DEER VALLEY — Twenty years ago — no, 21 to be exact — Stein Eriksen stood atop a barren mountain top and pointed in a wide, sweeping motion with his ski pole to snow-covered slopes below and said, in a noticeably humble tone, "This is it."
It, meaning the future site of the crown jewel of ski resorts. A diamond, he emphasized, not a ruby or sapphire or zircon placed in a setting made to look like a real diamond. Someday, Deer Valley would be one of the finest ski areas in the country. No, retract that, the world.
OK. Let's see, there was a snow cat parked off to the left and what looked like a nicely groomed trail down the mountain. But there wasn't so much as a lift tower in site, or a trail sign, or a skier, for that matter. The 10 people listening to Eriksen comprised the entire day's receipts. No lodges, no ski school or ski patrol and not so much as a mountain hamburger or a Snickers for sale. Just snowcat tours in January 1980 to show a vision.
This was a first-glimpse preview of available assets, which consisted of four mountain tops, all under ownership, and a timeline — open for the 1981-82 ski season.
Well, Deer Valley entered its 20th season over the weekend with a rollback to opening-day prices, among other things a $20 day pass, and recognition as one of the finest ski areas in the world. Recently, it was voted the No. 2 ski area in the country, behind Vail, in a ski magazine's skier's poll. It is the highest rating by a Utah resort.
"But it took awhile for people to learn what we were all about," said Bob Wheaton, president/general manager of Deer Valley. Wheaton also celebrated his 20th season with Deer Valley and, in fact, was honored a few months back as recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award given by the Intermountain Ski Areas Association.
That first season, Deer Valley opened with five lifts — a double and four triples — and 230 employees, including 23 ski school instructors, Wheaton included.
"To be honest, I don't know how we did it — today we have more than 400 ski school instructors — but we did. The quality was there, but it took a couple of years for people to realize it," he said.
To be exact, about 10 years.
Deer Valley opened with the glitter and glamor of the Academy Awards. There were tissues near the lifts for skiers — "They used to joke that other resorts had tissues, but we were the first to keep the dispensers full," said Wheaton — and valets to carry skis, open doors and answer questions. The cafeteria staff wore white coats, the food looked almost too good to eat and the surroundings were 5-star-plus.
"I think, though, coming out of the box we presented ourselves as too exclusive. If we could do it over, I think we'd do it differently. We are a family ski area, and we try, no matter who you are, to make you feel welcome," Wheaton said. "We get a lot of celebrities, but they soon learn around here they're treated like everyone else."
After a good start, however, the real estate market crashed and plans to expand were stopped. Other work, however, didn't. Take the mountain, for example. Wheaton said work actually started on Deer Valley three years before opening day.
"There were just so many open mine shafts and mine dumps we had to reclaim, and scars on the landscape from mining. We planted thousands and thousands of trees. Even though we were on private land, we worked with the U.S. Forest Service to see how we could get additional forest growth and to better manage the trees we had," he said. "Ever summer we'd walk the resort and inventory all the trees, then the Utah forester would make recommendations both short-term and long-term. We continue to follow those recommendations.
"We also monitor the flow of all the streams. It tells us what's happening on the mountain. And I can tell you this, the water coming off the mountain now is dramatically cleaner than what it was before we started reclaiming the mine shafts."
Wheaton said the turning point for Deer Valley was in 1990. Business was good and expansion went forward, first to Flagstaff Mountain, then, two years ago, to Empire Canyon.
Today, Deer Valley offers 19 lifts and 1,750 skiable acres of terrain off four different mountain tops. Also, under a policy started 20 years ago of setting a ceiling in ticket sales, which was 3,000 back in 1981, Deer Valley has no more than 5,000 people on the slopes on any one day.
It is a number Wheaton admits could be higher, but he said he feels that on peak days "it would jeopardize what we started 20 years ago, and that is to deliver a quality experience."
Delivered on a platter of well-groomed slopes, gourmet food and full tissue dispensers at the lifts.
E-mail: grass@desnews.com