STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Sibyl Hansen and Sandra Sheeline feel extra special whenever Sun Valley Resort kicks off a new winter season.

Sun Valley Resort ushered in its 89th season of skiing as America’s first destination ski resort on Thanksgiving Day, and the twins were there ready to embark on their 89th season, as well. The two, who are about to turn 89, have become the stuff of legends around Bald Mountain, skiing it all from the bumps to the Bowls with the Mountain Masters nine-week instructional program.

After a summer of riding their 10-speeds up and down the valley, they were at Bald Mountain, ready to run their skis on Baldy’s steep corduroy runs.

A skier heads down Lower College on Thanksgiving morning.

“I love that you can get away from the crowds here,” said Hansen.

Sun Valley Resort opened with perfect conditions Thursday—perfectly groomed corduroy on such runs as Upper and Lower College and plenty of calf-deep powder on runs like Upper Limelight, French Dip,  Graduate, River Run and Sunnyside.

It was a fitting start to a season that will boast a new six-passenger chairlift on Seattle Ridge—the resort’s most popular area, said Pete Sonntag, general manager of Sun Valley. And it’s a good start to a season that will bring the world’s best ski racers to Sun Valley in March for the 2025 World Cup Finals.

Hannah Dayton and Franni Camilli decided to finish out their senior year of high school by going big and arriving at Bald Mountain at 2 a.m. to claim first dibs on the chairlift.

Lexi Hammond serves up cocoa in a mug commemorating Sun Valley’s 89th season.

Dayton called it 2 p.m. but she could be forgiven after spending a night in 8-degree weather. “We played Uno and other games and did some jumping jacks to stay warm—and it was so worth it,” she said, as she showed off a jersey with the number ’24 that Sun Valley passed out to the first on the Lower River Run chairlift and the Roundhouse Gondola.

“We figured, if you’re not first, you’re last,” added Isaac Burks, who showed up shortly after the girls with his friend Briggs Forelli.

Adelia, Victor and Jacob Watson showed up at 6:15 in the morning not to nab one of the first seats but to collect one of the commemorative grey Sun Valley 89th season mugs handed guests with a swig of hot chocolate.

“They ran out last year—we didn’t want to miss out this year,” said Victor Watson.

Skiers kick up plenty of powder on runs like Upper Limelight, which were open but ungroomed.

Jacob Watson, who moved to Sun Valley in April 2024, told how the first time he skied Sun Valley was when he and his brother were 14 or 15. They had already been skiing for eight or nine years at ski areas in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Vermont and New York. But they were unprepared for their first glimpse of Baldy.

“Driving up Warm Springs Road we could see the mountain and we said, ‘No, we’re not skiing that,” he recounted. “We ended up stumbling down a few runs and finally we got our legs underneath us. I would be very sad if I couldn’t ski now. You feel free out there doing your own thing.”

Victor and Adelia Watson both remember two years ago when so much snow fell that they felt as if they were floating on air as they schussed the Bowls.

“I remember standing at the top of the Bowls and it was so expansive,” said Adelia Watson. “I was so tired by the end that I took a tumble on Olympic but I made it down. I served in the military in Italy for four years and the Dolomites are beautiful, but I tell my Italian friends, ‘But you haven’t seen the Sawtooths.’

Baldy has a good base, thanks to preseason snowstorms that dumped about three feet of packable snow.

“Nordic skiing and snowshoeing at Galena and SNRA is like being in a storybook—it’s so beautiful. Even driving up here from Hailey today—I can’t get enough of it.”

Gabby Velasquez and other Sun Valley Snowsports instructors broke out new bluebird blue Gore-tex uniforms by Mammut that matched the bluebird sky above on Thursday. And the Yellowjackets also boasted new uniforms as they passed out Sun Valley water bottles and other swag to the lucky four who rode the 89th chair.

Narda Pitkethly recalled how she got chased by a moose as she skied down Lower River Run two years ago.

“Now, every time I come down Lower River Run, I look for a moose,” she said.

Ed Simon made his debut on Sun Valley’s slopes during the 1976-77 season when the West was high and dry. But it ended up being a good season in his estimation because, with no visitors, he could lap Upper College, Flying Squirrel and Lower Warm Springs over and over.

“The silver lining was that Sun Valley said, ‘We’re never doing that again,’ and so now we have the best snowmaking of any of the resorts,” he added. “There are no bad years here. Every year is a good year and this looks to be a very good year. Warm Springs looks ready to open now, and look at what we have today.”

Jer Chellin agreed: “We have a good base so it’s going to be a fantastic year. And I’m looking forward to the World Cup in spring, which will be fantastic. You say Limelight’s open? Well, yes, I’d love to ski it but maybe I’d better warm up first.”

Additional terrain, including Warm Springs, Seattle Ridge and Dollar Mountain, are expected to open Dec. 13.

SIP & SHOP FOR SVSEF AND ST. LUKE’s WOOD RIVER FOUNDATION

J.McLaughlin will pour bubbly while high school student Kiki Pate serves up treats from noon to 4 p.m. today—Friday, Nov. 29—as the Ketchum store donates 15 percent of all sales to the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Nearly 900 youth are enrolled in the SVEF’s ski and snowboard programs this year.

Meanwhile, Silver Creek Outfitters is donating 15 percent of online and instore sales today to St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. The store will roll out a charcuterie board and sips from 3 to 5 p.m.