Artist Rad Smith Captures Deer Valley’s Expansive New Terrain in Hand-Painted Ski Map
Rad Smith, known for his detailed ski maps, recently completed a hand-painted trail map highlighting the extensive 2025-26 expansion at Deer Valley Resort. This addition nearly doubles the resort’s size to approximately 4,300 forest-covered acres, introducing more than 80 new trails and seven additional lifts.
Smith’s childhood admiration for Bob Ross’ tree paintings laid the foundation for his meticulous approach to illustrating thousands of coniferous trees on the map. Despite this familiarity, he describes painting the dense evergreens—key features of the terrain—as a persistent challenge.
Balancing Artistry and Practicality in a Massive Ski Map
Residing in Montana, Smith previously merged the 2024-25 Deer Valley map with his own renderings of recent resort additions, including the East Village lifts and runs. The latest project presented a new scale challenge as the resort’s expanded area made it difficult to represent all terrain details legibly in a compact format convenient for skiers.
Smith worked from extensive drone imagery and satellite photos after weather conditions prevented aerial surveys of the new expansion. His reliance on these images allowed him to capture the terrain’s intricate tree patterns and the Green Monster ski run, Utah’s longest at 4.8 miles.
Wildlife Habitat Considerations Amidst Resort Growth
From a wildlife perspective, expanding a ski resort into more than 2,000 additional acres of tree-studded landscape carries important ecological implications. The coniferous forests at Deer Valley provide crucial habitat for species such as mule deer, bobcats, and various bird species adapted to mountainous environments.
Preserving these forests in artwork spotlights the densely wooded habitat, but development pressures on these ecosystems can alter animal movement, foraging, and breeding patterns. Maintaining tree cover in skiable areas supports ecosystem connectivity, a critical factor for the survival of many forest-dependent species.
Technical and Artistic Challenges of Mapping Forested Mountain Terrain
Smith had to prioritize legibility, sacrificing some elevation detail for broader area representation. As a result, the vertical steepness of Deer Valley’s climbs may appear subdued compared to actual topography, which reaches a vertical drop of 3,040 feet.
He is preparing a supplementary map focusing solely on the expansion, intended to better depict the mountain’s elevation characteristics and terrain intricacies. This approach intends to support skiers while acknowledging the biological complexity of the mountain’s habitat.
Preserving the Mountain’s Character Through Art and Awareness
Resort officials praised Smith’s work for maintaining the classic feel of ski maps while integrating modern elements that aid guests in orienting themselves within the expanded footprint. The detailed tree illustrations emphasize the dominant conifer species typical of the Wasatch Range, which are critical to local biodiversity.
As development and recreation intersect, interpretations like Smith’s map serve not only as navigation aids but as reminders of the ecological richness that encompasses recreational landscapes like Deer Valley.
Additional reporting and sources from: See Deer Valley’s expanded terrain in this hand-painted map by Rad Smith
