With Another New Lift, Deer Valley Will Reach 4,500 Acres Next Winter
It may only be June, but Deer Valley is sharing more details about what skiers can expect next winter as the luxury Utah resort continues to grow, adding thousands of acres of terrain.
The most visible addition during the 2026-27 season will be the Hail Peak Express, a high-speed quad that departs from the new East Village area and brings skiers to the top of the nearby Hail Peak.
The Express adds another 200 acres of terrain and seven new runs, one of which, called “Hill Yeah,” is named for Hill Air Force Base in Northern Utah and “reinforces the shared commitment behind the Salute to Service program,” Deer Valley said in a release. The initiative at the resort gives “exclusive lodging, lift ticket and resort offerings” to service members and military families.
The Express marks another smaller step in Deer Valley’s sprawling “Expanded Excellence” project.
Since December 2024, the resort has added 11 new chairlifts and, come next winter, will have ballooned to 4,500 skiable acres, making it one of the largest mountains on the continent. With the expansion, Deer Valley is now in contention with giants like Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, and Heavenly Mountain Resort, California.
Ian Greenwood
The expanded slopes adjacent to Deer Valley’s original footprint amount to an entire new ski resort. At one point, they were.
Extell, a development company known for its New York City skyscrapers, originally set out to build a standalone resort in the area, calling it Mayflower. But in 2023, Deer Valley’s parent company, Alterra, announced that the burgeoning project would be folded into Deer Valley.
Beyond Hail Peak, Deer Valley outlined tentative plans to build a zone with rollers and berms on the green Pirate King trail, creating a “mild ski cross experience.” A new 10-million-gallon reservoir will also work with the existing Summit Pump House to pump 10,000 gallons of water per minute to boost snowmaking.
This summer, construction on two new lodges, the Park Peak Lodge and Deer Valley East Village, is continuing. Both are set to open during the 2027-28 season.
When POWDERvisited Deer Valley last winter, the resort’s team hinted at development in the South Peak area, which is currently out-of-bounds, but didn’t share any concrete details. Deer Valley’s latest update didn’t share any specific plans for South Peak, either.
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