In case you missed it, Leader Scott posted a trip report about Deer Valley in the "News" section of DCSki.
By the way, there are some really great articles in the new issue of SKI MAGAZINE, to include a lengthy story about Deer Valley.
The Colonel

Scott, be thankful that you did not go to Snowbird on Sunday.
A local woman was caught in an inbounds avalanche. We should all say a prayer for Heather Gross and her friends and family.
I think I will get an avalanche beacon for my future trips out west. For TV coverage go to this link:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=5084224
The Colonel

seriously, with the in-bound avi that happened @ the canyons last year right in one of my most fav places to ski (i still don't get it those chutes they bomb all the time and i used to complain about the craters) and this, i am going to wear my beeper all the time when playing. i used to do it sometimes when inbounds but felt people would look at me like i was stupid or something - i think i feel differently now.

With a beacon comes the responsibility to know how to use it -- since you may be searching for someone else. I think it's good for anyone skiing in an avy-controlled area to be educated in the whole SAR routine. Heck, some people wear beacons when driving up and down LCC!!

We ought to move this discussion over to the avalanche thread if there is interest in talking further.

You need a pair, one for you and one for the guy who is going to dig you up. If you have only one shovel and probe between you, make sure your partner carries them. I have a pair of DTS Trackers. They indicate direction and distance and are very easy to use. There are other digitals that indicate direction and distance. Those are the kind you want.

Too bad about the young lady. Sounds like she was a fairly well known and skilled local skier. Guess she knew what she was getting into.
Whoa Scott, same day: Also, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center is reporting that a small slide in-bounds in Vail's Blue Sky Basin buried an unidentified skier up to his waist, but who was left unhurt. The avalanche, which ran 150 vertical feet and was 150 feet wide, fractured to a depth of three feet. The incident occurred on the Lover's Leap run and was reported to authorities at 10:51 a.m. Vail's ski patrol performed avalanche control work in that area at 9 a.m. this morning after receiving a foot of new snow. Resort officials closed Blue Sky Basin for the day following the incident, but the area is expected to reopen Monday following additional avalanche prevention efforts.

PS: I found out more about the slide at Wisp when I visited on Sunday. It's a bit more serious a situation then you might think. Trail has slid at least three times now. Still unstable and closed. Somebody with BIG cojones has to hit the top with a snow groomer and they appear to still be waiting/studying how to go at the problem. There is still a ton of manmade snow above the visible old fracture line from three weeks ago.

Any updated pics of the current conditions of North Face after the slide? I'm wondering if they were trying to push the snow that slid back up the face and connect it with the part that didn't slide? Or would they just make snow again in that area and let it naturally connect to the remaining portion or just push down from the top?

When I was there this weekend it didn't look like they'd made any attempt to close the hole where it slid. They were running the snow guns on that trail continuously for the entire weekend until it got too warm on Sunday. Giant piles ready to be moved by the groomers, but they hadn't started yet.

I keep feeding this avi/slide topic under wrong thread, but here's a recent photo of slide damage at Wisp: The three faces of The Face

Dang that is definitely one heck of a slide from looking at the bottom. Did they just groom over the snow debris at the bottom after it happened?