Sun Valley Winter Activities
Not every Sun Valley winter activity requires a lift ticket. The surrounding area supplies visitors with an endless variety of spectacular scenery and sporting diversions. Spend a day mushing a pack of huskies, turn a few circles at the famed Sun Valley ice rink, cuddle up in a cozy yurt or hop a horse-drawn sleigh for a hearty dinner at the legendary Trail Creek Cabin. Snowmobiles provide an easy means to explore the incredible backcountry, while the devoted will still be fishing the local rivers in mid December. With so much to occupy your time, a return trip to Sun Valley will definitely be in order.
Sun Valley Skiing
Known as the "American Shangri-La” and as the nation's first destination ski resort, Sun Valley offers world class downhill skiing and snowboarding on one of the country's largest and best mountains. And with 250 days of Rocky Mountain sunshine a year, your best days of skiing await you at Sun Valley. Don’t take our word for it. Sun Valley consistently rates in the top ten in Ski Magazine.
Sun Valley Skiing | Bald Mountain
Hailed by serious skiers as the country’s single best ski mountain, Bald Mountain boasts 3,400 vertical feet, 630 snowmaking acres, 14 lifts and 65 runs on 2,054 skiable acres. You’ll never tire of the immense variety of runs and terrain for all levels of ability and interests. There’s open cruising on perfectly groomed corduroy, runs as long as 3 miles, steep bumps, spacious bowls, tree skiing and plenty of high-speed quads to get you back up the mountain in record time. If snowboarding’s more your style, our new super pipe will bring a smile to your face.
Sun Valley Skiing | Dollar Mountain
The treeless, groomed slopes of neighboring Dollar Mountain have long been ideal for learning to ski and snowboard. With 3 chairlifts and 13 runs, Dollar has gentle terrain mixed with more challenging slopes to allow beginners to progress to more difficult runs as their skills improve. It also has its own halfpipe and terrain park as well as a tubing hill, perfect for a day of sledding with the kids.
Nordic Skiing
Besides offering world class alpine skiing, the Sun Valley area is home to some of the most extensive and beautifully maintained Nordic trail systems in the nation. This is where the Boulder Mountain Tour, one of the nation’s pre-eminent cross country ski races is staged, and where top athletes from around the world come to train on our more than 200km of immaculately groomed trails. Whether you’re an experienced Nordic skier, a world class athlete looking for the perfect training area or are simply interested in trying the sport for the first time, you can’t choose a better place than Sun Valley, where you’ll be greeted every morning by freshly groomed trails, crystal clear air and unlimited possibilities to explore.Winter horsedrawn sleigh rides at Cordillera's Timber Hearth Grille.
Heli Skiing
As the birthplace of United States helicopter skiing, Sun Valley has a long tradition of flying visitors to an untouched skier’s paradise on top of the Rockies. Most of the skiing takes place in the 7,000 to 10,000 foot range and there is a variety of terrain and runs to suit every level of skiing ability, including 33-degree pitches, 40-degree chutes, steady 2,000-vertical-foot descents and vast bowls of flawless corn. But don’t get the impression that heli-skiing is only for the super advanced. There are plenty of inviting, low-angled slopes ideally suited for the first-time or family heli-ski experience. And with the new fat ski technology, skiing in deep powder and ungroomed snow is a breeze.
Hot Springs
For some of us, healing resides beyond the white towels and cucumbers over eyes; we need a more rustic ambiance. Idaho is home to more hot springs than one can imagine--and here in the valley, we're close to many healing watering holes. Hot springs in the area include Frenchman's Bend, Russian John Warm Springs, Warfield, Basin Creek, Bear Valley,Bonus, Dagger Creek, Elkhorn (Boat Box), Mormon Bend, Sheepeater, Sitting Bull, Snake Pit and Trail Flat.
Spa Services
What could be better than a day or afternoon relaxing at one of Sun Valley's luxurious spas? Choose from a number of world-class spas guaranteed to pamper and leave you refreshed.