Park City's most polished ski resort has spent the last few years in a state of permanent construction. Since 2024, Deer Valley has more than doubled in size, and the 2026-2027 season brings another round of additions: a new lift called the Hail Peak Express, seven new runs, and 200 extra skiable acres, pushing the resort's total to around 4,500 acres and 209 trails.
The growth started with the East Village base area, which opened in winter 2024-2025 and now links to the heart of the mountain via gondola. Last season alone added seven lifts and 80 runs, including terrain around Big Dutch and Park Peak. The practical upshot for visitors is twofold: more variety on the hill, and more room per skier. Deer Valley caps its daily skier numbers, so expanded terrain plus a higher capacity means shorter lift lines without diluting the resort's famously controlled crowds. Anyone parking at East Village also gets quick, highway-adjacent access.
Crucially, the new lifts aren't just for experts. Every expansion comes with easy and intermediate routes down, keeping the resort's long-standing accessibility intact. Advanced skiers still have their draws — the Daily Chutes remain a calling card — while the new groomers give the carving crowd plenty of freshly cut corduroy. The added terrain also opens up new views across the high-desert hills and Jordanelle Reservoir.
What hasn't changed is the package around the skiing: Deer Valley still runs its skiers-only policy, top-tier grooming, and the upscale service and dining that set it apart from almost every other American resort. The resort was also the venue for SKI Magazine's 2026 ski test, where testers demoed nearly 200 pairs across its steeps, bowls, and groomers — a decent proxy for whether the expanded mountain delivers on variety. The verdict, per the testers: there's enough terrain that boredom isn't a factor.
Who should care? Skiers who always liked Deer Valley's finish-school vibe but found the old trail map a bit small for a full week now have a genuine second resort's worth of ground to cover. Families and intermediates get new groomed runs without extra lift-serviced complexity, and powder hunters get more open bowls. With lifts spinning from late 2026, this is the first full season to explore the Hail Peak terrain — worth timing a trip around if you've already ticked off the classic side of the mountain.
One caveat: with this much building in three years, expect some infrastructure to still be settling in. But the direction is clear — Utah's most refined resort has become one of its biggest as well.
