Here comes The Honda Ski Tour.
The three-day event rolls into the valley tomorrow on the first stop of a four-site Western adventure that will also include Breckenridge, Aspen and Squaw Valley.
Those who believe Sun Valley is just a quiet enclave of conservative skiers whose primary interest is a leisurely lunch won't believe their eyes.
The Honda Ski Tour is a welcome new multi-venue, multi-sport and multi-media event with the potential to bring international racing and big-time entertainment excitement back to Sun Valley for the first time since 1975.
It's a big air, big talent, big purse—$125,000 per stop—big music and film happening that should add a lot of buzz and a new edge to Sun Valley's place in the world of winter sports.
The ABC television network will air the Sun Valley event in a one-hour show on Jan. 20, at 2 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. PT.
The Ski Tour features two snow sports events, the half-pipe and skiercross.
Snowboard half-pipe competition has been an Olympic event since 1998. Along with its innovative sibling, boarder-cross, half-pipe competition has brought new vigor and young adherents to alpine sports. With four riders at once blazing down a course set with jumps and obstacles—and with incidental contact between riders accepted—snowboard cross thrilled Olympic audiences in 2006.
Skiercross blasts down the slopes with the same charged energy. In November, the International Olympic Committee decided to officially include skiercross in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
The Honda Ski Tour could return competitive racing to Sun Valley, which saw its last international ski race in 1975.
The valley should warmly embrace the efforts of The Ski Tour founders Kipp Nelson and Steve Brown, former ski racers who are pouring money and energy into this.
The cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley have generously agreed to donate manpower, money or both. Valley businesses, the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber & Vistors Bureau and individuals have followed suit with significant donations.
The Ski Tour is the antidote to the January doldrums. Grab it.
