Shredders get ready

Boarders looking to show off their half-pipe skills have so far been thwarted by Sun Valley’s two ski mountains.

This winter, however, shredders will have a small piece of terrain to call their own when resort owner Sun Valley Company puts a new, 300-foot, regulation half-pipe on Dollar Mountain.

Denzel Rowland, the Sun Valley Company’s mountain manager, said the half-pipe will be installed on the Hidden Valley portion of Dollar as soon as possible.

In the past, attempts by Sun Valley Company to maintain a half-pipe have been foiled by the lack of snowmaking equipment.

The installation of snowmaking machinery for this half-pipe should help keep grooming up to speed all winter, Rowland said.

The cost of the half-pipe will be about $80,000, including the snowmaking installation and the grooming and grading that will be necessary to create it, Rowland said.

The half-pipe came about through the joint efforts of the Sun Valley Company and the Ski Education Foundation. It is the first step in an ongoing process by the Ski Education Foundation, the Hailey Ski Team, the city of Sun Valley, Elkhorn Resort and Sun Valley Company to create a comprehensive snowboard terrain park--possibly on the Elkhorn side of Dollar Mountain.

Rowland said the half-pipe will be used by the Sun Valley Snowboard Team to train, but also will be available to the general public.

Snowboarding half-pipes are similar to skateboarding half-pipes, where boarders traverse the tubular slopes of the pipe, doing various tricks.

David Brocklebank, head of the Sun Valley Ski and Snowboard School, said the half-pipe will only help skier-snowboarder relations.

"It’s a win-win situation," he said, pointing out that the rebellious spirit of many boarders often gets for the occasional crashes with adult skiers.

"Now there’s a place for snowboarders to let out their energy," Brocklebank said. "Most of them probably would rather not be on Baldy anyway."

And the addition of a season pass for Dollar Mountain--$100 for adults and $50 for kids--could provide the extra incentive for snowboarders to head off Baldy to do their tricks.