From Lifts to Lodges, These Are the Biggest Improvements Coming to Utah's Ski Resorts
It’s been a busy off-season for Utah’s ski resorts, with several new lifts and other improvements set to come online next winter.
From a small step forward for Deer Valley’s hulking Expanded Excellence project to an updated lodge at Alta Ski Area, these are some of the most notable changes you’ll spot across the Beehive State.
New Ski Lifts
Courtesy Deer Valley
Deer Valley: Hail Peak Express
Visible from Deer Valley’s new East Village base area, the Hail Peak Express, once spinning, will climb up a small summit that peers over the bottoms of the East Village Gondola. The lift, a high-speed quad, adds 200 skiable acres and seven new runs. For any other resort, one new lift is exciting. That’s true of Deer Valley, of course, but we are talking about a resort that’s added 11 new lifts since December 2024, or the equivalent of an entirely new mountain (it was at one point). In other words, if you haven’t paid Deer Valley a visit in the past year or two, it’s worth stopping just to see how much everything’s changed.
Courtesy Powder Mountain
Powder Mountain: DMI
Perhaps the most exciting development for diehard skiers, the DMI lift at Powder Mountain officially folds a zone of the same name into the ski resort’s boundaries. While the resort has previously offered guided access in the area, DMI—a Skytrac fixed-grip triple—allows for hot laps on terrain Powder Mountain calls steep and technical. If you’re curious about learning more, the resort has a very neat 3D model of the slopes available online. Powder Mountain’s also installing a high-speed quad to replace the old Sundown fixed-grip quad. Both lifts are in the resort’s public access area.
Sundance Mountain Resort: Electric Horseman
A big change for Sundance, the Electric Horseman makes the resort’s summit accessible in two lift rides from the parking lot. The high-speed quad spans more than 1,850 vertical feet and cruises to the top in a speedy six minutes, dropping skiers off near the upper terminal of the existing Red’s Lift. The slopes below it, per Sundance’s trail map, are intermediate and advanced. And yes, the lift’s name nods to former longtime Sundance owner and beloved actor Robert Redford. In 1979, he starred in the movie Electric Horseman, which, coincidentally, is a great thing to call a ski lift.
Other Resort Improvements
Courtesy Vail Resorts
Park City: Canyons Village Skyway Gondola
After more than two decades, Park City recently retired its Cabriolet—the unique ropeway that connected a parking area to the base of Canyons Village. In its stead, Park City is building the Canyons Village Skyway Gondola, which carries ten passengers per cabin. Joining the gondola is a new parking garage. Along with those changes, Park City rebuilt its superpipe ahead of the Snow League competition coming to the resort in January.
Rocko Menzyk/Alta Ski Area
Alta Ski Area: Albion Day Lodge Expansion
After years of work, the Albion Day Lodge is adding 3,400 square feet of dining space with mountain views, a fireside lounge, and a larger home for the Alta Java café.
Related: Giveaway: Win a Pair of Ellis Kanso 106 Skis and a Copy of POWDER Magazine
Leave a Reply