume while construction continues, the resort is installing several temporary facilities. The permanent lodge servicing East Village is not finished, so Deer Valley will operate out of a large structure at the base area for the next two seasons. That structure will serve as the primary skier services hub, featuring guest services, rentals, retail and seating for more than 100 indoor and outdoor dining guests, according to Jacob Musyt, the resort’s vice president of food and beverage.
Deer Valley also installed a dining tent at Silver Lake Beach to add capacity during dining hours. It will remain open for the entire season and is intended for general guest seating to supplement space within the Silver Lake Lodge.
These additions are designed to spread guests more evenly across the mountain and provide the resort with sufficient seating to manage crowds until the new expansion facilities, like the Park Peak Lodge at the top of the new East Village Gondola, are completed in the coming years.
That process also involves adjusting how the resort manages lunch hour, the busiest part of the day. To ease pressure on lodges, the resort is introducing a new “corduroy lunch” program, keeping a selection of freshly groomed terrain closed until noon. The idea is to incentivize guests to ski during the lunch rush rather than crowd into the dining areas all at once.
“If I didn’t work here, I’d probably sleep in, grab some chili, and then get fresh corduroy around 12 o’clock,” said Musyt. “At the end of the day, what we do is all about the guest experience, so fresh corduroy, less crowded dining.”
Though opening day is still undecided, the resort has a good idea of when it’ll debut the new lifts. The expansion will come online in stages this winter, with lift openings dependent on snowmaking progress. Vice President of Mountain Operations Steve Graff said the goal is to offer access as soon as conditions allow, while rolling out the new terrain in a manageable way.
Phase One is currently targeted for December 26. That first wave will include the new East Village Gondola, Pinyon Express, Keeley Express and Aurora lifts. Each lift will open with one primary run to start. Those areas give early-season skiers a first look at the expansion, from high-alpine beginner terrain off Pinyon to the returning groomers served by Aurora and Keeley, which debuted alongside Hoodoo Express last year.
Phase Two is scheduled for around New Year’s Eve, adding Revelator Express, Hoodoo Express and Galena Express. Vulcan Express will potentially join if snowmaking stays on track. These lifts open the bulk of the new intermediate and advanced terrain, featuring longer ridge-line runs, north-facing glades and steeper tree skiing that marks a noticeable change in character from Deer Valley’s traditional groomed runs.
Phase Three is expected by mid-January. Snowmaking crews hope to have enough coverage by then to bring most remaining runs online. The final phase will open the Pioche Express and Neptune Express lifts, connecting skiers to the full network of new blue, green and black terrain in the East Village.
The resort added 15 new snowcats this year, expanding the fleet to more than 30 machines used to maintain Deer Valley’s usual standard of grooming 60 to 70% of runs each night. The snowmaking system has also been significantly expanded, with new pump houses, over 80 miles of new pipe, more than a thousand additional snow guns and automated controls that enable crews to activate equipment more efficiently when temperatures drop.
“When Deer Valley makes snow, we traditionally make it to finish the season and not open the season,” said Graff. “So once we make snow, we don’t really want to go back and make it again.”
Hiring has been strong and there are expanded training programs to keep pace with the scale of the new terrain, according to resort leadership. Bennett said Deer Valley staff are committed to growing at a responsible pace as expanded terrain is rolled out.
“I just think that speaks to not only Deer Valley and our history, but also the support from our parent company,” Bennett said. “We’re going to do this the right way.”