The holidays in Sun Valley are magical, and these are just a few of the festive moments that await this holiday season. Don’t know where to start? We’ve compiled your 2018 guide of must-see events and happenings from Christmas festivities to rock-the-house New Year’s shenanigans!
3 Reasons to Travel to Sun Valley for Opening Day
If you’ve never experienced an Opening Day in Sun Valley—don’t you think it’s about time? Here are 3 reasons to travel to Sun Valley for this double-holiday.
Local Beta for Planning Your Ski Trip to Sun Valley
If powdery slopes and mountain living is just what the doctor ordered, look no further than a trip to Sun Valley. With luxurious accommodations, perfect grooming, plentiful après activities, and unique off-mountain experiences, Sun Valley has everything you need to make it a weekend to remember.
Sun Valley + IKON Pass
No matter how much you might love your home mountain, there are always other resorts to try out. And if you’re a powder hound, you might just spend your winters hopping from ski hill to ski hill, going where the meteorologist says the next dump will hit. This kind of winter adventuring is a heck of a lot easier with the IKON Pass, a multi-resort ski and snowboard season pass that gives you access to a whopping 50 resort destinations across five continents, 10 countries, 15 states, and four Canadian provinces. The 2023–2024 season, marked the first year that the Sun Valley Resort was a part of the Ikon Pass, adding itself to the list of iconic mountains one can experience as a pass holder. Sun Valley also joined the Mountain Collective Pass for the 2023-2024 season. Sun Valley is no longer on the EPIC Pass. For the 2024-2025 season, Sun Valley continues to be on the IKON Pass & Mountain Collective Pass. What Are the IKON Pass Offerings? For the 2024-2025 season, the original namesake IKON Pass gets you unlimited access at 17 destinations and up to seven days each at 42 destinations. Included in those 17 with …
How to Get to Sun Valley, Idaho
Nonstop flights to Sun Valley, Idaho from 6 major cities! Yes, you read correctly, Sun Valley does have an airport and it is served via United, Delta, and Alaska Airlines. While getting to Sun Valley is part of the adventure, new non-stop flights have made it easier than ever to visit this little corner of winter paradise. Fly to Hailey’s Friedman Memorial Airport or land a bit further out and take the beautiful drive to Sun Valley. Either way, we’ll be waiting to welcome you.
Late Night in Sun Valley
Some say that Sun Valley is a sleepy town, but those folks are just the ones who go to bed early. What the area lacks in night clubs and velvet ropes it makes up for in pure, humble fun that keeps going after hours. Take a gander at this list of key locations. Just make sure you eat something before you go out. You know, to fuel the dancing. The Ketchum Crawl A typical evening starts out with a few drinks while eating some “real food,” from burgers and beers at Grumpy’s or Lefty’s to margaritas and baked potatoes at the Pio to cocktails and oysters at Michel’s Christiania. From there, it’s practically considered the law to start your late night at The Cellar for evening drinks, where you can enjoy one of their famous Moscow Mules in a copper mug, play some Buck Hunter or shuffleboard, and argue about whether you should head next to Whiskey’s on Main for some dancing or to catch a band. Once the band is done playing and the fat lady has sung, follow her onward to close the night at The Casino, Sun Valley’s legendary dive bar, where you can shoot pool, play darts, and make new friends …
20 Things You Didn’t Know About Sun Valley
A smattering of things you might not have know about Sun Valley, Idaho.
Rotarun Ski Area
Located 12 miles south of Ketchum, the home of Bald Mountain, is the town of Hailey and the home of the area’s lesser known ski mountain: Rotarun. Known as “the little mountain with a big heart”, this 475-foot ski hill located three miles east of Hailey out Croy Canyon has been a draw to the local community since it opened in 1948. With free night skiing, new snow making capabilities and terrain for Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) programs, this mountain is still making a big impact, showing how small ski hills like these are truly the soul of winter towns. Rotarun a ski hill where the essence of the sport is alive and well thanks to minimal barriers to entry and a welcoming demeanor. We highly recommend checking it out for yourself. History This small mountain has a storied history over the more than 70 years it’s been in existence. Starting after World War II, locals would boot pack up and ski down; shortly thereafter in 1948, Olympian Ann Winn started using the small mountain to teach kids how to ski, the first of many people to do so over the years. The mountain received its first “lift” in …
What We’re Made Of: Sawtooth Mountain Guides and Sun Valley Mountain Huts
All manner of people have explored the Idaho wilderness, for as long as it’s been there, but two companies, Sawtooth Mountain Guides and Sun Valley Mountain Huts, are two of the longest-running backcountry businesses in the Wood River Valley. An accredited mountain guide service, Sawtooth Mountain Guides (SMG) has been around for over 30 years, providing summer and winter backcountry guiding services. Sun Valley Mountain Huts (SVMH), formerly known as Sun Valley Trekking, owns some of the country’s oldest and most diverse backcountry hut system, with six huts in five Idaho mountain ranges. Sawtooth Mountain Guides The History Founded in 1985, Sawtooth Mountain Guides is the brainchild of outdoor enthusiast Kirk Bachman, who began exploring local ski and climbing terrain in the area in the early ’70s. When Kirk started SMG in the mid-’80s, it was primarily as a climbing guide service, though he soon added ski guiding on to the company and also built and established some of the first North American yurts as backcountry ski huts in the Sawtooths. This included the Williams Peak Hut, which the company established in 1988 as a winter base for local at-risk youth programs and continues to operate today for both guided …
24 hours with a Local: Professional Skier Karl Fostvedt
Local ski legend Karl Fostvedt (often referred to as “Crazy Karl”) has been skiing Sun Valley’s local mountains practically since he was born at the local Moritz hospital. In his years as a professional skier, Karl has amassed many accolades, from being named King of Corbet’s in 2018 and 2021 to being featured in various free ski movies from Warren Miller Entertainment, Teton Gravity Research, Red Bull Media House, Matchstick Productions (to name a few) to competing in the Dew Tour and War of Rails. Karl’s focus of late is on his own production company, Native Earth Productions, and making his own ski films with his hometown crew in the mountains he grew up in. He and his long-time girlfriend, Sierra (who attends vet school in Logan, Utah for the time being) live in Warm Springs, but he also spends a good deal of time brapping and skiing in the winter, and preparing for brapping and skiing in the summer. “I do everything I can to take advantage of this awesome opportunity to live my dream as a pro skier and having such an awesome backyard to go out in.” Visit Sun Valley caught up with Karl to see how …
