With a recent nod from the Blaine County Commission, the Rotarun Ski Club will begin soliciting donations to fund a $500,000 master plan that will include snowmaking, a chairlift, a new base lodge and an expanded parking lot.
The relatively cheap price tag is due to the expected purchase of a used lift, transfer of an existing building to the area and donations of time and materials.
Rotarun administrators say their plan will make the area attractive to local families and as a training site for the Sun Valley, Hailey and Soldier Mountain ski teams. Without the improvements, they told the County Commission on Tuesday, the ski area in Croy Canyon west of Hailey is likely to close.
"I think that would be a tragedy for this community," Rotarun Ski Club Vice President Fritz Haemmerle said.
The 400-foot-high ski hill began operations in 1948 and obtained a 99-year lease from the Arkoosh family, which owns the property, in 1957. It now has a poma lift, a rope tow and a small base lodge. Haemmerle said the area's mission is to provide affordable skiing to families in Hailey. He said the area provided a free learn-to-ski program to about 40 kids this winter.
Don Wiseman, executive director of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, told the commissioners that as more families are moving to Hailey, it make sense to provide after-school gate training to children there. He said that allows the athletes more training time and reduces traffic on Highway 75. The team has trained at Rotarun for three seasons, but, Wiseman said, to do so on a regular basis will require snowmaking and more lift capacity.
One part of the proposed new facilities that the ski club will not scrimp on is snowmaking, Haemmerle said.
"We need to find very quiet guns to keep the neighbors in the area happy," he said.
The master plan envisions replacing the existing lodge with the Sun Valley Helicopter Ski Guides building, which would be moved from its current site in Ketchum. However, the timing of neither that nor a lift purchase can be predicted with specificity, Haemmerle said.
"We need some understanding by the commission that when we move, we will have to move quickly," he said.
The commissioners assured him that the county will expedite the ski club's building permit application as much as possible.
Rotarun ski area would use the existing Sun Valley Heliski building in Ketchum as its new base lodge in Croy Canyon, west of Hailey. Photo by Mountain Express
