Sun Valley ID, 02/17/2019

Drove from Pebble Creek to Hailey ID, on the night of the 16th.  Hailey is about 20 minutes away from the ski area.  

Sun Valley has seen a ton of snow throughout the past couple of weeks, but nothing new had been reported over the past couple of days.  We weren't disappointed.  It was cold, but the sun was out periodically, and provided plenty of warmth.  The snow softened up nicely as the day progressed.  We initially sampled snow from the Warm Springs chair.  We had skied 6 of the last 7 days, so off piste was a lot of work for tired legs.  We decided to stick mainly to the groomed surfaces.  There was plenty to choose from.  The crowd was minimal.  It was a good recovery day.  There is a ton of snow here... I think they're in for a fantastic Spring season.

Wild Life in the Area


Traversing Chair


No lines


Valley View

So Sun Valley is all it's cracked up to be, especially for cruising groomers?

IMO one of, if not the best cruising mountain in the US..

If you look around there you notice the skis that people are using are set up for cruising.  I don't think there is another resort in the world that you can get as much vertical in a day.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

So Sun Valley is all it's cracked up to be, especially for cruising groomers?

Totally.  The grooming is impeccable.  All groomed runs were smooth as a babies buttocks.  I'm not a speed demon, but I felt totally comfortable letting the boards run at high speeds on the surfaces at SV.    

Thanks for the report. SV is one of my favorites.

It is THE cruising mountain for the US. In addition to the all the high speed lifts, it is never crowded.  There is a 1700ft vert HSQ called Frenchmen's between the River Run and Warm Springs. Most of the time when we rode it there were about 10 other people on the entire lift. They have a huge snowmaking system and are very big on grooming. I was there for 7 days about 10 years ago  and was there 10 days in 1986. The place cannot be beat for pure all out speed skiing. I cannot wait to get back.

Looks like a fun place. I’ve never been but I feel like I ought to make it there at some point. Lots of history too; Home of the first chairlift and Warren Miller got his start in the ski movie business while camping out in the parking lot there.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

So Sun Valley is all it's cracked up to be, especially for cruising groomers?

My friend who was a national level racer as a teen and young adult loved the groomers at Sun Valley when we went a few years ago based on the MCP.

Be interesting if more people start checking out SV based on the Epic Pass in the new few years.