Hundreds of people attended Deer Valley’s “Future in Flight” event. It was a chance to see crews installing lift towers on new terrain on the East Village side of the resort in Wasatch County.
Visitors started at Snow Park Lodge and took the Silver Lake Express and Sterling Express chairlifts to the top of Bald Mountain. At the peak, visitors lounged in seating areas to watch the construction team in action.
Kids under 12 rode free with their parents, and each received a yellow hard hat and neon vest, including Parkite Lindsay Woolford's 5- and 2-year-old daughters.
“They love them! They got vests, they got little hard hats, it was cute,” she said. “It was super cool to see them building the lifts and the helicopters going in and out.”
Visitors heard the heavy-lift Chinook helicopter before they saw it. They crowded onto the windy overlook to watch as its red and white striped tandem rotors flew in lift tower pieces for the Pinyon Express chairlift and East Village gondola.
Deer Valley President Todd Bennett said the tower designs vary depending on a few factors.
“They design the specific pieces that are going to be installed based on the elevation in which they're going to be installed and the type of equipment that is going to be flying them,” he said. “So today was kind of the heavy load, the big items, and that's why we've got the Chinook running for the upper sections of the gondola.”
Once completed, the 10-passenger East Village Express Gondola will have 40 towers, 142 cabins, 31,000 feet of haul rope and it will take 14.5 minutes to get to the top.
After enjoying the view and helicopter lift installation, visitors headed back to the Silver Lake Lawn for yard games, food and live music from Mountain Town.
Including the gondola, Bennett said seven lifts and 80 trails in the East Village area are under construction this summer. They will all open for the 2025-2026 ski season, adding to the three lifts and 20 trails that opened last season.
Bennett said over half of the nearly 50 miles of snow-making pipe has been installed so far. He said it’s one of the most advanced snow-making systems in the world.
Every snow gun will be Ethernet-connected and Bennett said the operations team can operate them remotely from their phones and computers.
“When we get our cold temperatures we've got to go, and that gives us the ability to turn those guns on quickly, get them pointed in the right direction, and start making snow so that we can get as many trails as possible open for the Christmas holiday, and then make sure that we have the right snow all the way into April,” he said.
When all the expanded terrain is open, Deer Valley will have more than doubled in size, totaling more than 5,700 acres of skiable terrain.
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