STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
You would think that someone living in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., would escape to Mexico should a vacation opportunity arise.
But Julie Rolfe came to Sun Valley for a week to volunteer with the 2023 U.S. Alpine Championship races.
“We’ve had over 700 inches of snow and I knew Sun Valley had only gotten 300-plus inches so I thought: Hey, I’m going someplace less snowy. And it absolutely looks so good here—it’s nice to see Sun Valley so covered.”
Rolfe, who used to live in Sun Valley, said she loved seeing the copious amount of snow covering Sun Valley and neighboring towns even though she knows Wood River Valley residents are yearning to see the first wildflowers of the season. Back home, she said, snow is covering a 25-foot sign and she’s hiking down to the third story to get out of the building she works in.
“To leave the lodge, you have to question which is the best door to exit out of,” she added.
You can only see the peaks of cabins lining the town’s Nordic trails sticking out of the snow, she said. And the weight of snow on propane tanks is causing them to explode. Five people were injured after just such an explosion at a condo near the ski resort last week. And a home was destroyed by an explosion just recently.
The resultant flooding caused by the snow melting in the fires is forcing others to be evacuated, said Rolfe.
“People are experiencing cracks in their homes because of the weight of the snow on the roofs. But they’re not reporting them because they don’t want to be red-flagged and forced out of their homes,” she said.
Rolfe said Mammoth employees expect to be skiing to the end of July and perhaps even into September.
“A lot of our people work wildfires, but we’ll need them for ski patrol,” she said. “In the meantime, I’m going to start painting flowers on the snow as soon as I get back home. They may be the only flowers I see this year.”
Rolfe said she has had a wonderful time volunteering at the championships.
“It’s just great to see the quality of people racing,” she said. “Even the last person down the course is great. There’s a big difference from the first-place racer to the 37th. But I always stay to the last racer because it’s so important to support them.”