Departing Reno at 10am on 11 March and thanks to the Nevada Political decisions to get people the hell out of the State fast (we refer to the new 80 MPH speed limit along most of I80) we slid into Ketchum, Idaho about 8pm.
First we want to send a huge "Thank You" to our gracious hosts Craig Barry and Cynthia Dwyer. Cynthia is a friend of Martin McClellan from his childhood in Hidden Valley, a suburb of Reno, Nevada. Second, Martin wants to thank his incredible wife for insisting he get the heck out of the house as he is only a distraction to her work efforts! She definitely gets more done when Martin is not creating hazards and messes for her to deal with. Thanks Kimble; we love you dearly.
Our day began at 5:20am with a text from a family member asking us how the skiing was unfortunately, the hill did not open for another 3-hours and 40 minutes so we really could not answer that request. After some warm drinks, at 8am we headed for the Warm Springs Lodge to collect our ski passes utilizing our Mountain Collective membership.
Now note here. We were not the first folks at the lodge. There were about 25-30 "senior" members of the local population already established in their group area known locally as "heaven's waiting room". They were inspiring as they were out "doing" and being great role models for all.
We left the house at about 7:50am and this areas public transportation is incredible. After about a 5 minute wait, the "city" bus arrived, we boarded and 5 minutes later, we were at the lodge. We fueled up on $12 breakfast buritos, put on our gear and hit the lift at 9am; no line. 24 degrees f and no wind. Could not be a more perfect day!
A quick comment here on the Mountain Collective process. Very cool, easy, streamlined and if you hit simply 4 days of the possible 40, the pass pays for itself many times over. Literally 5 minutes and we were away from the ticket booth.
A quick reflection; the last time Martin skied this resort was in the mid 80's with interestingly enough, the Dwyer family, who have been residents of this area for 40 years.
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| 9:15am, 12 March...It is going to be an Epic day! |
Enough verbage...Let’s start... Day One.
After skiing Mt. Rose, the "locals" resort in Reno, Nevada, for several years, the immensity of Sun Valley is quite noticeably spectacular. The first thing that we noticed is the 10 minute lift ride. From the base elevation of 5885ft/1794m to the summit of Bald Mt at 9150ft/2789m is a vertical of 3265ft/1000m; massive!
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| A shot from the Warm Springs Lodge looking up the high speed quad lift; a ten minute ride! |
Today we accomplished 17 runs, logging over 39000 vertical feet averaging 6 minutes skiing per run and 8 minutes traveling up on the lifts.
Regarding the lifts, of course the resort has many high speed lifts but the fun thing for us was the "old-school" lifts and we rode all three. Slow for sure but still brings back memories to skiing when we were kids at Mt. Rose!
Day Two was a more relaxed day as we were heading home following a half day of skiing but we managed to do 16 runs, logging another 28,000 vertical feet again averaging 5 minutes per run and 7 minutes traveling up on the lifts.
Our second day we had better knowledge of the hill overall; knowing the runs and the lifts we were able to ski just about as much in 3 hours as we did in 5 the previous day.
Summary:
What a great two days of skiing. Next up? Mammoth then Aspen. Stay tuned.
Regarding the lifts, of course the resort has many high speed lifts but the fun thing for us was the "old-school" lifts and we rode all three. Slow for sure but still brings back memories to skiing when we were kids at Mt. Rose!
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| Old School Double Chair - Took twice as long to go the same distance as the high speed lifts! |
Day Two was a more relaxed day as we were heading home following a half day of skiing but we managed to do 16 runs, logging another 28,000 vertical feet again averaging 5 minutes per run and 7 minutes traveling up on the lifts.
Our second day we had better knowledge of the hill overall; knowing the runs and the lifts we were able to ski just about as much in 3 hours as we did in 5 the previous day.
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| Blessed to be riding "old-school" up the Cold Springs #4 chair! |
Summary:
- 33 Runs
- 67,000 Vertical
- No Injuries
- Great Fun
What a great two days of skiing. Next up? Mammoth then Aspen. Stay tuned.
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