For the week of September 30 thru October 6, 1998  

Sun Valley in top 10 of skiers’ poll


By KATHRYN BEAUMONT
Express Staff Writer

With North America’s best lifts and second-best mountain dining, Sun Valley has garnered a No. 6 ranking of ski resorts in the West in Ski magazine’s annual reader’s poll.

The sixth-place finish leaves the mountain behind Vail, Deer Valley, Aspen, Snowmass and Whistler, but it is also a significant jump from last year’s No. 19 ranking.

Sun Valley also tallied a third-place finish in lodging, a No. 5 ranking for dining, a No. 8 for grooming and a No. 9 for après-ski. Not surprisingly, it also got a No. 69 ranking for accessibility. Still, the poll is an indication of skier’s preferences.

"This is a strictly reader-driven survey, and readers know what they’re talking about," said Greg Trinker, senior editor at Ski magazine. Trinker said the typical respondent skis 24 times a year and has been skiing an average of 20 years.

"Naturally it’s great to be publicly rated so high by our customers," said Carol Waller, executive director of the Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber of Commerce. "How much these rankings accurately translate into business is hard to measure, but it’s another form of valuable publicity and a way to help us get the word out."

Getting the word out is what moved Sun Valley up the list in the first place, according Trinker.

"Sun Valley is getting more traffic," he said. "To make a place rise on the list you just have to go there. Perhaps more readers are going there right now."

Trinker, who lived in Ketchum from 1980-83, said it typically takes two to three years for a major capital improvement to show up in the survey. The Sun Valley Company’s constructions of its three lodges and the upgrade of several lifts were complete by the fall of 1996.

Ski magazine isn’t the only publication to recently tout Sun Valley’s highlights. Skiing ranked Sun Valley No. 5 overall for skiing in its "Adventure Guide." Skiing also gave Sun Valley the distinction of being the "best place to watch snow falling from the sky" (from the heated pool at the Sun Valley Lodge) and having "the best beer value" (Grumpy’s schooners).

 

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