When Deer Valley Resort begins spinning lifts this winter, skiers will be able to access seven new chairlifts and dozens of new runs.
This ski season marks the largest phase of Deer Valley’s East Village expansion.
Last winter, the resort debuted three new lifts, including the Keetley Express, the bubble lift that links the East Village base to the existing terrain. And it opened Green Monster, the longest ski run in Utah at 4.85 miles, and 19 other runs.
This winter, Deer Valley skiers will explore those additions and many more. The 2025-2026 expansion is set to include 80 new ski runs and seven new lifts.
By the time East Village is complete, Deer Valley will have more than doubled in size.
Garrett Lang is the resort’s senior director of mountain operations. On a recent tour of East Village, over bumpy access roads, he explained the new terrain is designed to offer a mix of difficulties at all altitudes.
“Once a beginner skier gets to a point that they can graduate from a carpet and is comfortable riding a lift, they could go up to 9,000 feet and be in a true alpine environment, rather than in a base area, and continue to learn how to ski there,” he said.
Kaylin Richardson, who’s part of Deer Valley’s “Ski with a Champion” program, said there will be a range of terrain types for advanced skiers to test their skills this season.
“We’re telling you a lot about, ‘If you like this at Deer Valley, there’s this’ – like, if you like Daly Chutes, you’ll like this,” she said. “There’s also some things that Deer Valley has never had, that we’ll have now – like some billy goating sections and just longer, more sustained powder skiing and trees.”
Lang said he’s confident in the quality of the snow on the east side of the mountain. He also pointed to the advanced, “heavily automated” snowmaking systems being installed, including over 1,200 snow guns.
An 8,000-square-foot temporary skier services facility will be in place this winter, with some dining, ski rentals and retail.
“The permanent skier services building won’t be fully online until ’27-’28,” Lang said. “We’re hoping for maybe a few amenities in the ’26-’27 season.”
Ski school will be available at East Village, too.
The new terrain includes a high-speed, 10-person gondola, called the East Village Express. It has a mid-station on Big Dutch Peak, or skiers can ride all the way to the top of Park Peak. From the base to the summit, the gondola ride will take about 15 minutes.
Also at the summit of Park Peak, a new lodge is under construction. The gondola cabins will be stored overnight in the basement for easier maintenance. Lang said the lodge’s architecture could accommodate another gondola from the existing terrain someday, too.
“If and when the Snow Park gondola – the Silver Lake/Snow Park gondola – ever goes in from the Snow Park Village, it would integrate directly into the other side of the lodge,” he said.
Lang said a heated outdoor deck and massive glass windows will afford expansive views of the open space to the southwest.
“I mean, people are going to want to eat there,” he said. “I think every bride in the Intermountain West is going to want to get married there.”
The lodge will be complete for the 2027-2028 season, although some amenities will open for 2026-2027.
This summer and fall, between 200 and 250 workers are on the mountain every day, installing lifts and snowmaking equipment and constructing the Park Peak lodge.
The resort is also doing a “massive amount” of hiring. Lang said Deer Valley will nearly double its mountain operations staff.
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