Utah Deer Valley daily cap?

[Ski&ride]

Seeing comments about the lift line in DV, are they enforcing their so called “daily cap”?

Has anyone heard of people being turned away?

 

[dbostedo]

They still have a cap, but I don't know if it's been increased over what it was in prior years.

@Started at 53 ? @Lorenzzo ?

 

[Started at 53]

Because I am lazy... Here is a cut and paste from a post on the Ikon thread I made a little while ago:

So... Being a can’t ski at the moment I was hanging out at some ski shops and chatting with some folks, ran into on guy who had some interesting insight/experience.

Turns out his wife is employed at Deer Valley and was in a meeting when the Ikon numbers were discussed. From the early part of the season the Ikon visits to Deer Valley have been well beyond Alterra’s projected numbers and have continued on that path to this point in the season. This coincides with what many of us “locals” are feeling on the mountain. The numbers on the mountain are noticeably higher, this guy referred to the huge increase in kids (obviously a result of family visits) on the runs as a “romper room” atmosphere. No doubt the instructor led conga lines of kids has made some of the runs just plain not fun to take.

He also said there have been several instructors hit from behind this year (he said “many ended up at the hospital”) due to the over crowding on the slopes.

He also confirmed that the DV daily limit has been raised significantly. Some feel that the “limit” is a bit of a farce and slides at the whim of the powers that be.

My take: I paid a premium for my season pass, and a season pass price that went up 15% this year all to be met with higher “limits” that were not indicated were going to take place prior to the premium pass at an inflated price.

Is DV a great place? Yep. Is DV ever going to be the place it was pre-Alterra? No F’ing way. If they allow snowboarders we will likely just buy an Epic pass and ski at PCMR, no reason to pay a premium that I personally think is inflated relative to the current situation.

 

[Lorenzzo]

They still have a cap, but I don't know if it's been increased over what it was in prior years.

@Started at 53 ? @Lorenzzo ?

The cap info I've gotten is second hand but multiple credible folks have said it's effectively peak demand -x where x is a really thin number. According to insiders the "cap" is as high as 9,500 during peak demand whereas 6,500 not terribly long ago. So a game/cosmetic. I would love to get Alterra's input on this as to the numbers, etc. They must have a bevy of spokesholes by now.

 

[raytseng]

i suppose the outstanding question is still how often is the cap hit and ppl turned away? peak holidays only? most weekends? powder days only?
anyone even been there on a day when it has been hit?

 

[KingGrump]

At the end of the day, 2/16/2019, I saw a sign at the area outside the base lodge. The sign said "Lift tickets are sold out for today." There were also language that entice people to buy lift ticket for future dates.

So I guess they must have a cap since they were sold out that day. For all practical purpose,the cap can be 30K judging by the crowds.

 

[Philpug]

From what I understand they aslo have a cap on how many Ikon passes are issued daily, I am not sure what that number is also if anyone her was ever turned away. As far as the daily numbers, I heard 7,500 tossed around at some point. I am not really sure how they can cap a number considering how many season passes that might on the hill at any point. Also, seeing how many hotels and homes are on the hill aslong with how many beds..I would venture to say those beds are well into the thousands. Do the daily numbers reservations take reservations into consideration?

 

[raytseng]

i know the few times I've been at heavenly and they stopped ticket sales it wasn't a hard number but the big boss riding up the lift looking at the 30min lift lines and calling it. so its also a function of open terrain and open liftsm

 

[Steezus]

I can provide some good insight for last season, but I'm staying away from DV since then.

Last season I believe 7,500 was the advertised cap, but I'm not 100% certain because I only cared about actual numbers.

Basically every weekend and holiday was hitting 8,000 to 8,500. There's also plenty of uncounted numbers due to season and employee passes.

I remember when DV was great despite having somewhat mediocre terrain because powder lasted for days. Last year the powder was gone the day of the storm. Wasting an entire run to farm three whole powder turns does not count as a powder stash like a lot of people try and claim. I also thought the crowds could get pretty big at certain lifts, but you could avoid the worst lines if you knew what time of day to avoid them.

I'm sure that Alterra has upped the numbers for the cap and ANY increase will be easy to see in the lift lines without further resort expansion.

I personally didn't think they would ever allow snowboarders as that is the #1 thing people complained to DV about when Alterra took over, but they sacked their long time GM Bob Wheaton and replaced him with a career hotel guy, which seems monumentally stupid, so who knows what will happen from this point on.

I know from a leaked internal memo that DV is getting a lot of complaints this year. Regardless of Alterra buying them or not, Utah is getting so crowded that all those resorts have turned into a shit show that are easy access from the Wasatch Front. Lots of people that would hit the Cottonwoods no longer want to deal with a 4 hour commute just to get up the canyon and now they head to PC and DV.

I definitely miss what DV was 15-20 years ago. That time is long gone.

 

[mikel]

I know nothing about the cap or limiting access but I can say that my wife has been getting plenty of mail, regular USPS mail, from Deer Valley offering 25% off starting in March. Not sure why they would offer that kind of discount if the general belief is they are already exceeding their cap and that is prime spring break. I'm also glad the stupid "Deer Valley Sucks" banners I had been getting have stopped. I was getting like 3-4 per page sometimes.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

From what I understand they aslo have a cap on how many Ikon passes are issued daily

What do you mean by that? Issued? Does an Ikon pass not just work at every resort that accepts Ikon? Can you just walk up with your Ikon pass and board the lift?

 

[dbostedo]

What do you mean by that? Issued? Does an Ikon pass not just work at every resort that accepts Ikon? Can you just walk up with your Ikon pass and board the lift?

I think you have to book days at DV ... every other resort you can just show up. I don't know the details though.

 

[raytseng]

you can still walk up. But if you reserve online, you guarentee your ticket is reserved, if cap is hit, esp. if you plan on rolling in late on a peak pay.

I think you can also have them print an ikon multiday consecutive ticket for you so you dont need to get in line the subsequent days if you know for sure you want them to use it. i saw someone who had ikon printed on his pass with multiple day range on it.

I dont think theres separate ikon vs general public cap based on logic and fairness and goes against all that dv stands for. That would be super awkward if they say to you the ikon cap is hit this pass is no good, but you can pay window price to get a ticket like that rube next window over. It has to be all or none cutoffs.

A deer valley patron would never be subjected to such low class embarrassment slap to the face

 

[KingGrump]

The DV/Ikon reservation is good until 10:00 AM.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

So the Ikon pass itself is not a pass? You have to get different card media at each mountain?

 

[Ogg]

So the Ikon pass itself is not a pass? You have to get different card media at each mountain?

Only at DV and a couple of other places. Most places are direct to lift.

 

[Lift Blog]

I skied DV a few days last week and it was packed with all the parking lots filled to capacity and significant lift lines. Yet not officially sold out.

 

[blackke17]

So the Ikon pass itself is not a pass? You have to get different card media at each mountain?

yeah u have to take your IKON pass to the window and get a day pass

 

[Wilhelmson]

So the Ikon pass itself is not a pass? You have to get different card media at each mountain?

In the northeast only Killington has been direct to lift for us.

 

[Started at 53]

In the northeast only Killington has been direct to lift for us.

Some how I have refrained from posting my initial smartazz’d comment