Deer Valley Resort sees the possibility someday that people will be able to travel from Snow Park to Silver Lake and then to Deer Valley East Village, off U.S. 40 in Wasatch County, without needing tires.
The resort has outlined a conceptual route linking the three locales with a gondola line. It is one of the key steps designed to reduce traffic between the Deer Valley base areas. But even before the details of a gondola line have been debated, and long before construction may start, questions have been raised about whether it would be successful in cutting the number of vehicles traveling from one base area to another.
Three homeowners associations filed a petition in Third District Court in mid-January against City Hall challenging a significant development-related decision Park City leaders made in late 2023 regarding the future of the Snow Park base. Deer Valley is not a party to the case, but the filing nonetheless includes intriguing passages related directly to Snow Park and the wider future of development at the resort.
Deer Valley has described a conceptual continuous gondola route running from a point outside Snow Park Lodge to a midstation at Silver Lake Lodge. The line would then run to the planned Deer Valley East Village expansion before reaching the Deer Valley East Village base off U.S. 40. Riders would not be required to change gondola cabins as they move between Snow Park and Deer Valley East Village.
More than 1,200 parking spots are planned at Deer Valley East Village, and the resort hopes the parking options there will influence skiers to start their day at Deer Valley East Village rather than driving to Snow Park. Deer Valley East Village is widely known by its former name Mayflower.
The homeowners associations in their challenge included as an exhibit a Dec. 20 correspondence from their attorney to City Hall that addresses the gondola concept among a series of other topics. The assertions about whether a gondola would serve the purpose of reducing traffic stand out with the likelihood of difficult talks among Deer Valley, City Hall, people who live or own places in lower Deer Valley, and others.
The nine-page Dec. 20 correspondence from attorney Eric Lee to Park City Attorney Margaret Plane says there “is no study showing the proposed gondola connecting Mayflower and Snow Park will mitigate traffic issues in Park City” and calls the concept “a lengthy, indirect route along the new perimeter of the resort.”
“Skiers will not want to park at Mayflower only to take a long gondola ride to Snow Park when you can park there in the first place. Who wants to ride a series of gondolas from Mayflower to get to the best terrain on the opposite side of the resort, when you can more quickly access that terrain from starting points within Park City?” the correspondence says. “Skiers also will not want to take a long, indirect gondola ride back to Mayflower after skiing or après ski activities.”
It also says: “Deer Valley has not substantiated its claim that these features will reduce crowding at key entry points and divert traffic and parking away from Park City.”
The concept of a gondola route linking Snow Park, Silver Lake and Deer Valley East Village is the latest in a number of ideas for aerial transit in the Park City area dating back to at least the 1990s. The thinking has been an aerial route such as a gondola line would be an attractive option for Parkites and visitors, enough so that they would select an aerial line over taking a private vehicle. That, the supporters have long said, could reduce traffic in the Park City area.
The supporters point to other destinations that offer aerial routes, including Telluride, Colorado. In that mountain resort, a gondola links the historic community of Telluride with the slopeside Mountain Village.
The concepts in Park City over the years, though, have never advanced as costs were weighed and routes were studied. If Deer Valley ultimately pursues a gondola linking Snow Park, Silver Lake and Deer Valley East Village, it could be seen as one step in a broader network that could eventually involve other destinations in the Park City area, such as the Main Street core and transportation and parking facilities.
Deer Valley is pursuing development and expansion that, as envisioned, would remake the resort. The Deer Valley East Village expansion will boost Deer Valley’s terrain by 3,700 acres and bring the total acreage at the resort to 5,726. It will also serve as another base area.
Deer Valley, meanwhile, is pursuing a significant project on the land outside Snow Park Lodge where the resort’s primary parking lots are located, something that would turn Snow Park into another full-service base area.