Preparations are underway at Deer Valley Resort for The Fox US Open of Mountain Biking. The race, which will take place in September, will be the final stop in the Pro Downhill Series, the Official US National Mountain Bike Championship.

Professional mountain bike racing has a long history at Deer Valley. The resort was a hub for competitions during the late ’90s and early 2000s. Clay Harper competed at those races before founding the US Open in 2003.

“The races here in the late ’90s were the biggest in the world,” Harper said. “There’s so much history and we’re bringing it back.” 

Over the past 20 years, the Fox US Open of Mountain Biking has been hosted by various mountains across the country. Most recently, the race was in Killington, Vermont. Earlier this summer, Deer Valley and the US Open organizers made the move official. 

“We’ve discovered a great working relationship with Deer Valley and put together one of the best tracks in the world,” Harper said.

The length of the track, variations in terrain and easy access are what make it the best, Harper said.

Just over 1 mile long, the track follows the same part of the mountain from races in the past. Fans and Deer Valley locals will recognize some of the features from the races 20 years ago. Classic sections of trail like Little Niagara, The Quarry, Whiskey’s Rock and Psycho Spin that have come to define mountain biking will all be included with upgrades to match the progression of the sport.

The teams at Deer Valley are working on these upgrades now. The trails are wider in some areas, turns are built up to make them safer for riders and standard maintenance like clearing debris are all changes that will modernize the classic track.

“It’s a good partnership because Deer Valley has the scale and resources to take this to the next level,” Harper said. “They have the capacity to do what we need, and we’ve done it perfectly.”

There are also now several wooden features built throughout the track, including the platform where competitors will begin the race.

Greg Fisher, event and programming manager at Deer Valley, said the lumber for these features comes from trees that were cut down throughout the resort while building the trail. The wood was milled at the resort, too. 

“This track has a ton of character,” Harper said.

Part of what makes Deer Valley stand out as a host is the energy around Park City and Utah as a whole. 

The Fox US Open of Mountain Biking has its biggest fan base in Utah, Harper said. Having the race in a town with so much to do brings out more excitement from the fans and the competitors.

Trails around Deer Valley will be open during the competition, and the race track itself will open to the public after the competition.

Spectators can access the race from the Snow Park lodge area with a free ticket or purchase a lift ticket to get a closer view of the race track on Bald Eagle Mountain.

The 2026 Fox US Open of Mountain Biking will take place from Sept. 11-13. Friday night, invited athletes will compete in the “Best Whip,” a big air jump competition at the Silver Lake Lodge. Professional classes will race Saturday with the youth and amateur races on Sunday.

For more information on scheduling and to reserve tickets, visit deervalley.com/usopen

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Alli Childress is a mountain biker, but rather than going on her own, the mother of three prefers to ride with her family, including 6-year-old Bex, 9-year-old Brodie and 11-year-old Brantley.

The Childress family stood together at Deer Valley Resort on June 19, the opening day of summer operations. They donned helmets, gloves and pads and prepped their bikes for a swift descent down the mountain. 

When asked why they like mountain biking, Bex exclaimed that he didn’t like it. 

“I love it!” he said. 

Oldest Brantley added, “Wheelies are the best.” He explained that sometimes he scares his mom with his mountain biking antics and tricks.

“They’re incredible,” Alli said. 

Her kids, Alli said, have surprised her with their capabilities.

Downhill mountain biking is now something the Childress family does together throughout the summer. They ride the chairlift up the mountain and descend, taking their favorite trails back to the lifts to do it all again. 

Deer Valley is the family’s chosen mountain biking destination for summer. The resort, which halted mountain biking operations last year, is ready to welcome bikers once more to its trails. 

Downhill mountain biker Rachel Seibert said the sport is an avenue to engage with a new community that’s not easily found in the wintertime. Skiing, she said, can be more of a solo sport. But mountain biking is where new friends are easily found. 

Seibert has a Deer Valley Resort pass for the summer. She said she is excited to be back and biking at one of her favorite destinations for downhill trails. She also enjoys runs like Fire Swamp. 

“I haven’t hit the upper section, but the lower section is super fun,” Seibert said. “I love the drops.”

Winding through trees, Seibert likes to descends on two wheels at top speed. This is her fourth season as a downhill mountain biker. She said the sport allows her to access new ways of learning because it focuses and calms her mind. 

“It’s very high consequence,” Seibert said. “It really relaxes me, even though that sounds a little contradictory. But also the friends that I’ve made through mountain biking have been out of this world.”

For Deer Valley employees in charge of summer operations, community is the main focus.

Kevin Kirksey, vice president of marketing at Deer Valley, said it’s all about creating great stories about the mountain to get more people to visit and “create more amazing experiences for them once they are here.”

Kirksey is new to the Deer Valley team, joining as vice president of marketing nearly two months ago. 

“I’m just really looking forward to having a summer here at Deer Valley and really enjoying a lot of the different activities that are just so much better in the mountains,” Kirksey said. 

That includes mountain biking, hiking, scenic lift rides and events from concerts to food festivals. 

“It’s kind of just a mix of really wonderful things that you can do every weekend as well as during the week to enjoy time up here in the mountains,” Kirksey said. 

Deer Valley hosted its third annual Mountain Pride Day event in partnership with the Summit Pride Foundation on Sunday. The family friendly event, Kirksey said, celebrated inclusivity, community and a belief that everybody belongs in the mountains. 

Mountain Pride Day featured outdoor yoga, live music by Will Baxter Trio and a community Pride Ride down Holy Roller from the top of the Sterling Express chairlift. It was one of Deer Valley’s first “big moments” for the summer, Kirksey said. 

Weekly live music at Silver Lake will kick off in July with food trucks and family friendly offerings. Then there’s the twilight ride series and guided hiking.

For Jacob Musyt, vice president of food and beverage, the real star of the summer show is, well, food and beverage. 

That includes the Fire and Flavor Festival at Silver Lake, when chefs bring live-fire cooking to the mountains every Saturday and Sunday from July 11 until Aug. 8. Each weekend brings a different lineup, including open-fire seafood, regional barbecue and highlights from local breweries. 

“It really comes down to understanding when our guests are coming, who our guests are,” Musyt said. 

Musyt said he’s most excited for events that bring the community together. 

“It’s just the experience that we’re creating every weekend,” Musyt said. “The mountain community hanging out outside, listening to music, drinking beer and eating food. That’s what I think summer is all about and that’s what I’m really excited for.”

A full list of summer events can be found on the Deer Valley Resort website at deervalley.com/things-to-do/events. 

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For most riders dropping into one of Deer Valley Resort’s mountain bike trails this summer, the work beneath their tires may go unnoticed.

The sculpted berms, smooth rollers and carefully shaped jumps are designed that way.

“Flow style” mountain biking — where riders move continuously downhill with minimal braking or pedaling — only works when thousands of hours of labor disappear into the background.

After a year of closures, construction impacts and one of the largest transformation periods in resort history, the crews responsible for maintaining Deer Valley’s summer terrain say reopening trails this season has been equal parts rebuilding project, engineering challenge and race against time. 

“I think of it as waking up the trails from their hibernation,” said Deacan Spierling, a bike patrol trail worker, as he used a shovel to pat down and smooth out the approach to a jump on the Tsunami trail. 

As the trails emerge from their winter slumber, timing and weather play a critical role in the process to get things ready for opening day, crews say. 

“If people aren’t up there riding them, nature tends to take over a little bit,” said Dan Ward, the resort’s mountain bike trail supervisor, while walking between work zones on the upper mountain.

That takeover comes quickly, he said.

Grass creeps into trail corridors. Fallen trees accumulate. Winter runoff cuts channels into surfaces. Snow lingers long after lower elevation terrain has dried out. And after large-scale resort construction altered portions of the mountain, some trails required something more substantial than maintenance.

“The ski run construction totally eliminated probably about a quarter mile of trail right here,” Ward said, referencing the meadow section of the Tidal Wave trail. “We’re left with the task of redesigning and putting features back in.”

Throughout the upper mountain, crews have spent weeks reopening trail corridors, rebuilding jumps, reshaping turns and reconnecting trail systems before opening day which is scheduled for June 13.

Despite the workload, staff estimated roughly 90% of terrain was approaching readiness for the season by mid-May.

The work itself is considerably more technical than many riders may realize.

On jump trails, trail builders begin by measuring grades and estimating rider speeds before construction even starts.

A black diamond jump trail, for example, typically follows specific downhill grades that help crews estimate how quickly riders will approach features, explained Ward.

“There’s no school of mountain bike building a jump,” he said, noting that construction relies on testing, experience and repetition.

Crews build features, visually inspect them and eventually ride them repeatedly before public opening. Adjustments to takeoff angles, landing zones and speed control often happen multiple times before trails are considered complete.

“We’re not just throwing people at it willy nilly,” Ward said.

That process becomes more important on trails where mistakes carry consequences.

Some jump lines feature gaps ranging between roughly 25 and 35 feet and are ridden at high speeds.

“If you hit the jump and it puts you forward or back, there can be consequence to it,” he said.

Safety, workers say, shapes nearly every decision.

Many members of the trail crew also work winter ski patrol, creating a beneficial overlap between emergency response experience and trail construction.

Crews inspect trails daily, coordinate with bike patrol staff and intentionally build rest areas into trail networks where riders can stop before fatigue becomes dangerous.

“If people are just jamming the whole trail, they get fatigued, and that’s when accidents start happening,” Assistant Patrol Manager Steve Campbell said.

The result is a balancing act between progression and accessibility. Trail crews must create experiences that are exciting for experienced riders while remaining approachable enough for beginners and resort visitors.

That balancing act has become increasingly important as summer visitation changes.

Workers say demand for hiking continues growing alongside mountain biking, and resort leadership is increasingly focused on summer operations and expanding recreational opportunities.

New terrain under construction near Deer Valley’s East Village expansion will largely focus on cross-country riding, workers said, while hiking infrastructure continues receiving additional attention.

The growth comes as crews confront another challenge entirely: getting visitors to stay off trails before conditions are ready.

During spring melt, muddy riding creates deep ruts that significantly increase repair work.

Workers pointed to fresh tire tracks crossing still-soft sections of trail while explaining that early season riding often extends closures rather than shortening them as it can be difficult to smooth out those tracks.

This year, crews said conditions have helped.

Lower snowpack and earlier melt allowed workers to begin projects roughly three weeks ahead of anticipated schedules, particularly on the upper portions of the mountain, which, in the past, have not opened until a few weeks into the season.

Machines are operating seven days a week in some areas while hand crews move between maintenance projects across the mountain.

For riders arriving this summer, most of that work will remain invisible.

And that’s the point. Because the best trail work, the crew suggested, is the kind riders never notice at all. 

For those looking to improve their skills, learn the ins and outs of the mountain trail network or new to mountain biking, Deer Valley’s mountain bike school offers private lessons and a variety of bike clinics for all ages and skill levels. 

For information on lessons, see deervalley.com/plan-your-trip/bike-lessons.

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The Christian Center of Park City held their annual family-friendly and non-competitive Hike For Hunger at Deer Valley Resort Saturday afternoon, September 9, 2017. The event, which featured three hiking and two biking trails, aimed to raise awareness about hunger issues in the Park City community. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

Link to full gallery here: https://parkrecordphoto.smugmug.com/PHOTOS-CCPCs-Hike-For-Hunger/

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