Visiting Sun Valley

[Bad Bob]

Have wondered while skiing SV how the skis commonly used there compared to Eastern mountains?
Probably spendier than most but are these normally the toys of choices back there too?

 

[Tricia]

Have wondered while skiing SV how the skis commonly used there compared to Eastern mountains?
Probably spendier than most but are these normally the toys of choices back there too?

Lots of skinny skis, and most definitely tons of Stöckli AX. @Philpug took a picture while waiting in a gondola line.
And lots of really good skiers who definitely know how to carve a clean turn.

 

[Philpug]

Lots of skinny skis, and most definitely tons of Stöckli AX. @Philpug took a picture while waiting in a gondola line.

Lots of yellow skis for first chair @LindseyB

 

[LindseyB]

View attachment 120666
Lots of yellow skis for first chair @LindseyB

Hey there, let's not get carried away there. I do spy an AR too.

I love that place. Their Demo Days Done Dirt Cheap event is a blast. It got cut a day short last year and probably won't happen this year. So disappointing. One of the funnest and busiest events all year.

That mountain is deceptively huge. It doesn't take a lot of snow for it to turn to magic. The side country is amazing with 6 or more inches.

3400' vertical straight fall line down warm spring with no break and consistently steep. Everyone thinks they have skier legs until their 70 yr old buddy, a SV local, takes them on 5 straight shots down Warm Springs with no stops. SV is a place you can get 34,000 vertical in 3 hours. Let that sink in. If you are crazy enough and have the legs, you can get 90k feet in a day. 1 Million in twelve days if you just ripped Warm Spring repeatedly. That's crazy business.

IMO SV has the best skiing type skiers in the country per capita. (What I mean is people use there edges and the front of their boots.) I have friends there who are in their late 60s that will put young hot shot pro skiers in the grave with how fast and continuous they ski.

When you crash in SV there's a decent chance you might be out for the season.

Two years ago on the day after demo days, Ken Edwards, the boot fitter at River Run,(very good btw) took my brother and I out first chair down Warm Springs. It was solid spring brick and super fast. The WRT loved it, but all I could think about was hoping my brother's DIN was tight enough because we were hauling ass. Thank heaven the ski was damp and that modern race bindings are unlikely to pre release!

 

[Muleski]

Sun Valley is one of the best spots in the world if you like to ski groomers, ski well, and know how to get them up on edge. You won’t be alone. As Tricia mentions, people who regularly ski there tend to be very good skiers. To me, based on that alone, it has a very different feel. We have not been there in a couple of years, and are not headed anywhere this season.

Fortunate to have friends, and family there. And a lot of invitations. Great place. Neat town.

When there, we bring and/or ship our East Coast carvers and cruisers. Feeling jealous as I type!

 

[Kyle]

Hey there, let's not get carried away there. I do spy an AR too.

I love that place. Their Demo Days Done Dirt Cheap event is a blast. It got cut a day short last year and probably won't happen this year. So disappointing. One of the funnest and busiest events all year.

@LindseyB is right—that is an awesome event. I try to make it up to it every year. The Stockli tent has definitely been the busiest in recent years. Between the demo pool and equipment sales I’ll bet Pete Lane’s is one of Stockli’s biggest accounts.

Don’t go to Sun Valley expecting to ski lots of powder. Go to ski fast on steep, consistently pitched slopes in a beautiful place with an awesome little town as a bonus.

 

[James]

Sounds like it’s the place to bring the 188cm/30m gs skis. On a plane. Hmmm..., odd.

 

[LindseyB]

@LindseyB is right—that is an awesome event. I try to make it up to it every year. The Stöckli tent has definitely been the busiest in recent years. Between the demo pool and equipment sales I’ll bet Pete Lane’s is one of Stöckli’s biggest accounts.

Don’t go to Sun Valley expecting to ski lots of powder. Go to ski fast on steep, consistently pitched slopes in a beautiful place with an awesome little town as a bonus.

Yes Pete Lane's in one of our best accounts. The people are so excited about the product it is a joy to run that tent. Say hi next time.

 

[KingGrump]

Sounds like it’s the place to bring the 188cm/30m gs skis. On a plane. Hmmm..., odd.

Yup. Last time I was there, retired my Kendo for the week after the first day and dug out the race skis from the bottom of the van.

 

[Bill Miles]

Hey there, let's not get carried away there. I do spy an AR too.

I love that place. Their Demo Days Done Dirt Cheap event is a blast. It got cut a day short last year and probably won't happen this year. So disappointing. One of the funnest and busiest events all year.

That mountain is deceptively huge. It doesn't take a lot of snow for it to turn to magic. The side country is amazing with 6 or more inches.

3400' vertical straight fall line down warm spring with no break and consistently steep. Everyone thinks they have skier legs until their 70 yr old buddy, a SV local, takes them on 5 straight shots down Warm Springs with no stops. SV is a place you can get 34,000 vertical in 3 hours. Let that sink in. If you are crazy enough and have the legs, you can get 90k feet in a day. 1 Million in twelve days if you just ripped Warm Spring repeatedly. That's crazy business.

I can do the 34k vertical in three hours (on a good day), but that doesn't add up to 90k in 7 hours, which would be tough. They used to have a plaque in the Warm Springs base lodge about an old time former ski patroller that did 104k in a day. The only way I figured that is possible is racing speeds, ski onto the lift, plus probably a little extension of opening and closing times. He died of cancer the next fall.

Edit: I should have said I used to be able to do the 34k in three hours. I am getting old and haven't gotten close this year.

 

[James]

Yup. Last time I was there, retired my Kendo fir the week after the first day and dug out the race skis from the bottom of the van.

The bright side of that is your hate mail from recommending Kendos slowed down that week.

 

[DanoT]

I shared a chairlift ride one time at SV with an off duty ski instructor. He told me that as long as you are in control and not a danger to yourself and others, you can ski as fast as you want without any bother from the Ski Patrol.

 

[Tricia]

I will admit, there were times when I got going faster than my comfort level.

 

[Bad Bob]

Don't get the wrong impression, not everything at SV is groomed.

 

[KingGrump]

I will admit, there were times when I got going faster than my comfort level.

Then just close your eyes. What you can't see can't hurt you.

 

[Philpug]

Don't get the wrong impression, not everything at SV is groomed.
View attachment 120699

I didn't get to ski Exhibition.

 

[Andy Mink]

But the Disr

I will admit, there were times when I got going faster than my comfort level.

But the Disruptions were comfortable. Faster, they said. FASTER!

 

[AmyPJ]

Yep, skiing over on the Warm Springs side gets the body working. I remember the first time I skied on that side of the mountain, I was thinking, "holy cow, where's the bottom?!"

The food there is also very good. Not sure how it is this year and if they've scaled back their menus like Snowbasin has (sister mountains.) I had the best salmon salad there two years ago.

We get five free days there. Now I'm thinking a trip this season is in order because this thread is making me wonder why we haven't talked about heading up there this year! It is about the most boring drive from Ogden.

 

[Scotty I.]

I drove to Sun Valley with my girlfriend many moons ago when I was at CU Boulder. Talk a very long boring ride... By about 1/2 way back to Boulder, she wasn't my girlfriend anymore.

 

[David Chaus]

Between Ogden and Ketchum in a town named Malta: