IMG_20190129_114450.jpgI get bored at work to.
Sun Valley Lodge: This was a wonderful place to stay, reasonable rates heated pool and hot tub. You travel by bus to everywhere. They go by every 15 minutes and bring you right through Kethum to the Bald Mountain. They have a beginner mountain and Bald Mountain. The town of Ketchum is pretty cool town. Reminds me a little of LP. Good Bars and very friendly out doors people. A skier and Biker town. Its located in the Sawtooth mountains. They are smaller than in Montana, Sun Valley is known for its Sun and lack of Wind. I experienced 0 wind the week I was there, no new snow either.
The top of bald mountain is 9,150 feet. The May Day chair services the bowls front and back. Because of the lack of snow things were bumped up and firm. There are 5 trails, but it is a bowl with different features, so you ski wherever you want. They did groom one every other day so you could get some good skiing. They groomed Sigi and Kaitlyns while I was there. They both skied wonderful. May Day bowl looked the toughest to me so that is the one I hit. 1.5k vert full of bumps down over a ridge in the middle. Would have been a hoot with a couple inches of snow.
Seattle Ridge: the beginner’s terrain on bald mountain. It gets the sun early and has a very consistent pitch. I would say like Victoria at whiteface but longer, yes it was green, but it was a good pitch with great snow in the morning. Follow the sun. One toughie fire trail. Drainage coming down from the hill. Big bumps steep and long. Did it once, lone skier in drainage is not the place to fall.
Lookout Express: Decent Pod. Has a mix of everything The rock garden is true to its name I did not hit any sharks, but they were lurking with only 60 inches of snow so far. The diamonds probably top out at 45 degrees and it is easier when they have bumps on them.
Frenchmens chair: My BOL saw they groomed that Tuesday so we spend the first part of the day hitting all the groomers. Good Pitches all groomed.
Challenger Chair: the best place to be in the spring but this time of year it does not get the sun. It does Service 310o feet of vert that is all pitch no run out. Because of the conditions I had to entertain myself. Thursday, I spend the entire day there and lapped it. Limelight is steep with no flats. What you think are flats you recognize are not when you can feel your skies start to wobble. 75k vert. I can’t think of another lift in the country you can that kind of vert in 7 hours.
I liked the layout of the mountain. It had all the vert you needed 3300 and it was right in front of you. With snow you basically ski anywhere you want, reminded me of the Granite chief pod in Squaw. After a day you could ski from memory. I get lost on some of the big mountains out west. Here I felt more at home. Lots of technical lines and steeps but not those you fall you die zones. I think I had enough of those in my life. The snow came in this week, the place looks like some real fun with snow. You don’t need much to lighten up the snow that’s on the ground to make a pow day. They make snow early season to get things going. Very constant temperatures unlike the east. The snowmaking is all permanently mounted guns wired to turn on and off from the central control center. They have 34 weather stations around the hill to keep them apprised to adjust water flow. They received 60 inches so at this year, one six-inch storm everything would be in play. They don’t loose the snow once it falls. Pretty cool. They have there shit together making snow.
Stats for the week. 211000 vert. 269 miles max speed 71mph. My skis need some wax
Ill post some more pictures from my phone as time permits.
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