STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Mother Nature didn’t exactly cooperate to provide the robust opener Sun Valley had last year. But Sun Valley Resort still will manage to open Baldy top to bottom on Thanksgiving Day.
Sun Valley Resort will crank up the River Run, Lookout Express and Christmas lifts, as well as the Roundhouse Gondola when it kicks off its 86th winter season on Thursday, Nov. 25.
The resort, named North America’s No. 1 ski resort two years running, hopes to offer skiing and boarding on Upper and Lower College, Sunset Strip, 42nd Street and Lower River Run
The resort has gotten more than a foot of snow in the past few weeks but too many days of temperatures approaching 60 degrees erased much of it. While temperatures were not the best for snowmaking, the resort did get enough to pave a white ribbon stretching down the mountain.
Ski areas throughout the west have had to postpone their scheduled openings because of the finicky weather.
The resort plans to offer free cocoa and commemorative mugs celebrating the start to a new season on the River Run Plaza. And Sunny the Bear will make an appearance.
Food service will be offered at the River Run Lodge, where a new Konditorei corner will serve cinnamon rolls, croissants, muffins and other pastries, along with various types of espresso. Lookout Restaurant will also be open on top, and there will be an apres-ski bar outside River Run Lodge for guests who wish to remain outdoors.
Face masks will no longer be required in lift lines, as they were last year. But they will be required in lodges in accordance with public health requirements imposed by the cities of Sun Valley and Ketchum.
Singles will be permitted to jump on chairs with parties of two or three, unlike last year when singles had to ride by themselves or with another single to enable social distancing.
While Vail Resort is mandating that its employees get vaccinated, Sun Valley is simply encouraging its employees to get vaccinated, said Jess Fiaschetti, who handles public relations for the resort. Employees living in employee housing are required to receive a vaccination and workers coming from other countries are required to be vaccinated.
When the snow finally does come, Sun Valley skiers and boarders will be able to avail themselves of new glade skiing between Upper River Run and Upper College, between Upper River Run and Blue Grouse and between Mid-Holiday and Upper Canyon.
The new ski lanes in those areas were opened up as a result of the work the resort did culling diseased and dead trees as part of the Healthy Forest Initiative between the resort and the Ketchum Ranger District.
Dollar Mountain is scheduled to open on Dec. 10.
Guests are encouraged to buy daily lift tickets in advance at https://www.sunvalley.com as some days could sell out.
MORE TREATS IN THE FORECAST:
Sun Valley Resort is bringing back some of its holiday treats, this year after a year’s hiatus due to the pandemic.
The Christmas tree lighting will be at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11, with carolers, and cookies. There also will be cookie decorating for kids and families that afternoon and an open-air holiday market in Sun Valley Village from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The Christmas Eve Ice Show is back, along with the Torchlight Parade down Dollar Mountain and fireworks. And the resort plans to offer night skiing on New Year’s Eve, as well.