Avid skiers welcome winter at Sun Valley’s 89th Opening Day. There is a lot on the agenda for the coming season

KETCHUM, Idaho – Skiers lined up at 9 a.m. Thursday for lift operations to start at Mt. Baldy in Sun Valley. To secure first place, four young skiers from Hailey and Ketchum lined up at 2 p.m. the day before.

• Sun Valley’s 89th season began Thursday with five lifts covering 3,500 feet of elevation gain.
• New this year is a 6-pack lift that goes to Seattle Ridge

• The first World Cup downhill races since 1977 will be held in Sun Valley in March.

  (Below is the transcript of the broadcast story)

“On a scale from ‘not thrilled at all’ to ‘crazy, crazy excited,’ probably the latter,” Franni Camilli said.
The first chair of the 2024-25 season at Bald Mountain in Sun Valley was placed at 9 a.m. Thanksgiving morning and with it went Franni Cammilli, accompanied by Hannah Dayton, Briggs Forelli and Isaac Burks.

Everyone paid a price to secure first promotion and earn honorary first place jerseys.

“Basically, I got here yesterday at 2 p.m.,” Dayton said. “I spent the night right there in the chair and woke up really early, got ready, and now here we are!”

Sun Valley GM Pete Sonntag told me that weeks of preparation paid off today.

“With the natural snow we had last week and the very cold temperatures last month – we were blessed with great conditions right from the start,” Sunday said.

New this year is a revamped Seattle Ridge area, which now features a 6-pack lift serving the popular middle area of ​​the mountain, as well as the Sunrise expert area that opened a few years ago.

And the resort made big headlines with the announcement of the FIS World Cup races in March this summer – the world-class downhill racing course had not existed in Baldy for a long time.

“The last time Sun Valley hosted the World Cup was in 1977 … so it’s been a minute,” Sonntag said.

Even though the skiing and racing are world class, the mountain still retains its down-to-earth atmosphere.

“That’s one of the things that drew me to this place, and one of the things I value most is the down-to-earth nature of it here,” Sonntag said. “It’s not pretentious in the least. We have these great buildings here, but they are open to everyone. There is no private club here. Everyone is welcome.”