Deer Valley Announces Massive Terrain Expansion, More than Doubling in Size
Deer Valley claims it will span an astounding 5,726 acres once the expansion is done.
Earlier today, Utah’s Deer Valley announced what will probably be the biggest terrain expansion of the decade. This ski-only resort—snowboarders aren’t allowed—says it will be adding over 3,700 acres of new skiable terrain, allowing it to nearly triple in size to 5,726 acres—and making it, by our calculations, the fourth largest ski resort in North America.
In addition to a brand new base village and access portal, the terrain expansion will include an astounding 16 new lifts, including a 10-passenger gondola, and 135 new runs. Deer Valley says the new terrain will include “numerous” bowls, glades, and four new mountain peaks.
Deer Valley says this expansion is possible thanks to a partnership with Extell Development Company, which had previously been developing this terrain as part of what was intended to be an independent Mayflower Mountain Resort. However, it seems that the two have partnered to open this terrain as part of Deer Valley itself.
This monumental expansion is marked to open in phases, with the first new 2,900 acres and 9 lifts on track to open for the 2025-26 season. A completion date for the full build has not been announced yet.
The full suite of changes can be found here.
Our Take
We’ve known that the new Mayflower Mountain Resort was coming for awhile, but two things didn’t strike us until now: (1) that the resort would be formally encompassed as part of Deer Valley, and (2) just how insanely big it would be.
The expansion looks to add a substantial amount of terrain for all abilities, and crucially, will allow for a much longer continuous vertical drop than the resort offers now (while the current mountain spans over 3,000 vertical feet from top-to-bottom, it’s not continuous). The new lifts and trail pods look like they will integrate nicely into the existing resort structure, hopefully allowing guests to smoothly ski from between current terrain and the expansion areas, and vice-versa.
This figure shows detailed ability ratings for much of Deer Valley’s future terrain.
Source: Deer Valley Expanded Excellence
One worry is that a lot of the new terrain will be in a low elevation area, bottoming out around 6,500 feet. We’re going to be on the lookout for how the resort handles snowmaking for what will likely be more variable natural terrain than other resorts in Utah. In addition, snowboarders are not going to be happy that Deer Valley intends to maintain its skier-only policy; in fact, they make a strong point of that in their expansion report.
But all in all, we’re excited to see such a monumental expansion materialize in the ski world (albeit not the snowboard one).
Considering a ski trip to Deer Valley this year—before its big changes come through? Check out our full Utah ski resort rankings, as well as our comprehensive Deer Valley mountain review. You can also check out our Deer Valley review in video form below.
