This shortest detachable in America services a beginner slope called Gnat’s Eye and provides out of base access to the Mountaineer Express.Side view of the UNI-G top return terminal.Bottom terminal next to the Snowflake chair.Portal sheave assemblies.This lift was one of the first in the United States with auto lowering and locking lap bars. They stay up on the downhill trip.Salt Lake-manufactured tower head.Loading area.View up the short lift line.Unloading area.Tower 3.Upper part of the lift line.Loading area.Tower 1.View riding up the line, which has no ski under.Arriving at the top station.Unloading area with automatic bar raising.Upper terminal near the St. Regis hotel.Lift overview.Upper lift line seen from Silver Lake Express.The entire lift seen from above.
From what I can discern from the photos, it would appear that the lift serves lower Gnat’s Eye, not Little Stick. It doesn’t look to me like you can access Little Stick at all from the top of Burns.
I am really not sure exactly if this lift is supposed to serve a run or as an access lift. Lower Gnats eye is not really a great beginner run its more of a catwalk to get down to snow park
This is what I was thinking when I went to Deer Valley this year. Lower Gnat’s Eye is not a good beginner run, as it is too narrow and serves more as an access run for people heading from Little Baldy Peak to Snow Park. In all honesty, Upper Gnat’s Eye is better! Wild West does have its issues being at the crowded base, but it is much better than this.
Deer Valley does have the problem that any land flat and large enough to house a new beginner center probably has houses and other real estate on it already, so they are really boxed in.
This lift is really stupid in my opinion. It does not work as a beginner lift, because it only serves a single road, and if it was meant to be a connection lift it really did not need to be a detach. This would be like if they replaced judge or viking with a detach. And now, the beginner area has half the capacity it used too. In my opinion they should have replaced red cloud or mayflower with a detach. None of these lifts really need to be a detach, but this lift definitely did not need to be a detach.
It was a waste of money regardless of the way I feel that they should have replaced Snowflake with a new triple or quad then relocate the current double to this location. It was a waste of money. Just like the snow park village concept.
I believe the purpose was to give beginner skiers access to Deer Hollow which was previously only accessible by intermediate runs (or the St. Regis funicular).
I was just at Deer Valley and noticed the painted towers being new this season and jumped on here to post a pic, but you beat me to it by a few months. It definitely looks better with the green towers.
Deer Valley’s adding a new beginner detachable? Sounds great! Oh wait…….. It’s one of two catwalks that tons of other runs funnel into. Please tell me why they replaced this and not Mayflower or Snowflake. Oh, I just realized. It’s because it’s the ONLY OPTION FROM THE JORDANELLE SIDE. Deer Valley’s a nice resort, but they are a nightmare to get around, even worse than the Canyons side of PCM imo.
transparentphilosopherf874bdec8fMarch 22, 2025 / 8:09 am
This lift was placed there primarily to spill beginner ski school classes onto the flattest part of Deer Hollow or Lower Gnats Eye. Before Burns Express was installed, this nice green loop was only accessible by skiing blue terrain. This in turn took some pressure of the Ontario trail on Flagstaff Mtn. Getting smaller kids over and back from Ontario was a lot of work, now they can get mileage much easier and closer to ski school base. Unsure of the land ownership, but I wish the lift had been aligned closer to the St Regis to allow egress out of the hotel when Mountaineer is on wind, which is fairly common.
Lift Blog 
From what I can discern from the photos, it would appear that the lift serves lower Gnat’s Eye, not Little Stick. It doesn’t look to me like you can access Little Stick at all from the top of Burns.
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They didn’t paint the towers green :(
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I rode this lift recently, I cant wait for more lifts to get these chairs they are so much better than everything else we get in the American market
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First time I’ve seen a UNI-G with an integrated hold down.
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Chair 5 at Mammoth has it for height adjustability. A lot of UNI-GS have it as well.
No idea why Deer Valley went with it.
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Underground utilities in front of the terminal
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The green UNI-G looks awesome
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I am really not sure exactly if this lift is supposed to serve a run or as an access lift. Lower Gnats eye is not really a great beginner run its more of a catwalk to get down to snow park
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This is what I was thinking when I went to Deer Valley this year. Lower Gnat’s Eye is not a good beginner run, as it is too narrow and serves more as an access run for people heading from Little Baldy Peak to Snow Park. In all honesty, Upper Gnat’s Eye is better! Wild West does have its issues being at the crowded base, but it is much better than this.
Deer Valley does have the problem that any land flat and large enough to house a new beginner center probably has houses and other real estate on it already, so they are really boxed in.
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This lift is really stupid in my opinion. It does not work as a beginner lift, because it only serves a single road, and if it was meant to be a connection lift it really did not need to be a detach. This would be like if they replaced judge or viking with a detach. And now, the beginner area has half the capacity it used too. In my opinion they should have replaced red cloud or mayflower with a detach. None of these lifts really need to be a detach, but this lift definitely did not need to be a detach.
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Or they could have replaced both the original burns and snowflake with a single high speed quad.
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It was a waste of money regardless of the way I feel that they should have replaced Snowflake with a new triple or quad then relocate the current double to this location. It was a waste of money. Just like the snow park village concept.
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Not the first here to say this, but I don’t get this lift at all.
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I believe the purpose was to give beginner skiers access to Deer Hollow which was previously only accessible by intermediate runs (or the St. Regis funicular).
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Found this: https://www.skiutah.com/blog/authors/yeti/burns-express-expediting-learning
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Wasn’t Steamboat’s Greenhorn Ranch Express the first in the U.S. to have auto-locking restraints?
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Yes
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Deer Valley didn’t like the galvanized towers.
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I was just at Deer Valley and noticed the painted towers being new this season and jumped on here to post a pic, but you beat me to it by a few months. It definitely looks better with the green towers.
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Deer Valley’s adding a new beginner detachable? Sounds great! Oh wait…….. It’s one of two catwalks that tons of other runs funnel into. Please tell me why they replaced this and not Mayflower or Snowflake. Oh, I just realized. It’s because it’s the ONLY OPTION FROM THE JORDANELLE SIDE. Deer Valley’s a nice resort, but they are a nightmare to get around, even worse than the Canyons side of PCM imo.
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Theres a High Speed Lift Shorter than this lift
Its in Russia and its in a resort called Okhta Park
Its has Bubbles with Puckrests which is overkill for a lift that short
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meanwhile in russia……
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This thing???
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Are Poma/Lietner and Doppelmayr allowed to operate in Russia now with the sanctions being placed?
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Well, at least it services a true beginner area and not just an access lift. That hill looks pretty steep for a beginner slope!
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How long does it take to ride this?
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1.5 minutes. In the future for this kind of information if you go to the resort page there’s a spreadsheet with all of the data on it.
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1 1/2 to 2 minutes even with a misload
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There’s a lift in New Zealand called Meadows Express that’s very similar to this.
This lift was built by Leitner Poma in 2010 and is much older
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The liftline would make a great trail, it looks perfectly skiable.
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I think what would’ve make more sense is if they had just extended this lift to the top of Little Baldy peak, not sure why they didn’t just do that.
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This lift was placed there primarily to spill beginner ski school classes onto the flattest part of Deer Hollow or Lower Gnats Eye. Before Burns Express was installed, this nice green loop was only accessible by skiing blue terrain. This in turn took some pressure of the Ontario trail on Flagstaff Mtn. Getting smaller kids over and back from Ontario was a lot of work, now they can get mileage much easier and closer to ski school base. Unsure of the land ownership, but I wish the lift had been aligned closer to the St Regis to allow egress out of the hotel when Mountaineer is on wind, which is fairly common.
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