Deer Valley Resort announced their biggest capital investment in over two decades on Tuesday morning. The resort’s parent company Alterra Mountain has $14 million in improvements planned for the 2020/2021 season.
Improvements for this year include the first phase of a master plan for modernizing the resort’s dining experience. Deer Valley Senior Communications Manager Emily Summers says that starts with an initial phase renovating Snow Park base lodge.
“It’ll include new retail offerings, and extensive updates to the food and beverage experiences,” Summers explained. “Both existing as well as some new spaces which will be an indoor/outdoor après bar and then a slope side coffeeshop/bistro. So, the lodge will have a brand-new look when we welcome skiers back next winter.”
Summers says renovation will begin as soon as it can once the resort is closed for the season. There’s a possibility that the work could impact summer activities, but the extent of that impact is still to be determined.
“We will operate our summer activities as normal as possible,” Summers said. “There’ll still be a ticket office, and bike rental, and biking out of here. We still will have a summer concert series. There just might be some slight changes to how you access the venue, or how you access the ticket office, but we will be operating as normal as we can.”
Deer Valley Resort’s $14 million in capital improvements this year kicks off Alterra Mountain Company's five-year plan for Deer Valley, that will total more than $75 million in enhancements once completed.
“There's a five-year plan, the details of which will be announced each year,” Summers continued. “Definitely a focus on modernizing some of our lodges and just enhancing and upgrading our dining experiences. Along that same line coming up this summer is the Cushing's Cabin at the top of Flagstaff Mountain is going to have an outdoor deck added to it. That just operates in the winter for skiers, so it'll just be totally changed for next winter with a new outdoor experience.”
Other upgrades specific to winter services will include purchasing new snow cats to add to the snow grooming fleet, and $1 million of investments in snowmaking capabilities including purchasing additional low-energy guns, new fan guns, upgrading control systems and replacing several thousand feet of snowmaking pipes.
Additional outdoor digital signage will be added to the resort area, which will have real-time information made available to patrons. Other investments include new uniforms for all on-mountain staff and upgrades and investments in overall transportation fleets around the resort.
Improvement to summer amenities include continued work with Gravity Logic to expand mountain bike trails, with two new trails being added as soon as conditions allow.
“So, a blue flow trail, or an intermediate level, on Bald Eagle Mountain which is lower kind of Snow Park area of Deer Valley and then a green trail from the top of Bald Eagle back down to Silver Lake Village,” Summers explained. “Again, how they open, and the timeline of those, are always dependent on how weather and construction goes.”
Alterra Mountain Company also announces its plans to invest $223 million in capital improvements across its 15 North American mountain destinations for the upcoming year.
