BY KAREN BOSSICK

The moose was on the run—Lower River Run, that is.

Skiers and boarders making their way down Bald Mountain at Sun Valley Resort at about 2:15 Tuesday afternoon found themselves contending not with other skiers but a full-grown moose.

And this moose on the loose didn’t seem to be following the Skier’s Responsibility Code but was running amok.

It ran across Lower River Run, then downhill before running back to the woods from where it had come. A slightly smaller moose followed in its hoofsteps.

Skier Narda Pitkethly said she had never been so close to a large animal as she was when the moose ran towards her.

“People were shocked, because the moose were running around where people were coming down the mountain,” said Narda Pitkethly. “The moose was amazingly fast, running back-and-forth across the run. It was scary. I was rattled after being so close to a big moose, who was suddenly just there right near me!”

Rob Santa recalled watching a big bull moose saunter across Lower Warm Springs several years ago when he still owned Sturtevants. The moose walked in and out of several ski demo tents set up at the bottom as if he were trying to decide between a pair of Nordica and Dynastar skis.

And many of the people there were oblivious to the whole thing, Santa said.

Last year a skier collided with a deer at the beginning of the season on College Boulevard but fortunately there were no run-ins with the moose.

DID YOU KNOW?

Sun Valley Nordic Center has had a bobcat sighting and a small herd of deer on its trails since it opened on Thanksgiving Day.

But the animal creating havoc there is the two-legged variety—the human idiots who drove their trucks out a closed Trail Creek Road, causing damage to the Hyndman View Loop. That could delay the opening on the Boundary and Hyndman View trails.

AFTER HOURS ACCESS CLOSED ON BALDY

Bald Mountain is closing to After Hours Uphill/Downhill Access for snow safety control work beginning today--Dec. 1. Dollar Mountain remains open to After Hours Access, but skiers are asked to stay out of Terrain parks, turn on a headlamp and blinking rear light and wear a reflective item.