Deer Valley Resort’s 2019-2020 winter ski season may have been cut short in March due to COVID-19, but the resort is looking forward to continuing its summer operations as it’s set to reopen for business on Friday, June 26 with its usual lift-served mountain biking, hiking, and scenic chairlift rides available to guests.
Deer Valley Marketing Director Coleen Reardon says the resort is taking special measures to ensure guest and employee safety.
“We have exhaustive plans in place to try and keep our staff and our guests safe,” Reardon said. “We’re going to be physical distancing in all of our lines and queues. We’re also really encouraging our guests to wear masks and our staff will all be required to wear masks.”
Hiking, biking, scenic lift rides, and several dining and lodging options will be available to guests. Reardon says guests should reserve tickets before their visits because the resort will limit visitation.
Given the popularity of mountain biking at Deer Valley, Reardon says limiting the number of mountain bikers per day is also a possibility in order to avoid overcrowding on the trails and in lift lines.
Deer Valley will also test a number of touchless payment features in order to limit person-to-person contact as much as possible.
The resort industry was hit hard by COVID-19, with many employees out of work since the spring. Although restrictions on events prevent bringing everyone back to work, Reardon says Deer Valley was able to hire more than 100 seasonal employees for their summer operations.
“It’s all based on limited visitation and capacity,” Reardon said. “It’s not a normal summer. There’s no concerts, no events, so that’s a big chunk right there of our staff. I think we’re about half-capacity in all of our restaurants. It’s just not business as usual.”
Reardon adds winter season passes have not yet gone on sale due to uncertainty surrounding what winter will look like with COVID-19 restrictions.
“It’s just too soon to know what it’s going to look like, so we’re uncomfortable selling or taking reservations until we know a little more,” she said. “There’s just so many unknowns. You make a decision and you back up and make a different decision. We don’t want to compromise our guest experience or the experience we’re able to provide by jumping the gun too quickly.”
Sales of Ikon multi-resort passes for the 2020-2021 winter season are still ongoing, however, and Deer Valley Resort is listed as an Ikon destination on the pass’s website. Alterra Mountain Company is the owner of both Deer Valley and the Ikon Pass brand.
For more information on Deer Valley’s summer offerings, head to deervalley.com.
