Chris Johnson, her husband and children were spending Christmas Eve at a Sun Valley Resort condominium when a note pushed beneath their door slid to a stop in the middle of the floor.
Johnson said she read it to discover that they and the resort's hundreds of guests were without electricity or heat.
Christmas Eve dinners throughout the resort were served by candlelight.
Johnson said the note said something to the effect of: "The warmest place to be is in your bed. If the power does not come back by 7 a.m., limited food service will be provided."
The temperature eventually dipped to zero degrees Fahrenheit that night. And, by morning, that "if" had turned into a reality.
Come Christmas Day, power still wasn't available to the resort, Wood River Valley households or—which hurt the resort most—the two ski mountains.
And the situation remained unchanged into the afternoon. Neither mountain opened to skiers on Christmas, far outdoing last year's white-Christmas mayhem when a 22-inch overnight snowfall halted opening until 11 a.m.
Idaho Power spokeswoman Stephanie McCurdy said the two electrical lines feeding into Hailey from the south both went down Christmas Eve, one at 9:50 p.m. and the other at 10:25 p.m. Those two electrical lines converge and extend to Ketchum and Sun Valley as one line. Idaho Power gradually restored power to 17,000 customers between Shoshone and Sun Valley over Christmas Day, with the last customers being brought on line at about 1 a.m. Dec. 26.
By the time Bald and Dollar mountains were up and running, it was too late to salvage Christmas Day skiing.
Sun Valley Resort spokesman Jack Sibbach said last week that the resort expected skier numbers to double to near 6,000 for each day of the holiday weekend, but visitors who poured into the valley were left twiddling their thumbs Friday.
But, Sibbach said, great pains were taken to keep guests occupied and comfortable. Though the resort has a few generators, Sibbach said they didn't supply enough power to cook or heat water, but did keep a few lights on and essentials going.
"It was a tough day, but we did the best we could under the circumstances," he said, adding that many off-duty employees came in to work on the holiday.
He said gas grills used in the summer were fired up to heat coffee and cook a make-shift buffet.
The Sun Valley Nordic and Snowshoe Center also offered free cross-country and snowshoe rentals throughout Christmas Day.
"We heard nothing but compliments," Sibbach said. "It'll definitely be a Christmas to remember. We hope we sent guests away with positive memories."
Bald and Dollar mountains opened as usual and on time Saturday.
"Crews worked all night to get it going," Sibbach said.
And the resort shot right back into action, lifting 41 percent more skiers and snowboarders onto the slopes on Saturday and Sunday than the holiday weekend's five-year average. About 9,800 skiers and boarders descended Baldy, compared to the average of 7,527. And Dollar Mountain more than doubled its same-date average of 1,110 skiers, with about 2,400 skiers visiting over the weekend.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
On Saturday, Dec. 26, cars pack one of the lots at the base of Bald Mountain, after the mountain was reopened following a valley-wide Christmas blackout. Photo by David N. Seelig
