KETCHUM, Idaho — Whereas Hollywood options prominently in Solar Valley lore — in its early days the resort enthusiastically invited film stars to bolster its repute — Seattle’s vibrant winter sports activities scene performed a big position in build up Solar Valley’s ski tradition.
Certainly, Bald Mountain’s Seattle Ridge — named for “the rugged skiers” of Seattle who “ski their own Cascades in raincoats,” per Seattle creator and Solar Valley resident John Lundin — is only one clue to a decades-old connection. Wander round and also you may see the acquainted emblem of Sturtevants ski store — the Bellevue snow sports activities retailer truly began in Solar Valley. Ketchum additionally boasts some distinct Seattle companies: you’ll discover Ballard-based Sonic Increase Information, and former First Avenue boutique Child & Firm.
For a small city that’s a 650-mile drive from Seattle, the connection between the 2 has run surprisingly deep for the reason that resort’s inception.
For starters, Solar Valley was virtually based on Mount Rainier. In November 1935, Austrian Rely Felix Schaffgotsch started touring the western U.S. on the behest of Averell Harriman, board chair of the Union Pacific Railroad, in quest of a spot to construct a ski resort. Harriman turned enamored with winter sports activities after the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., and was satisfied the snowy western half of the nation held fertile slopes for a vacation spot resort much like these populating the Alps. A shrewd railroad baron, Harriman additionally anticipated {that a} glamorous resort most simply reached on his prepare can be good for enterprise.
Till he stumbled upon Ketchum, the depend discovered the most effective snowboarding on the flanks of Washington’s tallest volcano. Paradise was already a preferred weekend vacation spot for ski touring, nonetheless, and Schaffgotsch’s mission was to find an unique resort farther away from inhabitants facilities. Nixing Rainier, he stated, “You can’t take the mountain away from the people.” After Solar Valley obtained up and working, Schaffgotsch recruited Austrian ski instructors — many devoted Nazis like Schaffgotsch, who died in fight throughout World Warfare II.
Seattle skiers who minimize their tooth at Mount Rainier — sarcastically, the place U.S. Military mountain troops who later fought the Nazis educated — had been rapidly lured by the promise of state-of-the-art infrastructure and instruction. Solar Valley unveiled the world’s first chairlift when it opened in December 1936, an ingenious invention that revolutionized snow sports activities.
“It is hard to envision now the impact that Sun Valley had on Washington’s skiing community,” writes Lundin. “Skiing in Washington was done in private ski clubs or on local mountains, which involved climbing up the hills since there were no ski tows. Ski gear was rudimentary and there were limited ski lessons available at best.”
Tacoma-born Gretchen Fraser took benefit of Solar Valley’s lifts to coach as a aggressive ski racer. She gained the primary U.S. gold medal in alpine snowboarding on the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and have become a nationwide sports activities icon. Again house, New York Metropolis, Tacoma, Portland and Vancouver all held parades or banquets in her honor. The latter was her husband’s hometown.
Whereas not an Olympic champion like his spouse, Don Fraser is a U.S. Ski and Snowboard Corridor of Famer who gained marquee Northwest races within the Nineteen Thirties. The Evergreen State couple met on the Nineteen Thirties racing circuit and later turned pillars of Solar Valley’s early ski tradition. Gretchen Fraser was inducted into the primary class of the Washington Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 1960 and posthumously into the U.S. Olympic Corridor of Fame.
An extended line of world-class racers have emerged from the slopes of Bald Mountain, which has minted 56 Olympians over the a long time together with family names like Picabo Avenue, who gained gold on the Nagano Video games in 1998. A statue of Avenue, the primary American to win a World Cup downhill closing, can be unveiled throughout the March FIS Ski World Cup Finals championship in Solar Valley’s Pageant Meadow — the place it should be a part of statues of Fraser and the valley’s different ladies winter sports activities stars.
