I miss seeing Demi Moore in the supermarket but Tom Hanks grins as I enter Sun Valley Lodge, the namesake of a ski resort you may never have heard of.
Sun Valley’s remote Idaho location means it’s a celebrity bolthole, where Demi and Tom enjoy the slopes unmolested. “They come here because they want to be us, they want to be under the radar,” a local who spotted Demi informs me.
Sun Valley is famous among Hollywood types, but despite consistent accolades from US skiers and claiming to be the birthplace of the country’s wintersports, is almost unknown in the UK and overshadowed by bigger Rockies resorts like Aspen. The celebs like it that way, but things may change in March, when Sun Valley hosts its first World Cup downhill event in 50 years.
That may feel like an intrusion to the glitterati, who appreciate the remote frontier town feel. Today, they flock here using direct air links from Los Angeles and other key airports – my flight from Salt Lake City took under an hour – while their predecessors took the sleek silver Streamliner Hollywood Party Train, complete with dance floor, that arrived every weekend from the late 1930s.
Sun Valley owes its existence to Union Pacific Railroad, whose services to the then lead mining town of Ketchum (which, now, like Aspen, boasts a Limelight Hotel) were often disrupted by snow. Union Pacific’s boss Averell Harriman saw the popularity of skiing in Europe and engaged an Austrian count to choose a resort location near the tracks. Sun Valley won as its remoteness discouraged weekend drivers and had fewer trees than other locations, which rookie US skiers were prone to hitting.
Harriman built the flagship property, Sun Valley Lodge and Inn, opening it in 1936 just as Union Pacific’s engineers adapted a design for a winch used to haul bananas, so constructing the world’s first ski lift.
Word soon got around, aided by novelist Ernest Hemingway, who, like today’s influencers, was given free board and lodging in return for promotional pictures. He eventually bought a house here and his grave is just outside town.
The resort’s slogan is “Winter sports under a summer sun” due to its 250 sunny days a year. It also boasts of uncongested slopes; I can attest to both.
Sun Valley has two mountains, Dollar, for beginners, but with a terrain park, and Bald Mountain or Baldy. Baldy’s runs are steep, very long, angle straight down from top to bottom and are slightly intimidating. I baulk at runs labelled Blue which I think are Red, then realise unlike in Europe, there are no Red runs, it’s straight to Black.
Black magic
Standing at the top of Limelight, one such black slope which runs parallel to the World Cup run, I wonder if I’m up to it but push off down the dauntingly steep incline. I learn afterwards the World Cup piste has a 36% gradient, steeper than other venues; I can well believe it. Generally, if it’s crowded, I’m timid on black runs, but here there are few skiers and I tackle it safely, if inelegantly. I stop several times and reckon my maximum speed briefly hits 40mph – less than half what the World Cup contestants will achieve; nevertheless, I think I’ve earned a medal.
I’m surprised I’m not breathless, but realise the resort is lower than the rest of the Rockies where the altitude can sometimes punish your lungs. That doesn’t mean snow coverage is lacking; the more northerly location takes care of that, while another appeal to powder fans is a large area of off-piste back bowls among sublime fir tree glades.
Sun Valley is owned by the Holding family, who until three years ago had an oil company. They are now keen to trumpet their pet project, hence the World Cup and reaching out to the international market.
Chief operating officer Pete Sonntag was previously at Vail and Beaver Creek and saw their success with UK visitors: “This place is so different to all others I have worked at,” he said. It’s slightly harder to get to, it’s family-owned, it’s not over-developed and the mountain is not busy.
“We would love to have Sun Valley on the shortlist for UK skiers; we are not there at all, largely because we have not prioritised it. Our mindset has shifted.”
He insists: “We can grow without sacrificing any of the experience. We have 100% occupancy only on a handful of days over Christmas. The locals freak out if they wait in line four or five minutes.”
Sun Valley’s slopes open until late April and then it’s all about fly fishing, horse riding and hiking, although the place shuts for a few days in July when the Billionaire’s Summit takes place. Here, the likes of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg plot world domination. Sorry, you’re not invited.
But it’s the winter sports that will bring UK visitors here. I travelled with a group of UK operators, among them Lowri Williams, Savile Row Travel’s ski curator, who praised “the condition of the slopes and the grooming, the quality of the snow”.
Other things stand out for her: “It’s the loyalty of the staff that have worked here for decades. It’s not snobby or pretentious but you are still treated like royalty. You could rave about the food; I think they could make it a foodie ski destination.”
Like her, I’d recommend Sun Valley for three or four days in tandem with a visit to, say Chicago or San Francisco, or with more skiing around Salt Lake City. It suits mountain enthusiasts who want bragging rights and who’ve already done other Rockies resorts. If clients are good skiers or boarders and appreciate history and Hollywood glamour mixed with dinky small-town feel, this is for them.
I ponder this as I survey the vast but tasteful modern celebrity homes skirting the mountain – many have floor-to-ceiling glass to take in the sunlight and epic views. I’m slightly jealous, then I remember down-to-earth Demi doing her grocery shopping; I may not have the house, but for a few days, I enjoy the resort, the slopes and the shops just like them.
Book it: Friedman Memorial airport (SUN) has flights from Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles. Transfer to the resort is around 30 minutes.
United Airlines flies Heathrow-San Francisco-Sun Valley, with fares including San Francisco stopovers from £1,714 return; united.com
Sun Valley Inn Luxury King rooms are from £320 per room per night in early March; sunvalley.com/lodging/sun-valley-inn
A Bald Mountain lift pass averages around $200 a day if a three-day pass is purchased but falls to a total of $340 in April; skibaldmountain.com/tickets
