Deer Valley Resort unveiled the first phase of its East Village terrain expansion Tuesday with the opening of the Keetley Express and Aurora chairlifts, unlocking over 300 acres of new terrain. The grand opening for these lifts is scheduled for Jan. 9 at 8 a.m., though both lifts will remain open to the public until the official celebration.
Announced through social media platforms on Monday evening, this unexpected opening beckoned eager skiers and serendipitous visitors to participate in the terrain’s surprise initiation.
Among the eager early risers were Diane and Dave Sherwood, who were particularly excited.
“We misread the email and thought today was the grand opening,” said Diane. “We’re so happy, though. We got up early, parked first and were the first in line. They were sweet enough inside to give us coffee to make up for our mistake.
The Sherwoods have been visiting Deer Valley for nearly three decades, having spent their honeymoon at the resort in 1995. Though they started the day eager for the grand opening celebration, their excitement to experience the new terrain remained.
“We’re super excited, and it’s all because of the town that is now under the Jordanelle. We’ve been coming here forever,” said Diane.
“We live in Hideout,” said Dave. “It’s really great that this is here now. We don’t even have to hit the highway to get here.”
The grand opening blunder threw off more than just the Sherwoods. Mike Miller arrived early for the grand opening of Keetley Express, and while the celebration didn’t come, he was more than eager to get on the new terrain.
“Well I may have gotten here a bit early, but I just had to be here for the Keetley opening,” said Miller. “You can’t miss it if you’re a Deer Valley person.”
Chris Cushing, principal of mountain planning at the SE Group, had to make it out to watch this project come to life, he said. With the SE Group, Cushing spearheaded the expansion’s design, from dirt work to lift alignment.
“It’s a big deal for me. This is my home hill,” he said.
Cushing was also impressed by the convenience of the expanded parking at the new East Village.
“Coming up (from Salt Lake) this morning, I got to zoom right past the traffic exiting to Park City and come around to this side.”
Later in the day, after he experienced his own design work for the special opening, he said, “I sure approve. It’s great work.”
The Keetley Express lift is a six-seater Doppelmayr lift with heated seats and an insulated bubble to keep out the weather. The lift is warm and silent in the air, allowing folks to chat easily across the chair.
The East Village expansion is easily accessible from the previously existing terrain via the McHenry trail, which begins at the top of Homestake Express.
Completing the newly extended McHenry run, people were shocked at how long they had skied, having taken just one lift up.
“I feel like we just skied for 30 minutes,” said one skier, whose friend responded with, “Where the heck are we?”
McHenry was one of seven runs available on the East Village side for the special opening on Tuesday.
Liz and John are local to Kamas and have been watching this project’s construction for years. They declined to give their last names.
“We’re so excited, and with the new lift today we thought we would get here and try it out,” said Liz.
“We experimented with parking over here today,” said John. “Normally we park over at Deer Valley base. It makes the trip about 10 minutes faster. We’ve been watching it for years. It’s great to see it here now.”
Many skiers said they were excited about the accessibility this expansion presents to Kamas and Hideout residents. Others were looking forward to the expansion of terrain to avoid some of the lift lines this week with peak holiday crowds.
“There’s a reason we are at Deer Valley today. I have a feeling of dread for the holiday crowds,” said Tom Fox. “We saw the Instagram post last night (announcing the Keetley and Aurora opening) and thought we would give this a shot today. It was a good call to get here.”
“We’re here visiting my dad. He’s been waiting on this expansion for a while,” said one visitor, who said she was happily surprised to be there for the surprise opening.
“I think there are some mixed feelings around it. People seem excited to have more runs but curious to see how it will change the atmosphere by being accessible from more entry points here. More people, more terrain. We’re here today totally by chance, but it’s great to have this,” she said.
John Kachichian, who has been coming to Deer Valley for 18 years, skis almost every day here, he said.
“I was out here when they dropped the rope (to McHenry) at Crown Point this morning. I think there is really only one way to get down, but it’s still something. It’s an engaged town, and there’s definitely a lot of excitement for it,” said Kachichian.
Kachichian arrives at Deer Valley at 7:30 a.m. each day to avoid the car and skier traffic.
“I ski from 8 to 11 and get out of here before the crowds get big. The early days let me get out here quickly and have been great,” he said.
Deer Valley Resort extended their early opening days, where the lifts open to skiers starting at 8 a.m., until Jan. 4 to help manage holiday crowds.
“Adding an hour to the day gives our skiers more time to arrive and spread out before meeting ski school lessons and tours,” said Emily Summers, director of communications. “We added more days into January as the anticipated skier visits are expected to remain steady over the next week due to the holiday breaks for school going later into January this year.”
With added parking, terrain and hours in the ski day, Deer Valley is offering many options for those looking to avoid holiday traffic, said Kachichian.
“I started at Snow Park today, but I might reorient myself to start here. I’ll leave a set of skis on both sides and pick one depending on the day,” he said.
The Deer Valley East Village expansion is slotted to open in phases beginning Tuesday and throughout the 2025-26 season. Hoodoo Express is expected to open alongside additional terrain later this season.
The expansion when finished will open over 3,700 acres of new terrain with 16 total chairlifts and 135 runs, almost tripling Deer Valley’s current size. The official grand opening for the Keetley Express lift begins at 8 a.m. on Jan. 9. A complimentary sticker, hot chocolate, and coffee will be available to the first 500 skiers.
