Sun Valley
Where Ski Bum Meets Ski Chic
Since it opened in 1936, Sun Valley, Idaho (1 Sun Valley Rd.; 800/786-8259, 208/622-2001; adult passes from $54; sunvalley.com), has been host to that scruffy breed known as the ski bum, happy to dine cheaply and sleep on floors provided they can wake up to first tracks. The valley was the first major ski resort in the Rockies, hosted the range’s first ski school, and was the first to install a chairlift (adapted from banana conveyor lifts used in Central America). These days the scruff remains, but things have gotten a bit more upscale, evident in the mix of ceos and hippies who happily share the wooden sidewalks and old saloons of Ketchum, the town at the resort’s base.
The pastiche of big money and powder junkie is best seen at the Sun Valley Lodge (Sun Valley Rd.; 800/786-8259, 208/622-2151; deals from $70/person for double occupancy; rack rates from $209; sunvalley.com), opened in 1936. The oak-paneled Duchin lounge is named for pianist Eddy Duchin, who crooned there in the 1930s and ’40s, when it was a favorite haunt of Clark Gable, Ingrid Bergman, and Ernest Hemingway (who penned portions of For Whom the Bell Tolls in room 206). Kentwood Lodge (180 S. Main St., Ketchum; 800/805-1001, 208/726-4114; rooms from $109; bestwestern.com/kentwoodlodge) offers less expensive rooms and is a perfect staging ground for forays into the old west town. In Ketchum, peruse more than a dozen art galleries selling everything from western to modern art, or drop into the 1937 Sun Valley Opera House (Sun Valley Village; 208/622-2244; tickets from $8; sunvalley.com) for a movie. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing from the Sun Valley Nordic & Snowshoe Center (Sun Valley Resort; 800/786-8259; adult day passes from $16; sunvalley.com) or Galena Lodge are other favorite pastimes. Galena Lodge (Ketchum; 208/726-4010; yurts from $125, each sleeps 4-8 people; galenalodge.com) offers free snowshoe tours Wednesdays and Thursdays at 11am in the surrounding Sawtooth National Recreation area. The lodge also hosts special-event dinners all season, and you can even rent a nearby yurt to spend the night.
The resort itself isn’t known for huge snowfall—hence, Sun Valley—but meticulous grooming and lowangle bowls make Mount Baldy one of the best intermediate hills in the West. When big storms do roll across the Sawtooth mountains (a spur of the Rockies about 200 miles east of Boise), locals head to Cold Springs Basin above the River Run Plaza. There they schuss 1,500-foot powder runs through the cottonwoods like the old-timers did. The widely spaced glade off the summit is another favorite, as are midmountain
groomers like Picabo’s Street—named for the olympic medalist who grew up in nearby triumph.
Sun Valley boasts the greatest uphill lift capacity of any ski resort in the U.S. and 2,054 acres of skiing, so guests rarely wait in line and are typically bushed when the closing bell rings. The Pioneer Saloon (308 Main St. North, Ketchum; 208/726-3139; entrées from $15; pioneersaloon.com) on Main Street, boasting the thickest prime rib in town, is the best place to fill up and recharge for another day on the hill, and its oversized cocktails will help loosen up those quads. For posh eats, lunch at Sun Valley’s original day lodge, the 1939 Roundhouse (Mount Baldy; 208/622-2371; entrées from $13; sunvalley.com/svdining) restaurant; make sure you have a lift ticket as the restaurant is halfway up Mount Baldy. It has a welcoming four-sided fireplace, and the sautéed elk loin with port wine demi-glace and German knodel is highly recommended. In town, the Ketchum Grill (520 East Ave., Ketchum; 208/726-4660; entrées from $9; ketchumgrill.com) offers inventive comfort food in a historic house.
Getting to Sun Valley
Factor in 7 hours flight time from New York City (via Salt Lake City or Boise) and 2 hours from Los Angeles to Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Idaho, just outside Ketchum. The Sun Valley Lodge offers a complimentary airport shuttle; taxis are also available for the 20-minute trip from town to mountain.
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