SUN VALLEY

There can only be one original ski resort, and since 1936, Sun Valley has held that distinction. Born out of a desire to bring the magic of the European ski resorts to America, Sun Valley quickly became a phenomenon without peer on this continent or any other.

FUN FACTS

• Sun Valley was the first ski resort to build a chairlift, which was adapted from a system used to haul bananas onto ships in Panama.
• Ernest Hemingway, who lived and died in Ketchum, enjoyed many years of hunting and writing in the Sun Valley area. He wrote several chapters of For Whom The Bell Tolls in suite #206 of the Sun Valley Lodge, and bought a house that resembles the Lodge. Many of Hemingway's favorite hangouts are still in existence throughout the area.
• The first lift ticket price at Sun Valley in 1936 on Proctor and Dollar Mountains was 25 cents. In 1947 tickets were $4.50 per day.
• The name "Sun Valley" was thought up by a New York PR man who thought the name appropriate for a place that receives 250 days of sunshine a year. This marked the first time a PR agency was guilty of understatement.
• Sun Valley Resort's uphill lift capacity on Bald Mountain is a staggering 21,580 skiers per hour, but averages only 3,500 skiers per day. Result: no lift lines.
• The first woman to win a gold medal in the winter Olympics, Gretchen Fraser, hailed from Sun Valley. She is buried near Ernest Hemingway in the Ketchum Cemetery.