
Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, is undergoing a massive transformation. This includes upgrades to existing facilities, expansion of the skiable terrain, and the new Deer Valley East Village to name just a few of the projects that encompass the “Expanded Excellence” plan. One of the biggest undertakings of the transformation is the major upgrade to the snowmaking infrastructure.
The new snowmaking system’s massive size is just as impressive as the technology itself. The snowmaking system will be completely automatic and will operate on three different pressure zones (upper, mid, and lower mountain zones). The system will automatically engage the snow guns when weather conditions align to maximize efficiency. Complementing the sophisticated system will be an addition of 1,200 snow guns, 350,000 feet of pipe, three new pump houses, and a 10-million-gallon pond, according to the resort’s Snowmaking Manager, Brett Hawksford, who shared the details in a video uploaded by the resort.

The new system will increase the snowmaking coverage by 615 acres to 1,163 acres upon completion of the expansion, more than doubling the resort’s current snowmaking capability of 548 acres. The new snowmaking system is designed to align with the resort’s climate action mission of reducing carbon emissions by 50%, using 100% renewable energy, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, according to The Park Record. Roughly 80% of Deer Valley is currently powered by the Elektron Solar Project, an 80 megawatt solar farm roughly 70 miles to the west in Tooele County.
With an additional 3,700 acres of skiable terrain opening in Deer Valley via the Expanded Excellence plan, the upgraded snowmaking system will be necessary to prepare the mountain each comingseason. The 2025-26 season will offer 2,900 acres of the 5,726 acres that will eventually be available upon completion of the expansion. The timeline for the remaining terrain to open has yet to be determined. Learn more about Deer Valley’s Expanded Excellence plan on its website.