Edgar Stern became enamored with skiing while attending prep school in Switzerland. Later, he and his wife, Polly, would spend decades splitting time between his native New Orleans, where he owned the Royal Orleans and Royal Sonesta hotels, and another ski destination, Aspen.
But the Sterns dreamed of opening their own ski resort, one in tune with their sensibilities and standards of first-class service. They took ownership of a small ski hill in the old mining town of Park City, Utah, then sold that so they could develop afresh on neighboring peaks to the east, on and around the defunct Snow Park Ski Area. They called their new resort Deer Valley and opened it in 1981.
True to the Sterns’ vision, Deer Valley quickly earned a reputation as a lavish winter destination. They recruited skiing megastar Stein Eriksen as their first director of skiing, and in 1982, opened Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star Stein Eriksen Lodge Deer Valley.
On the slopes, they strove to create the best-groomed trails on the finest snow in the West. And anticipating the likelihood of controversy around the then-nascent snowboard scene, they established a skiers-only policy from the start — one that continues today. Although Deer Valley offered a fair share of advanced and expert terrain, the resort never tried to position itself as an extreme destination, like Crested Butte or Jackson Hole. Instead, skiers chose Deer Valley for its pristine corduroy and its world-class amenities and dining — such as the Chute 11 champagne-and-caviar yurt and the Sticky Wicket, a classic ski bar where you can opt for a brown butter lobster roll as easily as a plate of brisket fries.
In Deer Valley’s first two decades, it grew from five to 13 lifts by 1997. The resort hosted the 2002 Olympics and 23 Freestyle International Ski World Cups. Further development took place in 2005 and 2007, after which the resort was sitting pretty with 103 runs served by 23 lifts, covering 2,026 skiable acres.
It would have been easy to rest on laurels. But behind the scenes, plans were taking shape and, in 2023, Deer Valley announced its Expanded Excellence project, one that would double its size.
What’s remarkable is the way the long-term vision became reality almost overnight. While it will take a few years to complete all phases of construction, Deer Valley prioritized the on-mountain, skiing experience by building 10 new lifts in time for the 2025-26 season, including the six-person, heated Keetley Express bubble chair and the 10-person East Village Express gondola, which spans nearly three miles from the base to the top of Park Peak in about 14.5 minutes. Suddenly, the resort ranks among the 10 largest in North America, just after Vail.
“The idea had been tossed around for at least 30 years, throughout my whole career, but it really got started in 2021,” Deer Valley vice president of mountain operations, Steve Graff, says. Yet the bulk of the work took place in the summer of 2025.
To help ensure a seamless transition from the original sections to the expanded terrain, the development team turned to Chris Cushing of SE Group. Founded in 1958, SE is the first “snow engineering” firm dedicated to the planning and design of ski areas. It’s also where Cushing’s father, Joe, spent his career designing mountains — including the original Deer Valley. Thus, the new terrain carries the same DNA. “It seems like it’s always been there,” Graff says. “You wouldn’t know one part from the other. One thing I’m most excited about is how well it all blends together.”
Neither words nor photos can express the scale of Deer Valley’s expansion, but a few facts can offer an approximation. It took the work of a heavy-duty Chinook helicopter to install 40 towers for the gondola alone. These support the 31,700-foot-long haul rope, which, in turn, suspends 142 cabins dozens of feet above the ground. The new lifts provide access to about 100 new trails, bringing the resort’s total number to 202. Four fully automated snowmaking pumphouses can distribute up to 15,000 gallons of water per minute, powering nearly 1,200 snow guns. Ten additional new snowcats, running in two shifts, help move the man-made powder and groom trails either nightly or three to four times a week. A non-skier might imagine that a resort such as Deer Valley would occupy a single mountain. However, when the project is completed, its lifts will provide aerial transport to 10 separate peaks.
And some of the new trails are really long. Green Monster, named for the copper once mined here, winds for nearly five miles from the 9,350-foot Park Peak all the way down to the resort’s lowest elevation of 6,350 at the East Village. As its color suggests, it’s a beginner-friendly run — and the longest in Utah.
If you fancy a steeper grade, Age of Reason is a fast, fun, intermediate trail that runs roughly parallel to Green Monster before the trails merge near the bottom. Lady of the Lake, which you can access from Keetley Express, may not be as lengthy, but it’s positively stunning, with unending views of the Jordanelle Reservoir and the mountains on the far shore.
Through mid-February 2026, Utah was in the midst of its worst snow year on record; some of the mountainsides remained bare. And yet Deer Valley kept breaking its own records for the highest number of open trails — thanks to its otherworldly snowmaking operations, so legendary that TechnoAlpin installed a celebratory, golden fan gun in recognition of its prowess. Ribbons of corduroy twist down from peaks.
In some ways, the lack of natural snow has been advantageous. “I would normally be skiing in the trees, but this has allowed me to really learn the actual trails,” 30-year veteran mountain host Amy Erickson says.
When the heavy snows do arrive, it will feel like a whole new expansion as chutes, glades and bowls all open up.
“We’ve added a wide range of terrain, from excellent steeps off the Revelator Express chair to beginner trails off Pinion Express,” Todd Bennett, Deer Valley’s president and COO, says. “It’s a great variety with something for all types of guests, from grandparents to teenagers and young kids.”
One of the most anticipated new runs is Redemption, an advanced intermediate trail that soars along the ridge of Park Peak. You can access this from the gondola, via Free Will, but for the full experience, you should take Revelator to the very top. Here you’ll also find the Deer Skiers sculpture, which will surely become the most-Instagrammed location in the resort. The giant green letters stand alone on the open peak, the wilderness of the Wasatch Range spanning the panoramic background.
“This was the run I was really looking forward to,” Graff says. “I think it will become the signature trail in the expanded terrain.”
