STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Four-year-old Ellie Yeates wore an adorable teeny, tiny Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation jacket. And her cousin--3-year-old Evie Loufek--wore her princess dress and carried a black purse, just what you’d expect of someone about to run up the steep Lower River Run ski slope on Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain.

And, once they heard there were cookies at the finish line, they started running, 2-year-old brother Rhodes Sinnott with them.

The event was the Kinder Climb, a fun run for youngsters held before the Baldy Hill Climb Saturday morning. It was not a walk in the park. The kids had to make a hefty climb to the base area for some of the races held on Lower Warm Springs.

This youngster led the way.

“It’s a fun, event and it gets them outdoors to explore,” said Mike Sinnott, who did a couple Baldy Hill Climbs himself as a competitive racer with the SVSEF Nordic team. “They see people excited to be outside so it’s a great thing.”

Balloons lined the course to show the youngsters the fastest way up,

The kids ranged in age from 2 to 6: Fionn and Mave Hayden; Finn Mallory; Clayton Young; Ava, Wyatt and Mae Boeger; Ellie Groot and the aforementioned Evie Loufek, Rhodes Sinnott and Ellie Yeates.

Six-year-old Clayton Young was doing it for his first time, spurred on by his father Ben Young, who was doing the Baldy Hill Climb.

This little tyke, found the going a little rough but he was determined to finish. After all, he wore a Baldy Hill Climb T-shirt featuring Rick Kapala’s face with his famous quote: “Nothing another 10,000 more hours of training won’t fix.”

“I’m climbing the mountain because it’s there,” said Ben Young. “And Finn does likes to hike.”

When it was all over, the youngsters had a steep walk down some rather loose rock stirred up by the construction going on the Warm Springs side of the mountain as Sun Valley Resort prepares to host the 2025 World Cup Finals in March.

But the youngsters didn’t seem to mind.

After all, they were clutching participatory ribbons in one hand and cookies in the other.

This little girl picked her way amongst the rocks and the weeds.

Ta da! Evie Loufek, Ellie Yeats and Rhodes Sinnott show off their ribbons.