Sun Valley, Idaho
America’s first ski resort. Still setting the standard ninety years later.
In this guide
01 — Why Sun Valley
Where American skiing began. Where it still does it best.
In 1936, Union Pacific Railroad chairman W. Averell Harriman sent an Austrian count named Felix Schaffgotsch on a nine-week search of the American West for the perfect location for a European-style ski resort. Schaffgotsch eliminated everywhere else one by one and reported back that a remote valley in south-central Idaho — surrounded by mountains, with a town called Ketchum — was the right place. Sun Valley Resort opened that year as America’s first destination ski resort, complete with the world’s first chairlift.
Ninety years later, Bald Mountain is still one of the best ski mountains in North America. Ketchum is still the charming, walkable town it was when Ernest Hemingway moved here in the late 1950s. The high desert landscape of the Wood River Valley — unlike any other ski resort environment in the world — still makes first-time visitors stop the car to look. Sun Valley didn’t just invent American ski resort culture. It got it right the first time.
“Hemingway moved to Ketchum to finish A Farewell to Arms and stayed until the end of his life. The town he chose is still the town you find there now — smaller than it should be for how good it is.”
02 — Getting there
Fly into Hailey. The drive is worth it.
Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN)
12 miles south of Ketchum in Hailey. Direct flights from Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City on Alaska, United, American. The right way to arrive in ski season.
From Boise
About 2.5 hours north via I-84 and US-20 through the high desert. The drive through the Sawtooth foothills on the approach to Ketchum is genuinely beautiful.
From Twin Falls
About 1.5 hours north via US-93. Twin Falls Regional Airport (TWF) has connections to Salt Lake City and occasionally Denver.
You need a car or shuttle
Sun Valley Resort runs shuttle service from Hailey Airport. Within Ketchum and Sun Valley, the WAVE bus system connects the main areas for free. For anything beyond town, you need a car.
03 — Four seasons
Every season has its own reason to go.
Winter (Dec–Mar)
Peak ski season.
Bald Mountain fully operational. Sun Valley Village events and ice skating. The full resort experience. Book 4–6 months out for holiday weeks.
Summer (Jun–Sep)
The overlooked gem.
Fly fishing, mountain biking, hiking, outdoor concerts at the Pavilion. The same mountains, no crowds. Many regulars prefer it to ski season.
Spring (Apr–May)
Shoulder season.
Ski mountain closing, summer not yet open. Lowest rates of the year. Good for fishing as the snow melts into the rivers.
Fall (Oct–Nov)
Before ski season.
Aspen foliage in October. Hunting season for those who do. The valley before it fills up for winter. Quiet and beautiful.
04 — Where to stay
The resort, the village, or Ketchum itself.
The Sun Valley Lodge
The 1936 original — a National Historic Landmark and still the heart of the resort. Ice skating rink, bowling lanes, multiple restaurants, and the specific atmosphere of a place that has been hosting guests for nearly a century. Worth a meal or a drink even if you’re staying elsewhere.
05 — Skiing Bald Mountain
3,400 vertical feet. Seventy-five trails. No beginners’ mountain.
Bald Mountain — universally called Baldy by everyone who skis it — is a serious ski mountain. 3,400 vertical feet of consistent pitch, 75 trails, and a layout that rewards expert skiers without abandoning intermediates. The summit at 9,150 feet gives views of the Pioneer and Sawtooth Ranges that arrive as a genuine surprise to first-time visitors.
Baldy — for experts
The Seattle Ridge and Exhibition runs are among the best sustained-pitch expert terrain in American skiing. Consistently groomed, consistently excellent.
Baldy — for intermediates
The mid-mountain terrain is legitimately good for strong intermediates. Lower Bowl is the natural gathering point.
Dollar Mountain
The learning mountain — separate from Baldy, dedicated to beginners and lesson programs. Keeps beginners off the expert terrain and everyone happier.
Lift tickets
Book online in advance — walk-up pricing is significantly higher. Multi-day tickets offer the best value. Ikon Pass includes Sun Valley.
06 — Summer in Sun Valley
The mountain biking, the fishing, and the Pavilion.
Fly fish Silver Creek
Silver Creek Preserve, managed by The Nature Conservancy, is one of the most celebrated spring creek fisheries in North America — clear, cold, full of large brown and rainbow trout. Hemingway fished it. It’s still exceptional. Guide service from Ketchum outfitters.
Mountain bike Baldy
The lifts open in summer for mountain bikers — ride up, bike down the same runs you’d ski in winter. Sun Valley has invested seriously in the trail network and the summer biking has become a significant draw in its own right.
Sun Valley Pavilion concerts
The outdoor concert venue has hosted major performers since 1937. The summer music program is one of the most consistently excellent resort music series in the country — symphony, popular artists, the specific pleasure of live music under a mountain sky.
Hike the Sawtooths
The Sawtooth National Recreation Area begins just north of Sun Valley. 756,000 acres, 700+ lakes, 300 miles of trails. The approach along Hwy 75 through Stanley is one of the great American mountain drives.
07 — Ketchum & Hemingway
The town that was right for Ernest Hemingway is still right.
Ernest Hemingway arrived in Sun Valley in 1939 as a guest of the resort, came back repeatedly, and eventually settled in Ketchum in his later years. He finished A Farewell to Arms at the Sun Valley Lodge. He died in Ketchum in 1961 and is buried in the Ketchum Cemetery. The Ernest Hemingway Memorial stands on Trail Creek Road above the river he fished.
What Hemingway found here — a small western town with serious outdoor culture, good food and drink, people who came to do things rather than be seen doing them — is still largely what you find. Ketchum is small enough to walk entirely in an afternoon, with a Main Street of good restaurants, independent shops, and the specific unpretentious quality of a mountain town that has always had enough going for it that it didn’t need to try harder than it was.
08 — Practical tips
What to know before you go.
Altitude
Ketchum sits at 5,800 feet. Baldy summit is 9,150 feet. Give yourself a day to acclimate if you’re coming from sea level — especially before a full ski day.
Book holiday weeks early
Christmas week and Presidents’ Week are the most booked periods — 6 to 9 months in advance. January and February have the best snow and better availability.
Ikon Pass
Sun Valley is an Ikon Pass resort. If you ski multiple mountains per season, the pass math usually works in your favor.
The WAVE bus
Free bus service connects Ketchum, Sun Valley Village, and Dollar Mountain. Use it — parking at the resort in ski season is limited and expensive.
America’s first ski resort. Still the standard.
Ninety years after an Austrian count reported back that this Idaho valley was the right place, Sun Valley is still doing what it’s always done — quietly, confidently, and without particular need to explain itself. The mountain is that good. The town is that right. Hemingway wasn’t wrong about either.