STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
The morning was snowy with yet another nine inches of fresh pow at the top of Baldy, which boasted 136 inches of snow.
But dozens of female skiers colored the grey with pink leis, crowns on their ski helmets, pixie antennas and more as they gathered to celebrate International Women’s Day.
Paralympian Muffy Davis, who has her own run—“Muffy’s Medals”—on Seattle Ridge, led the women in a pep talk about a world that’s diverse, equitable and inclusive. She noted that the United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day. March 8 became a national holiday in Soviet Russia even earlier--after women gained suffrage there in 1917.
The women skied as a group down College Boulevard before heading to runs honoring Sun Valley’s Olympic medal winning women—Gretchen Fraser, Christin Cooper, Kaitlyn Farrington, Picabo Street and Muffy Davis.
Sun Valley Resort will continue the observance with a slate of ski films focused on women at 6 p.m. tonight—Thursday, March 9—at the Sun Valley Opera House. Wild Rye will host a Community Ski Night from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Rotarun ski area in Hailey.
A Junior Ski Patrol camp will be held on Bald Mountain Saturday, and Higher Ground will hold a fun adaptive ski camp and race for able-bodied skiers on Sunday at Dollar Mountain. International Women’s Day celebrations will conclude at 5 p.m. Sunday with a Sunset Skin up Bald Mountain followed by a party at the end.
(For more details, see Eye on Sun Valley’s story “Sun Valley Resort to Celebrate Females This Week at http://eyeonsunvalley.com/Story_Reader/10354/Sun-Valley-Resort-to-Celebrate-Females-This-Week/)
Meanwhile, skiers of all genders can celebrate the snow that just doesn’t seem to quit, endowing the Big Wood Basin with a snow pack of 116 percent of average.
Sawtooth Avalanche Center forecasters are warning that the avalanche danger will rise dramatically with a warmer, powerful storm accompanied by strong winds dumping one to three feet on the area tonight and Friday. The valley floor could get one to two feet and mountains above 6,500 could get two to three of snow. Wind gusts of 50 miles per hour are expected.
Three avalanches closed Warm Springs temporarily this past week with one just missing a couple in their car. Forecasters said they documented at least 50 natural avalanches from Hailey to the Sawtooth Mountains over a 48-hour period. Among them, a big slide on Della Mountain in Hailey.
Two to three feet of snow have fallen during the past week or so after one of the driest, coldest Februarys in the last 40 years.