No. 1 — Deer Valley again named best ski resort

Skiers have spoken — again. Deer Valley is the best. Period.

For the second consecutive year, more than 7,000 voters and readers of SKI Magazine have made Deer Valley the No. 1 ski area in North America.

Nearby Park City Mountain Resort was voted No. 5. In fact, seven of Utah's 13 resorts made the magazine's list of the Top 30. More than 70 resorts of the more than 400 ski areas in the country received votes.

The Canyons moved to No. 13 from No. 18 last year; Solitude moved to No. 22 from No. 28; Snowbird fell to No. 25 from No. 19; Alta fell to No. 28 from No. 25; and Snowbasin dropped to No. 30 from No. 29.

Colorado continued to have the strongest representation. Seven of its resorts were rated in the Top 10.

"The fact that SKI magazine readers, who are avid skiers, travelers and lifestyle enthusiasts, continue to give us the 'thumbs up' makes us very grateful and humbled to have received this award," said Bob Wheaton, Deer Valley president and general manager.

"Deer Valley Resort has been built around a commitment to excellence in service, and to have achieved No. 1 along with other top world-class resort destinations is truly an honor," Wheaton said. "As always, this award reflects the efforts of our many Deer Valley employees who give it their all every day to be the best and to make Deer Valley the best."

This is the fourth time the resort has received voters' top rating. It also received the No. 1 vote in 2002-03, 2005-06 and 2007-08. Over the past eight years, the resort has not been rated lower than No. 3.

In individual categories, Deer Valley was voted No. 1 in grooming, service, weather and on-mountain food. It was listed in the Top 10 in snow (9), lifts (4), access (2), lodging (2), dining (2), off-hill activities (9), family programs (7) and overall satisfaction (4).

Park City jumped up one spot over last year's ratings.

"Over the years, we have directed a lot of our resources to enhancing the on-mountain experience for our guests," said Peter Curtis, president and general manger of the resort. "Specifically, identifying ways to allow more of our guests to explore the 3,300 acres of terrain our mountain has to offer. It's certainly not coincidental that the categories where we saw the most improvement in the surveys were terrain variety/challenge, service and family programs."

In individual categories, Park City was voted No. 1 in access, and made the Top 10 in weather (8), lodging (9), apres-ski (8), off-hill activities (6) and terrain parks (9)