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 …
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Best Fireplaces to Cozy-Up by in Ketchum & Sun Valley
After a day on the slopes, or a day at the spa, there’s nothing like lounging next to a roaring fireplace as the snow falls outside. Whether you’re in the company of friends and family, or a good book, the warmth of a well-built fire fills the heart. Here are our favorite places to sit by the fire in Ketchum and Sun Valley. Limelight Hotel Limelight Hotel’s expansive lobby—perfect for a cocktail, a game of cards, a couple hours of work, or hanging out with your favorite person—welcomes visitors with two glass-fronted fireplaces. Sip a drink, taste an appetizer, and let the flames melt away all your worries. Sun Valley Wine Company The Sun Valley Wine Company, in Ketchum’s Town Square, is a wine shop, bar and light fare restaurant. Browse the racks for a great bottle of wine to share, or order a single pour at the bar. A selection of chilled beer is also available. Settle into the couch in front of the stone fireplace and munch on a cheese plate as you warm your toes. Sawtooth Club Hemingway knew how to while away the hours at a beloved bar, telling a good yarn. And his favorite haunt in …
Boulder Mountain Tour: What Not to Miss
2023 marks the 50th year of the Annual Zions Bank Boulder Mountain Tour (BMT). This year the BMT will Honor Bob Rosso, one of the original founders of the race and a valued community member here in the Wood River Valley. This historic cross-country race is held on the historic Harriman Trail in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, north of Ketchum.
24 hours with a Local: Flourish Foundation’s Abby Mills
A local now of fourteen years, Abby Mills traded out one mountain town for another, having grown up in Park City, Utah. After graduating college, Abby moved to Ketchum for a job at Idaho Bioscience, where she worked for five years before going back to school for medical lab science while working simultaneously as a lab assistant. After graduating, she was a medical lab scientist for three years, but found herself searching for more purposeful work. She attended a yoga teacher training in Bali—and still continues to teach yoga, at Gather—but got involved with the Flourish Foundation when she was invited to a Compassionate Leaders Program (CLP) meeting, a weekly meeting that impart skills like attention, kindness, and compassion to students. After attending many CLP meetings and participating in environmental stewardship trips with CLP in the summers, Abby Mills was offered her current job at Flourish as Development Director and Compassionate Leaders Co-Leader. She has now been with Flourish for three years and feels so grateful to be part of a program that is describes as “such a gift to the community.” Her and her husband, Tate, and cattle dog, Ollie, live in Ketchum. In her free time, Abby loves …
24 hours with a Local: Johnny G’s Subshack Owners Sinjin and Trevor Thomas
If you’ve eaten at Johnny G’s Subshack in the past year, then you’ve been served by one or both of the Thomas brothers, who purchased the business in November of 2022. Sinjin and Trevor, both locals, were already enmeshed in the casual dining scene of the area before taking over Johnny G’s, with Sinjin already working at the Subshack as well as Grumpy’s and Trevor bringing about twenty combined years of working for Grumpy’s and Lefty’s. When not at the Subshack, you can find Trevor playing for the Suns hockey time, working out, and staying active. Sinjin lives with his girlfriend Hayley Hinojosa (of Hayleywood Salon) out Warm Springs with their cat and “chiweenie” (a dachshund-chihuahua). While Sinjin used to play on the Suns, he now devotes his time to pond hockey and A-league hockey, as well as golf and watching sports. Check out how each of these brothers would spend their ideal 24 hours on a December day in Sun Valley. How does your morning start? Trevor: I would wake up at 5, go to High Altitude Fitness and work out with Kevin. Afterward, I’d probably go to Java or Maude’s and get a coffee and a muffin. Then …
What We’re Made Of: Wild Rye and Club Ride
Many outdoor brands have their origins in the Wood River Valley; the easy access to the outdoors in so many ways (biking, hiking, skiing) gets the creative juices flowing in terms of how to improve on those sports—and then gives you a big playground to test out those improvements. Outdoor apparel companies Wild Rye and Club Ride are no different, with both company’s founders being outdoor aficionados in the Wood River Valley who found themselves staring down a gap in their respective markets; for Wild Rye, that gap was an outdoor brand exclusively for women. For Club Ride, that gap was casual bike clothes that could be worn from the bike to the bar. Read on to learn the origin stories of these two local companies, who are helping maintain Ketchum’s status quo as an incubator for innovation. Wild Rye Wild Rye’s founder, Cassie Abel, has lived in and out of Ketchum since she was eight years old, but coming back full-time in 2012. Prior to launching her women-focused outdoor brand, Cassie worked in-house at Smith, learning all about the outdoor industry, its marketing—and its distinct lack of focus on women. “We were starting to see all these cool brands …
24 Hours with a Local: Sawtooth Mountain Guides’ Lindsay Mann Davis
Backcountry ski guide Lindsay Mann Davis didn’t move to the area until 2018, but skiing has always been in her life. Growing up on the east coast, she spent most of her youth exploring the White Mountains of New Hampshire and competitive ski racing, which took her to mountains around the world. Her passion for skiing took her to Dartmouth, where she helped her team win an NCAA title in 2007. After college, she spent time working as an alpine ski racing coach, mountain guide, and avalanche instructor. Before making the move to Idaho, Lindsay and her now-husband Leon were living in Jackson Hole. After he accepted a pilot job in the state, she got a job offer with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) to coach alpine and do avalanche education. She’s now a guide for Sawtooth Mountain Guides and also works at Andy Gilbert’s Press Print House and Keely’s Camp for Girls as operations manager. The flexibility of Lindsay’s employers has been instrumental in being able to spend time with her 1-year-old daughter, Matilda. Lindsay and her family live in a house in Hailey, and in her free time she loves to mountain bike, climb, backcountry ski, …
What We’re Made Of: Chums
Referring to your eyewear retainer simply as “Chums,” like you might call tissue “Kleenex”shows just how much this global brand dominates its market. With humble origins that can betraced back to a guide on the Colorado River in southern Utah, Chums is celebrating its 40thanniversary this year. Chums came to Ketchum in 2002 after local Chuck Ferries purchased thecompany along with his son, Tom, and son-in-law, Mike Neary. Many of the company’sproducts are still made in the original Hurricane, Utah, facility and five employees hold downsales and marketing in Ketchum. How it Started In 1983 Mike Taggett was a dory boat guide on the Colorado River. Tired of seeing his clientslose their sunglasses to the water, he came up with the idea for what is now the Original Chumseyewear retainer, producing the first batch on a $60 sewing machine out of the back of his VWvan. Named for Mike’s yellow lab, Chumley, Chums has always been about those who feelcalled to the water: guides, river rats, dirtbags, anglers. As demand grew, Chums began mass-producing its retainers and selling to retailers nationwide, though the Original cotton eyewearretainer is still the company’s best-selling product (and is still made in the original facility …
24 hours with a Local: TNT Taproom’s Max Lemman
Though he didn’t move here until 2018, TNT Taproom owner Max Lemman grew up coming to Sun Valley, learning to ski and then snowboard on Baldy. Both of his parents are avid skiers and Max spent his winters and summers visiting the area from Seattle. In the winter of 2018, he invited his now-wife Ashley to come to Sun Valley for the holidays. While participating in the local nightlife—or lack thereof, in Ashley and Max’s opinion—they started hatching an idea for opening a new kind of brewery and bar. Back in Seattle Max had been trying to open a bar but found the city to be too busy, both for his business or for him to want to stay. The couple moved to Ketchum and, after looking at several spaces, opened TNT Taproom in “the Dynamite Shed,” which used to house the town’s railroad and mining dynamite and has affectionately been referred to by locals as “the Boom Shack” or the “Boom Room.” Max got his dream of opening a simple taproom, one that serves only beers on draft and delicious wine. While you can often find Max behind the bar, Ashley is behind the scenes building the menu, ordering …
5 of the Best Fall Hikes in Sun Valley
Fall has officially arrived. The sun soaked aspen and cottonwood leaves have slowly begun to make their way from branch ends to trail floors leaving behind nature’s very own yellow brick road. This vibrantly radiating carpet and canopy delivers a truly enchanting hiking experience. We’ve compiled a list of our top-five best fall hikes in Sun Valley to help you maximize your dose of vitamin yellow. Proctor Mountain (5 miles – moderate) Serving up some the earliest pops of color in the Valley, the Proctor Mountain area tops our list of early fall hikes. This zone starts by venturing through thick swaths of aspen groves before climbing to higher elevations. Thoughts of burning thighs quickly vanish as expansive perspectives of the colorful valley below take hold. The reward makes the trek well worth the effort. Tip: the leaves will be changing early up here so get after it as soon as you see the first leaves starting to change, usually the middle of September. Directions: From Ketchum, head northeast on Sun Valley Rd towards Trail Creek. In roughly 2.6 miles look for the “Hemingway Memorial” sign and use the parking lots on your right or left. Park here and follow the trail …