Resort opens Baldy to showshoeing

Guest services manager Heidi Ottley holds snowshoes at the base of River Run. Yes, Sun Valley resort is opening Bald Mountain to snowshoeing. (Express photo by Willy Cook)

When enough snow blankets the hills, Sun Valley Company will open snowshoe trails on Dollar and Bald mountains.

According to Sun Valley’s guest services manager Heidi Ottley, the River Run and Seattle Ridge trails will open as soon as possible, "depending on the weather."

The Seattle Ridge trail, from Lookout restaurant to Seattle Ridge, is likely to be open by Thanksgiving, said mountain operations director Denzel Rowland.

Snowshoers will be able to ride the River Run and Lookout Express lifts to the Lookout restaurant where a 1.4-mile hike will take them along the apex of Baldy to the Seattle Ridge Lodge. There, they will be able to eat, sit in the sun, admire the views and snowshoe.

The potential exists for expansion, however, if the program is successful.

"The many bike trails on Baldy could double for snowshoe trails in the winter," Ottley said. "We’re just going to test the waters for now."

Snowshoers will have the option of adventuring off on their own on one of the designated trails or hiking with a guest services guide. Lifts will be available to snowshoers via a special snowshoe ticket. Snowshoe rentals will be available at the River Run base area and at Dollar Mountain.

For those who come to the valley and don’t ski or snowboard but still want to get out and do something, this will provide them with and option, said Rowland.

"Its a nice alternative for people," added Ottley.

Also, later this winter at a to-be-determined date, Sun Valley will host a bottom-to-top snowshoe race on Bald Mountain.

Snowshoing trails are not the only new development at Sun Valley this winter, however.

The new children’s ski center at the base of River Run has been named.