Deer Valley to charge for pedal access to lift-served downhill trails this summer, cross-country trails stay free

Photo: Deer Valley Resort.

The fee applies only to riders who access bike park trails without purchasing a lift ticket or season pass. Multi-use, multi-directional cross-country trails remain free and open to the public, the resort said

PARK CITY, Utah — Deer Valley Resort will begin requiring mountain bikers to pay for pedal access to lift-served downhill trails this summer, a new fee structure the resort says will help sustain its bike park operations.

The new Pedal Pass costs $12 per day or $50 for the season and will fund trail maintenance, bike patrol, operations and guest safety within the lift-served bike park, according to the resort.

The fee applies only to riders who access bike park trails without purchasing a lift ticket or season pass. Multi-use, multi-directional cross-country trails remain free and open to the public, the resort said.

The announcement comes as Park City Transit expands its Purple Route to offer regular shuttle service to trailheads in the Deer Valley area. The service runs daily from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The shuttle is free to riders.

If you ride the bus or pedal up instead of taking a chairlift and want to ride Deer Valley’s lift-served downhill trails, a Pedal Pass is now required to access them legitimately.

Steve Graff, vice president of mountain operations at Deer Valley Resort, said the pass is designed to give riders who don’t use the lifts a low-cost way to legitimately access the bike park rather than shut them out.

Graff noted that more than 100 riders a day access the bike park without a lift ticket, and the Pedal Pass gives them a formal way to do so. “We just want to give them a way to legitimize that,” he said.

Graff said the resort currently spends $150,000 a year on summer trail maintenance alone, and that flow trails cost roughly $100,000 a mile to build. The Pedal Pass, he said, will not come close to covering those costs.

“It’s not fair to the people that are buying lift tickets to have a trail that’s maintenance is diminished because of the people subverting the system,” Graff said. “We owe it to the people that buy our lift tickets to keep these trails maintained.”

 

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Graff said enforcement will begin as an honor system, with the resort hoping community encouragement will build compliance over time. Riders who purchase a pass will receive a velcro tag to display on their bike.

“We’re going to start with an honor system,” he said. “We understand that this is new, and we hope that people encourage each other that these trails don’t just magically appear.”

Mountain Trails Foundation, the nonprofit behind much of Park City’s expansive trail network, said riders should not be concerned about the change.

“Park City has a 400-mile trail system with ultimate flexibility, including within Deer Valley’s privately owned terrain, to ride bikes for free,” Executive Director Lora Anthony said. “The Pedal Pass is fair and part of a pay to play ethic. Deer Valley spends millions of dollars building and maintaining a world class bike park and covering those costs with bike haul tickets and Pedal Pass dollars is just good business.”

Anthony described the pass as “a low-cost tool for trail users willing to sweat their way to the top to gain access to DV’s bike park.”

As part of a broader expansion, Deer Valley is adding more than 50 miles of multi-use, multi-directional cross-country trails this season. Graff said the resort’s inventory of free, publicly accessible trails will grow to more than 125 miles.

Deer Valley will begin daily summer operations June 19, with a preview weekend for season pass holders, including Wasatch Gravity Pass holders, on June 13 and 14. Summer operations run daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. The Pedal Pass is valid during bike park operating hours, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, including Twilight Wednesdays.

For more information on the bike passes Deer Valley offers, visit their website.