STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
It was an Instant Winter.
One day the ridge leading from Holiday down into 42nd Street on Bald Mountain was all brown dirt and rocks. Two days later skiers were skiing that same off-piste ridge.
A storm that dumped nearly three feet of snow on some parts of the Wood River Valley over three days has transformed Baldy, leading to the opening of such runs as Olympic, Exhibition, Sleeping Bear, Holiday, Sunny Side, Warm Springs, Picabo’s Street, Limelight, International and much of the Frenchman’s area.
And on Friday Sun Valley Resort will open Seattle Ridge and Dollar Mountain.
The resort will also launch dinner at the Roundhouse beginning Friday. To reserve your space for dinner or lunch, call 208-622-2800.
The storm finally let Wood River Valley residents trade in their mountain bikes for skinny skis, as well, as it dumped marshmallow blobs of snow along Highway 75 north of Ketchum and left pine trees looking like wedding dresses.
Those who flocked to the trails on Monday may have been disappointed by parking spaces that weren’t plowed and skate ski lanes covered with inches of fluff since the groomer had rolled over them. But by Wednesday the corduroy was perfect and the parking lots plowed.
And Galena Lodge was in full throttle serving up hearty bowls of soup to visitors—a welcome sight for the lodge’s employees, who could do little but wait and pray for snow for three weeks when skiing typically would have been happening.
The few who braved 19-degree temperatures to trek to Galena on Wednesday had plenty of parking spaces to choose from and plenty of elbow room in the lodge and on trails ahead of the busy holidays.
The bike path has been groomed from Bellevue to Hulen Meadows, skiers are praising the conditions at Quigley Nordic in Hailey and even the trails at Lake Creek have been manicured. The only trails left to open are those at Billy’s Bridge and the Sun Valley Nordic Center.
DID YOU KNOW?
Ski racer extraordinaire Lindsey Vonn visited Sun Valley this past weekend to present her new HEAD Sportswear Legacy Collection at Pete Lane's in Sun Valley Village.