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Idaho Resorts: No Small Potatoes

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By DINO VOURNAS, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 7, 2007

SUN VALLEY, Idaho - In 1936, the opening of the first true destination ski resort of Sun Valley changed the face of skiing in the United States forever.

The resort, the brainchild of Union Pacific Railroad chairman W. Averell Harriman, a lifelong skier, was inspired by the buzz created by the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Olympics and of a desire to increase passenger numbers on Union Pacific trains.

Harriman sent Austrian Count Felix Schaffgotsch on a search of the West to find a site for his Alps-style, all-inclusive ski resort. After many fruitless months, the count stumbled on Ketchum, Idaho, intrigued by stories of 'too much snow' from local rail employees.

The Sun Valley Lodge opened to rave reviews and instant success. Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Lucille Ball, Ernest Hemingway (who wrote part of 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' in Suite 206) and countless others flocked to the self-described 'Shangri-La.'

Because of this success, the present-day Sun Valley Lodge and Inn are steeped in history. Countless wonderful photos of Hollywood stars, statesmen, artists and their families on ski vacations line the lodge's walls. 'Sun Valley Serenade,' a 1941 movie set at the resort starring the Glenn Miller Band and Olympic figure skating gold medalist Sonja Henie, is shown on a constant loop on the resort's cable television and frequently in the opera house theater.

Tune in to get a fantastic look at the early day scenes, the first lifts on the ski mountain and awe-inspiring skiing by Sun Valley resident and Olympic medalist Gretchen Fraser, doubling as Henie. Instant nostalgia.

Some of must-do's at the lodge include a spin around the iconic outdoor ice rink, a dip in the round hot pool, a meal in the restaurant's dining room and a visit to the Eddie Duchin Lounge for nightly entertainment. Although pricey, a stay at the lodge will be an unforgettable experience.

For browsing, stop by numerous shops on the resort grounds or take a walk or free bus ride into Ketchum for more dining, nightlife and shopping options.

Ketchum Offerings

In Ketchum, there are lots of places to stay, from budget to luxurious, including the fine Best Western Kentwood hotel. Good restaurants are plentiful.

If you eventually need a day off from skiing, guided winter fly-fishing is available through the Silver Creek Outfitters downtown for $250 for two anglers.

Firsts and superlatives abound in the Sun Valley ski area. The world's first chairlifts debuted on Proctor and Dollar mountains adjacent to the resort. Renowned Bald Mountain, 'Mount Baldy,' considered by many to be the best ski mountain in the United States, is covered head to foot by one of the world's largest automated snow-making systems.

Coupled with an impeccable grooming regime, it makes for some of the best cruising runs in the country. As an experienced skier who rarely hoots while skiing groomed trails, I felt the combination of a crisp, crystal-blue morning, perfect corduroy and a 100-mile view in all directions on upper College Run was good for a screech heard into the next county.

Plenty For Advanced Skiers

You want enough vertical to kick your behind into Wyoming? You will find it here. There are many long, sustained-pitch runs off the mountain, but the slope off the Challenger high-speed quad, a whopping 3,142 feet of vertical, could be the best in the land.

Abundant powder days beckon skiers and boarders to the collection of bowls off Mount Baldy's summit. There are plenty of challenging and mellow intermediate runs, too, but true beginners need to head to Dollar Mountain to refine skills.

Snowboarders and some skiers will appreciate the 18-foot-tall, 425-foot-long superpipe for all of their antigravity needs.

The only thing missing on this mountain is truly extreme terrain for the most daring. But most skiers will not miss that and will savor all the resort has to offer. Oh, and don't forget to chill out at lunch or apres-ski in three luscious lodges: River Run and Warm Springs at the mountain's base and the up-mountain Seattle Ridge facility, where the views are to die for.

New Resort Opens

After giving us the country's first destination ski resort, Idaho governmental agencies finally approved the development of one more - 68 years later - and the Tamarack Resort was born.

A few hours north of the capital of Boise, near the hamlet of Donnelly and reached via the beautiful Payette River canyon, was the first all-season resort built in the United States in more than 20 years.

With the opening of Tamarack in 2004, other areas in this panhandled state, long famous for potatoes and farming, have also jumped in to grab a claim to the shifting-trends of the U.S. ski dollar.

Tamarack Resort might be the future model for destination ski resorts, as real estate vacation home sales drive and sustain all-season visitors with world-class golf courses, skiing and snowboarding and water activities.

Tamarack has been a huge success, quickly selling out its initial vacation-home and lot sales offerings in 2004 and opening the ski area chairs that winter. More land offerings followed, generating a half-billion dollars in real estate sales to date.

The ski area offers seven lifts, including three high-speed express chairs, servicing 1,100 acres and a very respectable 2,800 feet of vertical. Most of the runs are rated intermediate to advanced. There is an abundance of tree-skiing, and natural powder, an Olympic-size superpipe and the promise of uncrowded slopes; the resort limits daily skiers to 2,000.

There are some steeps accessible by a short hike off the summit, and if you really want to go all-out, there are more than 5,000 acres of guided backcountry skiing available via snowcat for high-intermediate to expert schussers.

For a treat, visit the Nordic and Snowshoe Center, where the circuit of trails becomes more stunning on a clear, moonlit night.

The sound of hammers and saws punctuate the quiet as the resort replaces the temporary base facilities with the Tamarack Village Plaza. Also under construction is a new wing of Tamarack's signature Lodge at Osprey Meadows and a new 30,000-square-foot midmountain lodge.

Also in the go-ahead stage, with a planned 2011 completion, is the luxury Fairmont Tamarack Hotel, which is being built by tennis supercouple Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf and their partners. You might even catch Agassi on the slopes this winter honing his newly minted skills on a snowboard.

Brundage Mountain

Up the road about 16 miles, the town of McCall, on the shores of Payette Lake, is experiencing a boom. The hope is to lure Tamarack visitors to its local ski hill, Brundage Mountain, eight miles from the town center.

McCall is a cool, funky town with some fun restaurants and bars, a winter festival and an ice arena where you can indulge in the ultimate fantasy of learning the sport of curling. You'll also find out why curlers say, 'There's nothing slipperier than a Teflon shoe.'

Brundage, the recipient of 300 inches of annual snowfall, is known to locals as a great cruising mountain with inspired grooming. And when the powder falls, there is plenty to satisfy the scant crowds, who can ski for days on one good dump.

For tree skiing and steeps, try Hidden Valley and Northwest Passage runs, and don't forget to see the 'underwear tree' near the Centennial chair.

With a recent land swap concluded with the Forest Service, the owners of the resort are looking to a fruitful future. This season, two new chairlifts will add 160 skiable acres and double uphill lift capacity. A large swath of swapped land at the mountain's base will soon be available for real estate development.

An ambitious plan to add an additional ski mountain to the area is also in the works. If all these come to pass, Brundage will add another destination and a load of incentives to attract visitors to this corner of Idaho and might pick Tamarack's pocket a little, too.

Say Oui to Coeur d'Alene

The far northern section of the Idaho panhandle, around the towns of Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint, is home to two ski areas beginning to show up on the U.S. ski radar.

The city of Coeur d'Alene, French for 'heart of the awl,' alluding to the trading shrewdness of the local native people, is the hub for this booming vacation wonderland. About 45 minutes by car from the gateway airport in Spokane, Wash., the city sits on the northern shore of beautiful Coeur d'Alene Lake.

The Coeur d'Alene Resort, a five-star hotel and spa, once named one of the world's best by a noted travel magazine, is also on the lake. It's a great base of operations for your area winter vacation, offering a full-service spa, lake tours and great food. In warmer weather, you can score some boating and the chance to play one of the great resort golf courses, featuring its signature floating 14th green with adjustable tee-to-green distance.

Silver Mountain

Forty-five miles east of town on Interstate 90 is the former silver boomtown of Kellogg. Silver Mountain Resort started out as the Jackass Ski Area some 40 years ago, in honor of Noah Kellogg's loaner jackass, who kicked over a huge silver rock and started the boom in the 1880s.

The modern resort began in 1990 with the completion of a three-mile-long gondola linking the resort's base area and the town with the ski mountain. The eight-passenger gondola ride takes 20 minutes, flying high over the homes and shops of Kellogg.

The base gondola village area is being expanded with condo projects that have sold out in a heartbeat and a new indoor water park. The ski area, which boasts 2,200 vertical feet and 1,600 acres of skiable terrain, comprises two mountains, Kellogg and Wardner Peaks.

Silver is pursuing its goals in the year-round resort business by offering mountain biking, fly-fishing and other warm-weather pursuits.

Schweitzer Mountain Resort

A short drive north from our base in Coeur d'Alene, the town of Sandpoint sits on the shore of Lake Pend Orielle (pronounced pond-array), and acts as gateway to the little-known gem of a ski area - Schweitzer Mountain Resort - in the Selkirk mountain range.

Schweitzer, at 2,900 skiable acres, skis large and is one of the top areas in North America. Long a favorite with regional skiers, Schweitzer is also making a big push for the destination dollar, having invested $10 million for on-hill improvements, including two new chairs for the upcoming season.

The ski area presents a challenging and somewhat daunting face from the base village. Bowls, chutes and black-diamond runs dominate the upper ridges off the triple chair, with a sprinkling of intermediate blues thrown in. When the soft snow falls, Schweitzer's pitch-perfect black runs become a powder hound's paradise. Rounding out the front face is a terrain park and a learn-to-ski zone.

Take the Great Escape high-speed quad to the top for sublime views of Lake Pend Orielle, then turn 180 degrees and behold enough acreage for another ski area, the Outback Bowl. Outback has a dearth of advanced and intermediate terrain, and trees, trees and more trees.

The resort has 1,200 combined acres of gladed runs. Alas, there's not a lot of beginner terrain here, which should make you an intermediate skier posthaste.

INFORMATION

Sun Valley Resort: www

.sunvalley.com; 1-800-786-8259

Silver Creek Outfitters (fly-fishing): www.silver-creek.com; 1-800-732-5687

Tamarack Resort: www

.tamarackidaho.com; (208) 325-1000

Brundage Mountain: www

.brundage.com; 1-800-888-7544

McCall Chamber of Commerce: www.mccallchamber.org; 1-800-260-5130

Silver Mountain Resort: www .skisilver.com; 1-800-204-6428

Schweitzer Mountain Resort: www.schweitzer.com; 1-877-487-4643

Selkirk Powder Co.: www

.selkirkpowderco.com; 1-866-464-3236

Boise Convention and Visitors Bureau: www.boise.org; 1-800-635-5240

Boise Shuttles: www.sunvalley

express.com; 1-877-622-8267

Coeur d'Alene Resort: www .cdaresort.com; 1-800-688-5253

Coeur d'Alene Visitors Bureau: www.coeurdalene.org; 1-877-782-9232

Dino Vournas is a freelance ski writer and photographer based in Oakland, Calif.

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