STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
The Roundhouse Gondola will lift off for the summer season beginning today—Friday, June 26. But—be forewarned--lift service will be to mid-mountain only due to construction of the new Christmas and Lookout Express chairlifts.
Lift service will be provided from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays with tickets available at the River Run Ticket Windows starting at 8:45 a.m.
The Roundhouse will open today with lunches of fondues, truffle fries and smoked salmon offered at 7,700 feet from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Brass Ranch River Run will open for the summer today, as well, with hours from 10 am. to 5 p.m. daily. In addition to clothing and sporting goods for sale, the Brass Ranch will have downhill mountain bike, gravel bike, road bike and e-bike rentals.
That’s right, Sun Valley Resort has opened the mountains to Class 1 e-bikes this year, following the trend towards providing e-bike access, which allows more people to comfortably go uphill. Class II and II E-bikes are prohibited.
Lift service will not be provided to the top of the mountain for hikers, bikers or sightseers this summer, as the Resort is replacing the Christmas lift with a new high-speed quad and the Lookout Express with a six-passenger chair.
Helicopters have been flying pieces of the old lifts off the mountain to the Sun Valley graveyard. And they are expected to fly in parts for the new lifts in the next week.
When finished, the Christmas Lift will cover 1,354 vertical feet in 4.5 minutes, and the Lookout Express will span 2,673 vertical feet in 8.5 minutes at speeds up to 1,000 feet per minute.
Because of the construction, Saddle Up and Lupine bike trails will be closed this summer, and other trails may be subject to intermittent closures. Check https://www.sunvalley.com/the-mountain/bald-mountain-terrain-updates/ or https://www.sunvalley.com/about/sun-valley-app/ to find the latest information on trail closures.
The Lookout Restaurant will be closed this summer, but portable restrooms will be available on top of Baldy.
The Bald Mountain Trail currently provides access to the Traverse Trail that leads to the lower Warm Springs Trail and Warm Springs Base. French Connection also is open.
Meanwhile, the City of Ketchum is building a new connector trail from the refurbished Warm Springs Preserve along the base of the mountain to the Bald Mountain Trail.
Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain Stewardship project, which removes dead and dying trees for forest health and wildfire risk reduction, will involve 150 acres across Seattle Ridge, Scorpion, River Run and Cold Springs Canyon this year.
MUSIC ON THE MOUNTAIN
The free River Run Summer Series will return July 22 through Aug. 26 with music, games and food at River Run Plaza every Wednesday evening.
And the Baldy Bluebird Music Festival on July 3-4 will feature Brothers Osborne and Chase Rice. Tickets are on sale now at https://www.sunvalley.com/events/baldy-bluebird-festival/.