Deer Valley: piste guide
The slopes are varied and interesting. Deer Valley’s reputation for immaculate grooming is justified, but there is also a lot of exciting tree skiing and some steep bump runs. There are free mountain tours for different standards. We have been on two three-hour black-diamond tours, and they were both brilliant, taking us through fresh powder in the trees that we would never have found on our own.
Deer Valley guide
A recent reporter who was involved in two collisions on one day complains of reckless skiing and not enough fences to slow people down, especially in the Silver Lake area.
Slopes
Two parallel chairs take you up Bald Eagle Mountain, just beyond which is the mid-mountain focus of Silver Lake Lodge. You can ski from here to the isolated Little Baldy Peak, served by a gondola and a fast quad chairlift, with mainly easy runs to serve property developments there (though a local loves skiing these first thing because they are immaculately groomed and deserted, with great views). But the main skiing is on three linked peaks beyond Silver Lake Lodge – Bald Mountain, Flagstaff Mountain and Empire Canyon. The top of Empire is just a few metres from the runs of the Park City ski area but crossing the fence that divides the two is banned.
Fast lifts
Fast quads rule; the three main peaks have nine.
Queues
Waiting in lift lines is not something that Deer Valley wants its guests to experience, so it limits the number of lift tickets sold. But it has built four lifts ending at the same place at the top of Flagstaff – resulting in hordes of people trying to go in different directions (insane – and not what you’d expect in Deer Valley).
Terrain parks
There isn’t one.
Snow reliability
Excellent, and there’s plenty of snowmaking too.
Experts
Despite the image of luxury there is excellent expert terrain on all three main mountains, including fabulous glades, bumps, chutes and bowls. And the snow doesn’t get skied out quickly. The Ski Utah Interconnect Tour to Alta starts here.
Intermediates
There are lots of superbly groomed blue runs.
Beginners
There are nursery slopes at Silver Lake Lodge as well as the base, and gentle green runs to progress to.
Snowboarding
Boarding is banned.
Cross-country
There are 20km of trails on Park City golf course and 30km at Soldier Hollow near Homestead Resort.
Schools and guides
The ski school is doubtless excellent; book in advance.
Families
The Children’s Center accepts children from two months to 12 years.
Where to Ski
This guide is taken from Where to Ski, edited by Chris Gill.
