Deer Valley Resort

Today on the Local News Hour: 

(03:51) -  Summit County Manager Tom Fisher discusses the agenda for Wednesday's county council meeting.

(20:58) - Carol Loomis, founder and board chair of PC Tots and Brandi Rasmussen owner of Creekside Kids Academy talk about opening up childcare programs in the COVID-19 period.

Ski Utah announced on Wednesday that despite losing the last couple months of winter to COVID-19, the 2019-20 ski season in Utah was still the fourth-best season on record for skier visits.

Skiing and snowboarding in Utah came to an abrupt end in mid-March when the first resorts in the state began closing due to COVID-19. Ski Utah CEO Nathan Rafferty says the early closures were devastating for the industry with over $232 million in lost revenue. 

Today on the Local News Hour:

(06:06) -  Basin Recreation Trails and Open Space Manager Matt Wagoner has a follow up from last week's trails discussion.

(21:10) - Park City Manager Matt Dias has a preview of the agenda for Thursday's city council meeting.

(37:12) - Deer Valley Marketing Director Coleen Reardon has details about this weekend’s opening of the summer season.

As the mountain resort industry remains at a standstill due to COVID-19, Alterra Mountain Company – the owner of Deer Valley Resort - has made adjustments to maintain its financial viability, resulting in the furlough of nearly 300 employees.

In a recent internal memo to all Alterra staff, CEO Rusty Gregory wrote that while the company is well capitalized and maintains a very high level of liquidity to help get through difficult times, this situation is unprecedented.

Around 1,300 international students come to Park City for the winter season, to work at the resorts or in other seasonal jobs throughout the community. 

In a normal year, when the ski season lasts until early April, international student workers in Park City on a J-1 visa would typically work until March 16 or 17, says Pete Stoughton, director of programming at the Christian Center of Park City. After that, they might travel the country for a month, visiting national parks or other cultural sites, before heading back to their home countries.

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.

The Deer Valley Ski Resort is opening this weekend  for the 2019-2020 season.  

President and CEO Todd Shallan, who is entering his second season with Deer Valley, told KPCW that they got off to a good start with some early winter weather in October.       

The Park City Council voted Thursday to approve a contract with transportation app RideAmigos, something transportation staff says could help alleviate traffic congestion. One councilmember voted against the contract.

Councilmember Steve Joyce, the one nay vote on the RideAmigos contract, says he doesn’t oppose the use of the app as a traffic-reduction strategy—he just wants to see results.

As a premier ski resort, Deer Valley manages 1,200 bedrooms for patrons. Maintaining a quality guest experience throughout the resort, though, requires a big staff, most of whom are only there for the winter months—and many of them need lodging accommodations themselves. KPCW dives into the housing that’s available for seasonal employees at the resort.

With last winter’s record ski season and nearly record snowfall, Deer Valley Resort reached its parking capacity for almost 30 days this past winter. Limited by how often the overflow can park on the streets, the resort has come up with some mitigation efforts and presented them to the Park City Planning Commission last week. 

During this winter’s heavy snow season, Deer Valley Resort’s parking lots filled up more days than expected, resulting in guests parking on Deer Valley Drive in the Snow Park Community. Deer Valley’s development agreement outlines that, once the nearly 1,300-space parking lots are filled, Deer Valley can only use street parking for up to 10% of its operating days, usually 12 to 13 days per season. If that allotment is exceeded, the resort is required to meet with the planning commission to revisit parking options.