Conditions Report
Brought to you by Visit Idaho and Ski Idaho
Report from Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Sun Valley holds its grooming operations to an insanely high standard.
The ski area is a big mountain with long, consistent-pitch trails and terrain for just about everyone.
I had the most fun I’ve had on groomers all season today—and I usually hate skiing groomed runs.
But not today.
I had the privilege to ride up the chair with Sun Valley ski instructor and guide Logan Frederickson at 8:30 this morning—a half-hour before the resort opened to the public.
The sun was shining, the temps were perfect, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
Groomed, corduroy trails were skiing super fast and super smooth.
For 30 minutes we had the entire mountain to ourselves to lay our edges down and mach at full speed.
There’s something about fresh corduroy that’s just good for the soul.
We started from the top of Lookout and carved hard with panoramic views of five different mountain ranges—the Pioneers, the White Clouds, the Boulders, the Smokys, and the Sawtooths.
The views from the top of Sun Valley are arguably some of the best from any ski area in the country.
Everywhere you look you only see tall, jagged, snowy mountains—most of which are skiable.
From Lookout, we skied over to Seattle Ridge and lapped some more fast-paced groomers.
By 9 am I was already feeling strong.
After the groomers, we were up for a challenge and spun a lap down Sun Valley’s brand-new Sunrise terrain—the 380 acres of skiing they added this season.
We skied the Cold Spring Chutes which consisted of steep, bumpy, tree-skiing.
It was north-facing and the snow here was firm but fun.
My legs were screaming towards the bottom—but in the best kind of way.
After skiing the Cold Springs Chutes we explored the other side of the mountain and went over to Frenchmans.
We found fun, surfy gullies with soft snow and played around in them.
Logan gave me the “Sun Valley Gully Tour” and we had a blast messing around, putting down weird turns in decent, near-spring-like snow.
While we were exploring this side of the mountain, I got hit with a profound sense of Déjà vu as we were skiing on a trail called Olympic Lane.
My first-ever memory of my life comes from a trail at Sun Valley when I was two-years-old: all I can remember was that I was about to fly off a cat-track when my father grabbed me by the hood of my jacket and lifted me up, placing me back on the trail and away from the cat-track’s edge.
According to my dad, I kept saying that this run was “the biggest green I’ve ever seen.”
Well, today I skied that same cat-track and the neurons in my brain started firing, shooting me back mentally to that fateful memory with my father from when I was two.
It was an amusing moment and I skied that “biggest green I’ve ever seen” all the way down just for old time’s sake.
Logan and I ate lunch at the Sun Valley-classic Irving’s Red Hots hot dog stand and enjoyed some franks and cold beverages.
The sun never stopped shining during the day, nor has it since I got here.
Go figure.
Snow Numbers
Trail Map
Forecast
Photos
