Tuning is what you've been missing
By Ben Bradley
As long as there have been humans strapping skis to their feet, there have been other humans ensuring that those skis are well-maintained and tuned to the task at hand. Whether trekking across miles of snow and ice to hunt a walrus or grabbing your lunch lap to engender envy among your work-bound peers, it is more effective (and fun) when your skis work.   [...]
The skier, the mountain man, the planner ... and Sun Valley Resort's second owner
By Van Gordon Sauter (Excerpted from "The Sun Valley Story," Mandala Media, 2011)
Bill Janss, a son of the firm’s founder, had been educated at Stanford and was a skilled skier. He had skied Sun Valley for years and was on the 1940 U.S. Olympic Team (those games were canceled because of war). Janss possessed a winning personality, a broad range of cultural interests and a keen sense of product. [...]
Steward of Sun Valley's Cross-Country Legacy
By John Thomas
Rick Kapala helped put Sun Valley on the map as a cross-country mecca. Kapala began coaching cross-country in 1982 and, by 1987, joined the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) as cross-country program director. He trained hundreds of athletes, many of whom achieved national and international acclaim as Olympians, champions, and even coaches. [...]
An American Skiing Pioneer
By Carolyn French
Picabo Street’s unwavering commitment has always been tethered to the pursuit of speed. Overcoming years of formidable terrain, unceasing travel, and incapacitating injuries, Sun Valley’s Olympic alpine skiing gold medalist blazed a trail for a fresh generation of American winter athletes.   [...]
Sun Valley's forgotten era of ski jumping
By John W. Lundin
Ski jumping at Sun Valley is a forgotten part of its history, but the sport played an important part in making the resort the country’s skiing center. A 40-meter ski jump was built on Ruud Mountain in the summer of 1937, creating Sun Valley’s center for jumping and slalom racing—the site of showdowns between the world’s best ski jumpers and slalom racers.     [...]
Giving Everything for the Joy of Skiing
By Laurie Sammis
Banks Gilberti gave up skiing to find joy. What he found was his joy for skiing. He didn’t have a plan. He didn’t have a sponsor. But, he did have a vision and a passion for the mountains and the sport he loved. [...]
A reflection on the changes and challenges of Bald Mountain
By Jake Moe
I arrived in Sun Valley during the winter of 1968\69 in a broken-down ’55 VW with 95 bucks in my pocket. Not knowing a single person, with no place to stay and no job, I sincerely qualified as a veritable ski bum. [...]
Female Ski Patrollers in Sun Valley
By Sarah Linville
Ten years ago, when I started patrolling, I never would have believed that I would get a morning like this one or share it with a fellow female patroller. There were eight full-time female-identifying patrollers in my first season. Five of us were newcomers. The average tenure in the room at the time was an impressive 15 years or so. Stepping into this seasoned team, my objectives were clear: learn, work and don’t ski faster than your superior.   [...]
By WORDS LAURIE SAMMIS / PHOTOS TIM FLOYD
When Les Cameron works, the fingers and eyes and arms of generations of Camerons work alongside him. Many hands guide him, reaching back through the years, as he works punching, spreading, flaring, bending, twisting and molding the pieces of metal that make up his craft. It is something that can be felt, like the warming glow of a forge, within the walls of the 77-year-old workshop on Bellevue’s main street. [...]
A Home that Hugs
By WORDS SARAH LINVILLE / PHOTOS JOSH WELLS
Tucked next to the abrupt southern aspect of Dollar Mountain and in the shade of mature cottonwood trees growing next to Trail Creek sits a modern-contemporary home evoking the enduring imagery of Sun Valley itself. [...]