Deer Valley Departure

A typical Deer Valley departure (Mon., Wed., Fri. and Sun.) begins at 8:15 a.m. at Deer Valley's Snow Park Lodge in the Overlook room (top floor above the cafeteria). Our guides will go over avalanche safety, backcountry etiquette, the day's snow conditions and fit each guest with an avalanche transceiver.

We'll start off by boarding either Carpenter Express or Silver Lake Express at 8:50 a.m. before the lifts are open to the general public, then make our way to the top of the Empire Express, meanwhile the guides will be evaluating skiers ability. Once atop Empire Express the guides will check in with Deer Valley Resort Patrol, then ski into Park City Mountain Resort terrain. After several runs at Park City we'll end up at the top of Jupiter Chair and check in with Park City Mountain Resort Patrol. Then it's off the back side of Park City into Big Cottonwood Canyon and a long backcountry descent to the base of Solitude Mountain Resort. We'll ski several runs making our way to the top of the Summit chair, then ski the upper SolBright trail to Brighton Ski Resort. After a run or two at Brighton, we'll take the lower SolBright trail back to Solitude where we'll stop for lunch and a well-earned break.

After lunch it's back to the top of Summit chair where we'll check in with Solitude Patrol and then make the dramatic 500-yard traverse across the "Highway to Heaven" and into Little Cottonwood Canyon via Twin Lakes Pass. Another long backcountry descent puts us at the upper base of Alta Ski Area. We ski several runs at Alta, ending up at the top of Sugarloaf chair, then pass through the Mineral Basin gate and, voila, we're at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, our final ski area. Don't worry, there's still plenty of great skiing as we make our way to the bottom of Mineral Basin, up the Mineral Basin Express to the top of Snowbird and then a long last run to the Tram Plaza where our van meets us for the drive back to Deer Valley. Before jumping in the van you'll have chance to grab a snack at Grits General Store, located below the tram plaza. Expected arrival time at Deer Valley is usually around 5:30 p.m., but travel can take longer during heavy snow fall.