BY KAREN BOSSICK
Sun Valley Resort will kick off the 89th season with top-to-bottom skiing on Bald Mountain at 9 a.m. tomorrow—Thanksgiving Day.
The resort, which has hosted a ski racing camp since Saturday, will toast the occasion with an inch of new snow.
Upper and Lower College will be open, as will Mid-River Run, Roundhouse Lane, 42nd Street, Sunset Strip and Lower River Run.
There’ll be complimentary hot cocoa at the bottom to start the day, along with music by DJ DOT to get things revved up. And River Run Lodge will be open with a mini -Konditorei pastry and coffee shop, along with other offerings, to stave off the pre-Thanksgiving Dinner cravings.
Sun Valley has already begun to groom Seattle Ridge in preparation for its new state-of-the-art high-speed, detachable six-pack chairlift put in this summer to replace its quad. The new six-pack follows on the heels of the state-of-the-art Challenger six-pack, which debuted in the 2023-24 season.
The resort has added 91 acres of new gladed terrain in the Sunrise area through the Bald Mountain Stewardship forest health program in partnership with the National Forest Foundation, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
And come March 22-27 the resort will become the first resort in the United States since 2017 to host the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals. The competition will bring the top 25 men and women in all four disciplines—downhill, giant slalom, super-G and slalom--to vie for the overall World Cup title.
The resort moved scads of dirt around on International, Upper Greyhawk and Lower Hemingway and Greyhawk this summer widening and grading runs to prepare courses meeting FIS requirements. The work included the installation of snowmaking on International and a new traverse at mid-mountain.
“Finally, a World Cup Finals on home soil!” said two-time World Cup winner Bryce Bennett. “I’m excited to have the Finals in Sun Valley Idaho this season! It couldn’t be in a better location with a community that values and supports World Cup skiing with the same enthusiasm as the Europeans.”
The resort posted another Top 10 ranking in SKI Magazine’s annual reader survey poll of ski resorts this year.
After spending three consecutive years atop the polls, the resort came in at No. 9 this year following a poor snow year. But readers said its lift system is the best in the West, and it will only get better with the opening of the new Seattle lift.
Readers ranked Sun Valley second for dining, local character and guest service. They praised Bald Mountain’s long fall line slopes, which they said are made for high-speed carving: “When it’s a low snow year, Sun Valley makes up for it with its amazing grooming and snowmaking, holiday ambiance all year long and many things to do outside of skiing. When it’s a high snowfall year, the mountain doesn’t feel crowded, making for epic turns with friends and family on a powder day.”
In addition to its own season passes, Sun Valley is honoring IKON and Mountain Collective passes this year, as it did last year.
This year Sun Valley is debuting a Rookie Camp and Boot Camp for skiers and boarders. The four-day Rookie Camp Dec. 14-17 offers fast track instruction for beginning skiers and riders, including coaching from expert instructors, video coaching, $120 credit for food and beverage purchases, and optional $100 lift tickets for non-pass holders.
The three-day Boot Camp offers three days of coaching, a boot assessment, one-day high performance ski demo, reception and discounted shopping, daily video analysis, $120 credit for food and beverages and optional $100 lift tickets for non-pass holders.
And the Skimeister Camp for experienced skiers offers three days of coaching, daily video analysis, $120 credit for food and beverages, special pricing on high performance demo skis and $100 lift tickets for non-passholders.
The resort is offering a 10-week freeride program for youngsters ages 6 through 17 on Saturdays and Sundays this year beginning Jan. 4 and Jan. 5. An AMP program for kids in 8th through 12th grades will offer all-mountain riding on all Baldy terrain for advanced skiers and riders who want to push their skills in steep glades, wide-open bowls, high-speed groomers, jumps and bumps.
Mountain Masters for adults 18 and older will begin Jan. 6 and run through March 7. An eight-week DIVAS program for women 18 and older will be offered Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays beginning Jan. 7. A similar program for advanced male skiers called ARCS will be offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays beginning in early January.
Dollar Mountain, meanwhile, will offer Cubs and Bears camps for youngsters ages 5 through 11, as well as a Teen Adventure Camp for children 12 and older.—lunch included.
Rotarun Ski Area west of Hailey, meanwhile, is slated to open Dec. 21 for Saturdays and Sundays only until January, when it offers night skiing on Wednesdays and Fridays. The ski area boasts a new exterior renovation of the lodge and this year workers installed its third tower snow gun.
Soldier Mountain opens Nov. 29. It has doubled its snowmaking capabilities and added state-of-the-art TechnoAlpin TR10 snow guns for top-to-bottom coverage on Canyon and North Ridge. Workers have put up more signage and done extensive brush cutting throughout the inbounds and snowcat terrain.
The ski area will offer inaugural training camps in December and March for the slopestyle teams of the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team and the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team. And it will host a Rocky Mountain States Hill Climb Association snowmobile hill climb Jan. 25-26.
SIP & SHOP FOR the SUN VALLEY SKI EDUCATION FOUNDATION
Kiki Pate, a high school student and entrepreneur who has started her own baking business, will serve up free treats on Friday when J.McLaughlin holds a Sip & Shop to benefit the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation.
There’ll be sips and treats, as well as a raffle and promos, to benefit the SVSEF, which this year has nearly 900 youngsters on alpine, Nordic, freestyle, snowboard and other teams. Fifteen percent of all sales between noon and 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, will benefit the SVSEF.
JMcLaughlin is located at 520 E. 4th St. in Ketchum, catty-corner from Atkinsons’ Market. And, yes, you can call in an order at 208-471-5387 and have it count towards SVSEF if you’re out of town!