Deer Valley has already scheduled a new lift and a new trail at Solitude for the coming season.

Deer Valley, which closed the purchase of Solitude on April 30 and observed its operation throughout the rest of the ski season, officially takes over today, May 1.

Kim Mayhew, who came up through the ranks at Deer Valley and has 30 years experience there, is Solitude's general manager.

Deer Valley's first capital improvement to Solitude will be to remove the current Summit double chairlift and install a new detachable high-speed quad. The summit chair has been a fixed grip, slow moving chair -- and quite frankly it was a scary ride to the summit.

In addition, a new ski run will be cut from the top of the existing Apex Express chairlift to the bottom terminal of the realigned Summit Express chairlift, significantly lessening the current travel time to Honeycomb Canyon.

Other priority improvements include; remodeling the base area Moonbeam Lodge restaurant, an increased guest service presence throughout the resort and new uniforms for Solitude staff.