Deer Valley
Deer Valley is an alpine ski resort in the Wasatch Range in the Park City area of northern Utah. Known for its upscale amenities, Deer Valley is consistently ranked among the top ski resorts in North America. It is one of the world's few remaining ski resorts that prohibit snowboarding. Deer Valley was a site of the 2002 Winter Olympics, hosting the freestyle moguls, aerial, and alpine slalom events. It also regularly hosts competitions for the International Ski Federation.
Resort profile
With a number of other large ski resorts nearby, Deer Valley competes by catering to a more upscale audience than its neighbors, offering amenities such as free ski valets, free parking shuttles, fine dining and boutique shopping in the main lodge. The resort's mid-mountain lodge, the Stein Eriksen Lodge, offers luxury accommodations and spa facilities. Stein Eriksen, its gold medalist namesake, is host of the lodge and director of skiing at the resort.
Deer Valley uses more grooming equipment than other Wasatch ski areas, and limits access to avoid overcrowding; as of 2006, the resort limited ticket sales to 6,500 per day. Deer Valley's total uphill lift capacity of 46,500 skiers per hour is approximately 50% higher than the capacity of its larger neighbors Park City Mountain Resort and The Canyons. Deer Valley has 21 chairlifts, including 11 high speed detachable quads and an enclosed 4-passenger gondola.
History
Mountain Development
Skiing began at Deer Valley with the Park City Winter Carnivals of the 1930s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built ski trails and other facilities during the winter of 1936-1937. The first ski lifts appeared in 1946, when local residents Robert Emmett Burns sr. and Otto Carpenter built lifts, largely from lodgepole pines from the mountainside. Deer Valley Resort opened in 1981 on the former site of this "Snow Park Ski Area", which had operated from 1946 to 1969. The resort has grown to include 6 mountains with 6 bowls, 930 acres (3.8 km 2 ) of glade skiing and 560 acres (2.3 km 2 ) of snowmaking. In total 2,026 acres (8.20 km 2 ).
Evolution of Guest Services
Deer Valley was one of the first resorts to offer ski valets to carry guests' ski gear, free parking-lot shuttles, and a state-licensed child-care facility, and to uniform all its employees. It also provides tissues in the lift lines, refers to customers as “guests”, and provides complimentary overnight ski check services.
Expansion History
Deer Valley Resort opened in 1981 on Bald Eagle and Bald Mountains, with five lifts built by Lift Engineering, also known as Yan: the Burns double (which is the only remaining original lift on the mountain), and the Carpenter, Homestake, Sultan, and Wasatch triple chairs. The Sterling lift was added in 1982, followed by Clipper in 1983. The first major terrain expansion came in 1984 with the addition of the Mayflower lift on Bald Mountain.
In 1991, Deer Valley's first high speed quad, Carpenter Express, was installed on Bald Eagle Mountain. That same year, the resort expanded onto Flagstaff Mountain with the Red Cloud and Viking lifts. This area added new intermediate and advanced mogul runs. The Crown Point lift was also built. Further expansion came in 1993 with the addition of the Northside Express lift, with its popular intermediate terrain. The Snowflake beginner double was also built this year. All new Deer Valley lifts built from 1993 on have been built by Salt Lake City-based Doppelmayr CTEC and its predecessors.
In 1996, the Carpenter Express and Wasatch lifts were replaced by two new Garaventa CTEC high speed quads. The old Wasatch triple was moved to create the Quincy lift in 1997. Also in 1997, the Deer Crest fixed quad was built, though it did not open until the following year.
For the 1998-99 season, Deer Valley underwent a major expansion, adding two more mountains. On Little Baldy Peak, the Deer Crest lift and Jordanelle Express Gondola opened with 8 runs: 2 green, 3 blue, and 3 black. In Empire Canyon, the long-proposed expansion included the Empire Express high speed quad and the Ruby fixed quad. The Empire area added advanced and expert terrain, including 2 blue runs, 4 black runs, and three expert bowl areas.
Deer Valley built many new lifts on its existing terrain in the early 2000s. In 1999, the Homestake triple was replaced by a fixed grip quad, and the old triple was moved to Empire Canyon the following year to become Little Chief (which itself was removed in 2009). In 2000, Silver Lake Express replaced the Clipper triple to provide a direct link between Deer Valley's two lodges. Quincy and Ruby were replaced by high speed quads in 2001 and 2002, respectively. In 2004, the Silver Strike Express and Judge lifts were built on Flagstaff Mountain. Sultan Express replaced the original Sultan lift in 2005, and Sterling Express was built in 2006.
In 2007, the Lady Morgan expansion added Deer Valley's sixth mountain. The new peak has 9 runs: 5 green, 1 blue, and 3 black, along with a large gladed area known as Centennial. The Lady Morgan Express chairlift is accessible from Flagstaff Mountain and Empire Canyon. This new lift expands Deer Valley's tree skiing terrain and adds 200 acres (0.81 km 2 ) skiable to the resort. Vertical rise of the new lift is 1,150 ft (350 m)
International competitions
2002 Olympic Winter Games
Deer Valley hosted the 2002 Olympic Winter Games freestyle moguls, aerial, and alpine slalom events. Deer Valley's Olympic stadium was 12 stories tall with seating for 10,000 guests. Freestyle aerial events were held on the White Owl run, which was regraded to host the events and is no longer open to the public during ski season. The Champion run was cut especially for the Olympic mogul events, and is generally not open to the public. The Know You Don't run was the site of the slalom events.
World Cup events
The resort hosted the 2003 World Freestyle Ski Championships, and is slated to host the 2011 championships as well; Deer Valley is the first American resort to be chosen to host twice.
Deer Valley is a regular host to FIS World Cup events, having hosted men's and women's mogul and aerial competitions yearly since 2000 (with the exceptions of 2003 and 2004). Deer Valley also hosted a skicross event in 2008, and is scheduled to host skicross, mogul and aerial events every January through 2013. Deer Valley's track record of event hosting has led it to be described as "a Mecca for freestyle skiing events".
Awards
USA Today reported that more than 20,000 SKI magazine subscribers declared the resort the best North American resort in 2005. Ski Magazine ranked Deer Valley at #2 in 2006, and again #1 in 2007, 2008, and 2009. SKI Magazine's 2007 " Top 50 Resort Guide " also gave Deer Valley top honors in customer service, grooming, and dining.
Snowboard prohibition protest
Deer Valley is one of three remaining American ski resorts that prohibit snowboarders, along with Utah's Alta Ski Resort and Vermont's Mad River Glen. The resort has for many years been the subject of protest action by snowboarders. A protest action initiated in late 2007 by snowboard manufacturer Burton Snowboards offered $5,000 for video footage of riders snowboarding at Alta, Deer Valley or Mad River Glen. According to Burton's website, the point of their campaign is that that such discrimination displays a "blatant aggressive disregard" for the Constitution of the United States.
Snowboarders living in or visiting the Park City area can snowboard at the two resorts near Deer Valley. The Canyons and Park City Mountain Resort both allow snowboarding, and offer halfpipes and terrain park features for snowboarders as well.
References
- ^ Better, Nancy M. (2006-11-19). "At Deer Valley, Utah, a One-Size-Fits-All Vacation - New York Times". New York Times . http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/travel/19heads.html?ref=travel . Retrieved 2009-02-07 .
- ^ Lady Morgan Express Chairlift
- ^ "Idaho Mountain Express: Deer Valley gets 2011 World Freestyle finals - May 31, 2006". www.mtexpress.com. 2006-05-31 . http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005110293 . Retrieved 2009-02-08 .
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^
"FIS-Ski - FIS Wor
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