Utah’s Ski Area To More Than Double in Size To Become One of 5 Biggest in US
Utah’s Deer Valley will more than double in size over the next few years to become one of the five largest in the USA, the resort’s owners the Alterra Mountain Company have announced.
Deer Valley Resort that will add 3,700 acres of terrain to its existing, 2,026 acres, almost tripling its size. There will also be a second base village giving new access to the ski area that avoids travelling through Park City.
At 5,726 acres it means that Deer Valley will be the fifth largest ski area in the US. As the second largest, Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR), owned by Alterra’s main rivals Vail, is also next to Park City itself, it means the famous ski town will offer over 13,000 acres of terrain on its doorstep.
The biggest US ski area by acres, if not uplift, Powder Mountain, is also in Utah, so three of the country’s biggest ski areas will now all be in Utah.
Deer Valley’s ski area expansion will add 16 new lifts and a new 10-passenger gondola, 135 new ski runs and a new snowmaking system. The expansion, the first at the resort since the 2007/2008 winter season when 200 acres of skiing were added on Lady Morgan Mountain, will begin to open from winter 2025/26.
The new terrain was originally set to be developed as a separate resort adjacent to Deer Valley, to be called Mayflower, announced as a $1 billion resort development in 2019. Construction work was underway but the project stalled and it appears Alterra has reached an agreement with Mayflower’s backers, Extell.
The new village is slated to have over 800 hotel rooms across multiple properties, nearly 1,700 residential units, 250,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, and 68,000 square feet for a recreation centre. In addition, the multi-faceted development is expected to create approximately 2,000 new Deer Valley job opportunities.
“Deer Valley Resort is committed to building upon our legacy as one of the world’s most exceptional ski areas while staying true to our founding principles created over four-decades ago,” said Todd Bennett, President & COO, Deer Valley Resort. “This expansion will facilitate even better access to the resort for our guests, while offering a substantial increase in world-class amenities consistent with the resort’s original vision.”
Deer Valley is one of only three ski areas worldwide, two of them in Utah, that still ban snowboarding. The resort describes this policy as a, “…unique ski-only experience…” and says it will continue to only allow skiers on its slopes with the expansion.
