STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Sun Valley will get its very own Lombard Street, known as “the crookedest street in the world,” as America’s first destination ski resort launches its 82nd season.
Terrain Park Manager Nate Sheehan is building at least two new skier- and boarder-cross courses on Dollar Mountain.
One will utilize underutilized terrain as it snakes its way from the top of Dollar Mountain to the bottom. It will be called Lombard Street after San Francisco’s steep one-block section with eight hairpin turns. And it’s part of the resort’s efforts to make over Dollar Mountain into a family-friendly playground that will lure families and other groups away from Bald Mountain on occasion.
Sheehan and his assistants will sculpt natural jumps, banks and roller coaster-like features that mountain manager Peter Stearns calls “rolly bollies” out of snow. They will also set out mini-pipes and other manmade features suitable for skiers and boarders of all skill levels.
The terrain parks, which have previously been top-to-bottom linear, will be more akin to skateboard parks this year, offering skiers and riders several places to drop in.
“We want people to walk out of Carol’s Dollar Mountain Lodge and say, ‘Whoa! I can’t wait to get out there!’ ” said Mike Fitzpatrick, Sun Valley Company’s marketing and public relations manager.
The grins on the faces of those readying Sun Valley’s Bald and Dollar mountains are spreading from ear to ear this year, thanks to early season snow and cold temperatures that allowed them to get the mountain open from top to bottom for 250 young racers taking part in a preseason race camp organized by the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation that began on Saturday.
Sun Valley already has 41 inches of snow on the season. And on Saturday and Sunday Sun Valley’s snow guns were blazing as they piled snow high on Flying Squirrel, Warm Springs, Roundhouse Slope and Dollar Mountain.
Sun Valley will be open from top to bottom on Thanksgiving Day with four lifts running: The Gondola, Christmas, Lower River Run and Lookout Express, said Snowsports School Director Tony Parkhill. And open runs will include College, Mid River Run, 42nd Street and Lower River Run.
Dollar Mountain will have Quarter Dollar Lift running, as well as the accelerator carpet.
Parkhill said workers are pushing to open more terrain as soon as possible.
Aiding them in their efforts are the addition of 55 low-energy, high-output snow guns, including 17 that will allow Sun Valley to blanket Lower Broadway with snow to get the Cold Springs lift open earlier.
The guns can build a three-foot pile of snow in the same time it took older ones to make piles inches high, said Fitzpatrick.
“These make one of the world’s great snowmaking systems even greater,” he added.
Here’s a look at the upcoming season, which includes a return of the U.S. Alpine Championships, guided tours of Turkey Bowl, a new mascot and the opening of a new restaurant in Sun Valley Village:
DOLLAR MOUNTAIN’S MAKEOVER
Sun Valley will forego its half-pipe, or super pipe, this year to concentrate on ski- and snowboard-cross courses and other family-friendly features that have proven popular in recent years.
“The skier-cross courses are very popular. Kids challenge dads, friends challenge each other, even Moms go in,” said Fitzpatrick.
Sun Valley was one of the few resorts in North America to have an Olympic-sanctioned half-pipe. But the feature required massive amounts of snow and labor to build, and its 22-foot walls weren’t easily accessed by the majority of those who ski Dollar Mountain. Other ski resorts, such as Jackson, have also done away with their half-pipes this year.
Fitzpatrick said watching skiers and boarders have fun cruising over the course the resort made for a Banked Slalom competition last year was an “Aha!” moment in convincing them to try more user-friendly snow features.
“Dollar Mountain is probably the best learning mountain in the world. And now we’re making it a very friendly family social fun environment, aligning what we do there with guest demands,” said Fitzpatrick. “We hope to be able to have everything open by the Christmas holidays, whereas we often didn’t get the super pipe open until way after the holidays.”
Dollar Mountain will close following the Thanksgiving weekend to allow crews to put the finishing touches on the mountain. A Grand Opening will be held the weekend of Dec. 8.
DOLLAR MOUNTAIN GETS A MASCOT
Sunny the Bear--will be at Dollar Mountain every day, engaging kids in warm-up exercises before gathering and leading youngsters for their lesson.
“There’s a good chance he’ll be leading them in the Hokey Pokey since Sun Valley’s where the Hokey Pokey began,” Fitzpatrick said.
The magic carpet that used to take tubers to the top of the hill will be also be utilized this year to ferry beginner-beginners to good teaching terrain.
GUIDED TOURS OF TURKEY BOWL OFFERED
Sun Valley hopes to expand its in-bound ski acreage by 380 acres by opening this area south of Seattle Ridge Lodge for the 2018-19 season. The expansion is designed to be coupled with a new high-speed lift replacing the Cold Springs chair, which is the oldest on the mountain. The transformation will also feature the extension of Broadway Run and a renovation of the Cold Springs mountain bike trail.
The resort will offer a sneak preview with guided tours for advanced skiers and boarders, probably beginning in January. The area features off-piste terrain and some tree skiing, linking up with the Cold Springs lift.
Fitzpatrick compares the terrain to that of Lefty’s and Kaitlyn’s Bowls. Its exposure is the same as the ungroomed Fire Trail on Seattle Ridge, which often sports some of the nicest snow on the mountain.
“It’s going to be fun terrain, a little more wild. It’ll hearken back to the early years,” said Fitzpatrick.
LOOK FOR MORE FUN PARKS ON BALDY
There was no tree thinning on Baldy this summer as crews were focused on building new mountain bike trails. But there will be a few more terrain park-type features on Baldy this year.
2018 TOYOTA U.S. ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS SUPER G GETS EVEN HARDER
The nation’s best skiers will compete from March 19-26 on the Warm Springs side of Baldy. And those who compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea will be coming, thanks to an agreement with the U.S. Ski Team, said Fitzpatrick.
The Super G course will be expanded this year, starting at the bottom of International, going down Warm Springs and onto Greyhawk where it will take athletes through the woods onto Hemingway and back to the bottom of Greyhawk.
“Adding another 10 or 15 seconds to a race that lasts about a minute and 50 seconds—that’s huge,” said Fitzpatrick.
In addition, Sun Valley plans to put in more bleachers for spectators, including some higher up on the course that will allow great views of skiers coming off Upper Greyhawk and heading into the trees.
There will be lots of extracurricular things surrounding the event, such as street dances and, likely, another Big Air Exhibition on Dollar Mountain.
HUNDRED-DAY PINS ARE BACK
Last year for the first time Sun Valley handed out 140 commemorative pins to those who skied a hundred days in a season that totaled 137 days.
The idea caught on like wildfire among skiers coming through the line as they happily told lift checkers things like, “Only eight more days and I get my pin!” said Warm Springs lift ticket checker Don Riddle.
This year’s pins will feature a different design, along with the date.
“It’s just a way to acknowledge our loyal dedicated skiers,” said Fitzpatrick. “We have more loyal dedicated skiers than any other ski resort on sheer percentage.”
TERRAIN THAT TEACHES
Sun Valley ski instructors will continue using terrain, such as banked sides of pint-sized pipes to teach. Little curl-ups at the end of beginner runs should make stopping less intimidating.
And those on Baldy will focus on teaching elegant skiing, said Parkhill.
Nicholas Herrin, CEO of the PSIA-AASI (Professional Ski Instructors of America and the American Association of Snowboard Instructors), talked to Sun Valley’s ski instructors on Saturday.
Herrin, whose organization represents more than 32,000 ski and boarding instructors, noted that the industry needs to figure out how to get people to try skiing and snowboarding.
“And, when we do, we’ve got to hook them by creating a great first time experience,” he added. “We’ve got to make it safe and fun for them.”
VILLAGE STATION PAYS HOMAGE TO SUN VALLEY’S RAILROAD ROOTS
Sun Valley will hold a grand opening for its new Village Station restaurant in Sun Valley Village in December. The new restaurant, built on the site of the former Bald Mountain Pizza, is designed to evoke Sun Valley’s Union Pacific origins. It will feature a full service bar, craft beers on tap, pizza, pasta, sandwiches, burgers and other entrees.
“And we’ll have big screen TVs so people can watch their sports teams,” said Kelli Lusk, a spokesperson for Sun Valley.
The Ram Restaurant and Ram Bar are also being renovated, along with 25 rooms in the Sun Valley Inn that are being reworked into 21 roomier rooms. Eighty more rooms will be refurbished in the fall of 2018.
“The Village Station is much more visible than the former Bald Mountain Pizza,” said Fitzpatrick. “You could walk by the Bald Mountain Pizza and not see it. The Village Station will have outdoor seating and grab-and-go meals for those who want to take pizza or pasta home with them.”
The old Ram Bar will feature a couple new meeting rooms, and the Ram Lounge will feature a fireplace and dimmer lighting for those who want to hang out. The floor of The Ram Restaurant, laid in 1937, has been refurbished, the kitchen reworked and eating accommodations will have a little more elbow room. But the overall ambience remains the same.
ARTFUL GONDOLA
The Mandela Gondola cab will become Sun Valley’s second wrapped in art.
The art, designed by Boise artist Rachel Teannalach, features a solar eclipse with a diamond ring burst in homage to the total solar eclipse that took place in Sun Valley in August on one side of the cab. A second side will feature wildflowers, while a third side boasts a moon cycle and the remaining side, rivers and geese.
A quote inscribed on the gondola is taken from Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace:” “There is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness and truth.”
The Ketchum Arts Commission, which is behind the project, commissioned another for the 2014-15 season that features Ketchum artist Ralph Harris’s rendering of the Boulder Mountains and elk.
But Sun Valley remains the only resort to have gondola cabs that are wrapped from top to bottom, said Troy Larsen, whose Windy City Arts did the wrapping.
WILL SUN VALLEY BE ABLE TO TURN OFF THE GUNS AS EARLY?
The addition of about 17 snow guns at the bottom of Broadway on Seattle Ridge will ensure earlier access to the Cold Springs chair. That ensures an early out when there’s not enough snow on the cat track leading off the Mayday lift.
The new guns can make snow almost twice as fast as the older ones.
Last year Sun Valley was unable to make a lot of snow in earnest before Nov. 15 because of warm weather. But as snow piled up the resort was able to turn off the guns for the year on Jan. 4.
While Sun Valley averages 250 days of sun a year, those looking for a Vitamin D fix were likely disappointed last year as snowstorms piled up 337 inches of snow on Bald Mountain—way above the average of 220.
SUN VALLEY THE “POSTER CHILD” FOR THE MOUNTAIN COLLECTIVE
Thanks in part to last year’s generous snowfall, Sun Valley recorded its biggest day ever on Dec. 28, 2016, with 9,100 guests. It was no sweat for a resort that can ferry 29,717 skiers and boarders up Baldy and Dollar mountains every hour.
The resort got just over 400,000 skier visits all told.
The renovation of the Sun Valley Lodge has brought guests who might not otherwise have come, said Fitzpatrick.
“It’s been a real success. People say, ‘Wow! Spectacular!’ ” he added.
The Limelight Hotel also helped bring new skiers to Sun Valley.
“I think this year we’ll see even more benefit from the Limelight since it only just opened in time for winter last year,” Fitzpatrick added.
The new nonstop flight from Chicago will offer connections to a lot of eastern cities, making it easier to get here, Fitzpatrick said.
And the Mountain Collective pass has brought skiers who haven’t been here before or haven’t skied Sun Valley in 20 years. Fitzpatrick said he was not at liberty to say how many pass holders have visited Sun Valley, but it’s in the thousands.
“Sun Valley is referred to as poster child for Mountain Collective success,” he said. “And the vast majority who come because of the pass say they will come back.”
EMPLOYEE HOUSE
Sun Valley is building two new employee housing projects capable of housing 600 people near its Horseman Center. The current dorms hold 450.
“It should be a big boon to the community because it’s privately funded and affordable,” said Fitzpatrick, estimating that employees pay about $4 or $5 a day for housing currently.
Sun Valley has already broken ground on the first and plans to pour concrete within the month in its endeavor to have it open for the 2018-19 winter season. The housing will include a variety of options from rooms for singles to studio apartments.
There is no word yet on what the property where the current dorms sit might be used for.
IF YOU GO…
Both Bold Mountain and Dollar Mountain open for the 2017-18 season on Thanksgiving Day.
HOURS: 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
LIFT TICKETS: Adult lift tickets start at $71 for early and late season skiing through Dec. 14 and after April 1. The price goes up during peak season. Get tickets at up to 20 percent off when you buy up to seven days in advance. Tickets are available online at www.sunvalley.com. Or, call 208-622-6136 or 1-888-490-5950.
College, youth and senior discounts are available.
KIDS SKI FREE
Children ages 12 and under ski free at Sun Valley when staying at a qualifying local lodging establishment three or more days.