STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY LOREN WOOD

Being stuck in traffic on the morning commute into Ketchum hasn’t been quite so bad this week, thanks to a helicopter flying concrete and other materials to the top of Bald Mountain.

A Mooney M20 helicopter has entertained drivers struck in the morning traffic jam this week as Sun Valley Resort continues to build its new six-passenger Lookout Express chairlift and its high-speed quad Christmas lift.

A Mooney M20 helicopter ferries a concrete block up to the top of Bald Mountain.

That a good thing, too, as one driver told of it taking him an hour and 30 minutes to drive his grandsons from Indian Creek to Ketchum for summer camp. Another couple spent 55 minutes driving into Ketchum from their home in Cold Springs, just south of the hospital.

Those who were stuck in traffic might have seen the helicopter picking up materials from the base of the Cold Springs canyon behind St. Luke’s Wood River. Turnaround time took just minutes as the helicopter returned, turned around and headed up the canyon before lifting off again.

The helicopters are being used to fly old lift towers down off the mountain and fly new towers up to the top of the mountain. Workers removed old terminals the last week of May, then removed lift towers in mid-June. The foundations for the new lift towers are complete as concrete bases have been poured. Now, workers are setting steel.

The new chairlifts, expected to be up and running for the 2026-27 ski season, will increase reliability and uphill capacity, while continuing the modernization of Sun Valley’s lift infrastructure.

This cargo will be part of the structures ferrying skiers to the top of the mountain come winter.

The action is expected to shift to Fox Creek area north of Ketchum today—Friday, July 17-- as the Sawtooth National Forest in partnership with the Wood River Trails Coalition drops a new bridge on moorings on the Fox Creek Trail.

The 70-foot bridge is being flown from the Fox Creek parking lot into the site a mile from the trailhead. The bridge is in two parts.

The U.S. Forest Service is issuing a hard closure for the Fox Creek Trail north of Ketchum today--Friday, July 17.

The trail is being closed so that helicopter pilots who have been ferrying lift materials to the top of Bald Mountain this week can drop the new Fox Creek Bridge into place.They will not be able to do so if there are unauthorized people in the area. Drones in the area will also shut down operations.

Those who wish to watch the operation are advised to do so from the Taylor Canyon Ridge.

The bridge will replace a smaller bridge that has washed downstream repeatedly in floods. The new bridge is expected to offer a crossing for the next hundred years.

The use of the helicopter Sun Valley has been using is expected to shave $100,000 off the cost of the $310,000 project because it eliminates the cost of flying the helicopter from its point of origin.

Hiking will resume on the Fox Creek Trail once the bridge is in part, but hikers and bikers will need to stay out of the way of workers applying the finishing touches. That is expected to last through August.