Donny Pelletier visited Deer Valley and talked to resort officials about the new East Village expansion. Photo: Screenshot from @deervalleyresort (Instagram)

PARK CITY, Utah — Deer Valley Resort welcomed Maine’s finest athlete and skiing influencer Donny Pelletier for a sneak peak of their in-progress expansion that will double Deer Valley’s skiable acreage and add 100 new trails.

Pelletier got an up-close look at the Chinook helicopters that are installing the gondola terminal for the new East Village Gondola, the marquee lift of the seven that will open next winter. The gondola will connect East Village to Park Peak and include a mid-station at Big Dutch Peak.

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Donny Pelletier is the alter ego of Troy Murphy, an Olympic freestyle skier who hails from Bethel, Maine. Pelletier is known for his unconventional antics on the slopes and ability to tackle challenging terrain. The lack of snow didn’t faze Pelletier, as he and President and COO Todd Bennett talked about the possibility of skiing some choice “fast grass” summer conditions on the upper terrain.

The clip posted on Deer Valley’s Instagram teases that there’s more to come covering Pelletier’s visit.

East Village Gondola updates

In a collaboration with Ikon Pass, Deer Valley released several statistics about the East Village Gondola.

The gondola is nearly three-mile-long and ride time to the top will be about 14.5 minutes. The 142 ten-person gondola cabins will be able to transport as many as 3,000 people per hour up the mountain.