STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

A new chairlift covering the biggest vertical rise in North America sailed into a partly sunny sky Wednesday morning as officials for Sun Valley Resort cut the ribbon on the new state-of-the-art Challenger chairlift.

Six passengers loaded onto the six-passenger chair through a subway-like turnstile. And they sped up Bald Mountain covering 3,138 vertical feet in just eight minutes on what resembled a BMW or Mercedes for its quietness, smoothness and quickness.

Dare we say passengers should be prepared for wind chill? Or, as one man said, windburn?

“I can’t see the passenger on the other end,” quipped one rider.

Sun Valley cut the ribbon simultaneously on the new Challenger lift and the nearby four-passenger high-speed Flying Squirrel lift that zooms 2,353 feet up the mountain to a spot overlooking Picabo Street.

Employees rang two giant Swiss bells sporting white Edelweiss flowers and blue, green, yellow and red yarn as the first skiers and boarders boarded the chairs.

“Doppelmayr always gifts Swiss bells when they build a new lift,” said Guest Services Director Mike Fitzpatrick, noting that bells from other lifts the Austrian company has built for Sun Valley are on display at Carol’s Dollar Mountain Lodge.

A small crowd had gathered at the base of the Challenger lift an hour ahead of blast-off.

“I had no idea I was going to be first in line,” said Tyler Hesse, who shared the first ride up with Reid Black, Alex Nelson, Kent Kreitler, Liam Grant and 10-year-old Alex Grant. “I came at 10 after 6 and I was shocked I was the only one here. It’s pretty magical. Given the new seat capacity I’ve met five new friends.”

Sun Valley employees handed out chocolate chip cookies to those arriving early—many who came not to ski but to gawk. And a tidbit of new snow at the bottom and an inch of the white stuff at top made for some good skiing on a day that temperatures would climb into the mid-40s.

“It’s a celebration of history,” said Dr. Rich Moore, who with Michelle Stennett popped into the Warm Springs Lodge for a cup of coffee before their maiden voyage on the two lifts.

The Challenger lift can deposit riders at mid-mountain in 3 minutes and 20 seconds. But Sun Valley employees stood there, cautioning riders not to get off as grass was showing amidst patches of snow, given a warm winter in which the snow has been slow to come.

Barbara Mead was not deterred: “I’m so excited because this new lift will take me to the top faster than ever before. We’ve been so lucky the way the Holdings keep building such awesome infrastructure. I’ve been skiing here 50 years and this is the year I’m shooting for my 100-day pin.”

Jake Moe, who co-founded “Powder Magazine” in 1972 with his brother Dave, stood near the Flying Squirrel chairlift, his customary big grin on his face. He cheered the opening on by raising a mug of coffee rather than ski poles since he had a Zoom meeting he had to attend to that morning.

“The opening of these lifts does a couple things that are really important,” he said. “They show that Sun Valley is standing on the top of the latest in mountain management. When you spend this amount of money, it shows that Sun Valley ski resort is not resting on its laurels.

“And the Flying Squirrel chairlift will become one of the most used lifts on the mountain because of how it easily it connects people to friends at the Roundhouse and the other side of the mountain. This is a signal to locals that Sun Valley is doing something for them.”

Kristi and Erik Ryan were among those who had their picture taken with the Swiss bells before they were moved to the lifts. So did the family of a man who works for Dopplmayr, which has a factory in Salt Lake City, but was visiting family in Sun Valley for the Christmas holidays.

Sun Valley’s General Manager Pete Sonntag called it “a really great day” after what had been a long summer.

He praised former General Manager Tim Silva for his work on “a really great master plan” that put the Warm Springs Project in place and the Holding family “who made it possible for us to do this.”

He praised such community partners as Burks Excavation who began plowing through last winter’s huge snowpack to take out the old Challenger lift before the 2022-23 winter season was over. And he praised Peter Stearns, who transitioned from director of Mountain Operations to leading the project and keeping it on schedule.

Stearns cut the ribbon on the Challenger, then retreated, a big smile on his face as he watched the throngs pass through the turnstiles.

“It’s cool to see it finally happen,” he said. “It took a team to make this happen. And, of course, we can’t thank the Holdings enough.”

DID YOU KNOW?

Sun Valley Resort’s sister ski resort Snowbasin opened its newest lift—the DeMoisy Express—one day earlier on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The six-pack, high-speed ride opened alongside a new 5,000-square foot cobblestone plaza at Strawberry Lodge. Snowbasin, near Ogden, Utah, is also owned by the Holding family.