While Deer Valley typically opens the first Saturday of December, resort Director of Communications Emily Summers said this year, everything aligned perfectly for an early opening day.
“Mother Nature really cooperated with these really consistent cold temperatures, really perfect for our snow-making system and the way Thanksgiving fell, just kind of everything aligned for us to open for the holiday weekend,” she said.
Deer Valley opened with 11 trails and six lifts. Season pass holders got to ski Friday and all guests were welcomed Saturday.
Scott Strasburg and Burke Weir were excited to be there Saturday and hyped up the crowd waiting to get on the chair lift. Weir was decked out with snowblades, plastic bling, a rainbow-stuffed elephant and a conical hat plastered with stickers from various resorts. He said he was happy to add a Deer Valley sticker to his collection.
“They usually don't give out stickers, because you can buy them, but they gave us one today right when we walked up!” Weir said.
Strasburg wore a neon get-up he called his French outfit as it said “France” on the back.
It’s the pair’s tradition to ski opening and closing days at as many resorts as possible. Strasburg said they also skied at Snowbasin and Snowbird on opening day this year.
“We've hit a lot of openers, but always at all the openers, we always talk about Deer Valley, we just want to go to Deer Valley,” he said.
The pair also closed out the 2023-2024 season at Deer Valley last spring.
Three generations of the Montgomery family were also at Deer Valley Saturday. A regular on the mountain for two decades, Mary Ann Montgomery was one of the first people up the chairlift with her daughter and granddaughter.
“That's the way you do it when you're a skier. You get there opening day, first hour, first in line,” she said.
Erik Brown recently got a house in Heber and is skiing at Deer Valley because it’s the closest.
“I'm very excited. I'm just happy to ski,” he said. “We're from California. Mammoth, has opened the last couple years really early, so being out here, getting to ski around Thanksgiving, super fun.”
Brown also said he’s excited for Deer Valley East Village in Wasatch County to open. The resort is aiming to open it for the season Dec. 18, a full year earlier than originally planned.
Deer Valley East Village will debut 20 new runs this year and three new chairlifts. The new Hoodoo Express and Aurora chairlifts take skiers to beginner-friendly runs. The Keetley Express is Deer Valley’s first six-pack bubble chairlift and connects visitors to the Sultan Express chairlift on Bald Mountain.
