STORY AND PICTURES PROVIDED BY JOHN W. LUNDIN

When Sun Valley opened in December 1936, alpine skiing was a fledgling sport. Because there were few ski tows in this country, most skiers did what we call backcountry skiing or alpine touring, where they climbed hills before skiing down, limiting the sport to the most athletic.

In 1932, North America’s first rope tow was installed at Shawbridge, Quebec. In1934, the first rope tow in the United States began operating at Woodstock, Vt. And in 1935, the first overhead cable lift in the United States--a J-bar--was installed in Hanover, N.H., by the Dartmouth Outing Club.

Sun Valley revolutionized the sport by offering skiing on two mountains accessed by chairlifts developed by Union Pacific engineers. However, Harriman knew he had to offer alternatives to lift-served skiing to attract the expert skiers of the day.

Skiers could stay overnight in Sun Valley’s Owl Creek Cabin south of present-day Galena Lodge until an avalanche ripped through the area in 1952.

He had areas around Sun Valley explored for their potential for backcountry skiing, which then became an important part of the resort’s activities. Sun Valley built two backcountry huts—Pioneer Cabin and Oowl Creek Cabin--for overnight stays, allowing access to the virtually unlimited skiing in the mountains around the resort.

And the Sun Valley Ski School had Alpine and Alpine Touring divisions.

The backcountry ski areas that were important in the early days of Sun Valley are now enjoyed by modern skiers using far more sophisticated equipment.

As Harriman was planning his new resort in winter 1936, he had Count Felix Schaffgotsch (the man who located Ketchum for his new ski area), Charles N. Proctor and John E.P. Morgan (who laid out the resort’s lifts and ski runs), explore potential backcountry skiing areas in the mountains around Ketchum.

Skiers ski from Galena Summit to Owl Creek Cabin past Bromaghin Peak, the triangular-shaped peak in the center.

Proctor and Morgan scouted areas north of Ketchum as far as Stanley Basin, the Sunbeam Dam and lakes at the foot of the “Saw Tooth Mountains,” as they spelled it. They also explored areas surrounding Ketchum, including Bald Mountain, Warm Springs Canyon, Elk Horn Valley (as they spelled it) and east in the Pioneer Mountains.

Proctor and Morgan marked runs for skiers to follow and wrote “The Skiing” in late 1936 or early 1937. A detailed guide to backcountry skiing in the Wood River Valley, it covered all the areas around Sun Valley and as far north as around Galena Lodge.

It also included all the valleys between Galena and Ketchum, including Baker Creek, Boulder Creek, the North Fork of the Big Wood, the Warm Springs ridge, Bald Mountain (before it was transformed into a downhill ski resort), Proctor Mountain east into the Pioneers and areas south of Proctor, including Elkhorn Bowl.

The following year, Sun Valley produced maps showing the backcountry skiing around the resort, using icons for skiers, snowcats and dog sleds. In fall 1936, Proctor published an article in American Ski Annual, 1936, telling skiers that Averell Harriman and Union Pacific’s new ski resort in Idaho was “comparable to the well- known resorts in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.”

This early picture of Pioneer Cabin shows routes used to access the other side of the canyon, climb Salzburger Spitzel and ascend Handwerk Peak and Goat Mountain.

Sun Valley would offer two ski lifts making terrain easily accessible on Dollar Mountain with “short, easy runs” and on Proctor Mountain, giving access to “a large area of country for open downhill running of all kinds.” The lifts were “of a new design which will carry the skier up in a comfortable chair but will not necessitate the removal of skis.”

Sun Valley also would offer a wide variety of backcountry skiing on Bald Mountain, which did not have lifts until 1940, and areas north of Ketchum. Any skier wanting harder and longer runs can reach the foot of Bald Mountain in 10 minutes by car from Sun Valley Lodge, skiers were told.

They were also told that Bald Mountain rises to 9,200 feet and provides several runs with more than 3,200-foot descents. Some of these are almost entirely in the open, while others offer variety running through widely scattered trees. Some routes offer very steep fast running, while others give opportunity to follow gradual slopes the entire distance.

To the north, Proctor wrote, the Boulder Peaks rise to nearly 11,000 feet. From one of the lower ridges near these peaks at least five different runs radiate from a point 4,000 feet above the valley. These runs vary in length from approximately two and a half miles to five...and offer a great variety of downhill skiing.

This early picture of Pioneer Cabin shows the ascent of Duncan Peak. Hyndman Peak and Old Hyndman Peak can be seen in the background, along with Cobb Peak.

“The hardest runs are very steep with open wood running, as well as open slopes. The easier routes follow more gradual slopes with very little wood running,” he wrote. And, he added, all these runs can be reached by a short drive from Sun Valley Lodge.

The resort also offered cross country skiing and ski touring and cabins for spending the night or having lunch. There were any number of short easy half-day or day-long cross-country tours taking the skier through beautiful country and giving a fine variety of running.

For the experienced ski mountaineer, there were plenty of rugged mountains for long hard trips...Cabins and shelters were located at convenient places so the ski tourer could find comfortable camps for spending the night or for lunch.

“The mountains extend in all directions from Sun Valley with practically no timber thick enough to spoil the slopes for skiing,” publicity claimed. “It is all perfect ski terrain, but hardly any of it has ever been skied over!”

An article titled “Zee Skiing” provides details about skiing at most of the areas shown on the maps.

The first map shows the area north and west of Sun Valley. Several areas where backcountry skiing took place north of Ketchum are not shown, including Galena Summit, Galena Store (now Lodge), and Baker Creek, whose “practice slopes are comparatively open in an area that is heavily timbered.”

Skiing is shown in the Boulder Mountains 18 miles north of Ketchum. The mountains are too abrupt for skiing, literature noted, but one group of three marked ridge top runs was known to provide good skiing, each about three miles long with a drop of 3,900 feet. The middle run was perfect for expert skiers, with “every type of skiing and every type of obstacle one could expect in ski races. Take an instructor or ski guide with you.

The “North Fork area” at the present location of the Sawtooth National Recreational Area headquarters had not been explored but offered promise. Skiers wanting to explore areas for new ski runs could organize trips with the sports office, and a dogsled could transport sleeping bags, utensils and provisions for staying overnight.

Skiing is shown on Durrance Mountain (named for Dick Durrance), and Bright Peak (named for Alex Bright, a 1939 Olympian and a director of the Sun Valley Ski Club). Both were accessed by hiking or sno-cat. “Race Mountain,” 6.5 miles north of Ketchum at the mouth of Eagle Creek, had a fast run three miles long, dropping 3,300 feet, that was suitable for skiers of medium skill and a 6.5-mile long run suitable for skilled skiers.

“Hauser Mountain” named for Ski School Director Hans Hauser was 3.5 miles north of Ketchum at the mouth of Lake Creek. It had a run down a finger ridge with “open slopes, some steep, some moderate, with a maximum rise of about 1,000 feet.”

“North Ridge of Warm Springs Canyon,” reached by crossing a field to reach markers that led up Heidelberg Gulch, had two runs--one two miles long with a drop of 2,200 feet that was a thrilling run “for the finished skier.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Learn about the days when Bald Mountain was considered too dangerous for skiing and skiers had to navigate their way around mines when skiing Elkhorn when Eye on Sun Valley runs Part 2 of John W. Lundin’s look at Backcountry Skiing in Sun Valley next week.

Lundin is an award-winning author of such books as “Skiing Sun Valley: A History from Union Pacific to the Holdings,” “Ski Jumping in Washington State” and “Early Skiing on Snoqualmie Pass.”