From flames to Smokies
The Boulder Yurt lives again
"Yurt trips always stick out in my mind as the
special point of a winter, being able to hang out with a bunch of friends
and have a good time."
-Joe St. Onge, one of Sun Valley Trekking’s new
owners
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
After nearly 19 years at the helm, Sun
Valley area resident Bob Jonas has sold Sun Valley Trekking, a primarily
winter guiding service he began in 1982.
During a recent evening outing to the
reborn and relocated Boulder Yurt, one of Sun Valley Trekking’s five
backcountry Mongolian-style huts, Jonas and the company’s four new
owners shared the company’s past and its predicted future with members
of the press and representatives of the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber of
Commerce.
Less than nine months ago, the Boulder
Yurt, then located in the foothills of the Boulder Mountains, was burned
by presumed arsonists, though no one has been charged with the crime. With
help from donations and volunteer work, the yurt was reconstructed in the
Smoky Mountains this fall.
It boasts two huts connected by an
entryway-kitchen corridor. A wood-stove powered sauna behind the hut
awaits tired backcountry travelers.
Recent snows blanketed the Smokies during
the mid-December outing. The sky was ablaze with what appeared to be
bright pin pricks, and Orion hovered above the southern horizon in his
ritual winter crawl as twilight bled into night.
Sun Valley Trekking’s new owners—two
couples who have spent most of the past decade in Crested Butte, Colo.—appeared
excited to be kicking off the winter.
One of the new owners, Joe St. Onge,
explained what yurting means to him.
"Yurt trips always stick out in my
mind as the special point of a winter, being able to hang out with a bunch
of friends and have a good time," he said.
Another of the new owners, Carrie Douglas,
added, "Being able to give that experience to other people is what we’re
really excited about."
Douglas and her husband Scott Douglas and
St. Onge and his fiancee, Francie MacCarty, are Sun Valley Trekking’s
new owners, who settled in Hailey this fall.
The new owners, Jonas said, are "an
organization," adding that they’ll be able to handle more of the
clerical responsibilities that bogged him down as the business grew.
Jonas smiled when he explained that Sun
Valley Trekking’s new owners embrace a basic tenant of successful
guiding: "Your profession should be a lifestyle, not a job."
MacCarty said that "between the four
of us, a guide will be available for any activity for any ability. We can
pretty much meet anybody’s needs with our operation."
Those activities include skiing (telemark,
alpine and cross country), snowboarding, snowshoing and climbing.
"These two couples are going to be
residents of the valley for a long time," Jonas said. "They’ll
be assets to this valley. This will be base camp for them."
The new Boulder Yurt is located an easy
mile to the west of Highway 75, not far from Prairie Creek, a spot Jonas
said he chose for its combination of easy accessibility and remote feel.
Also, it’s in an area now closed to snowmobiles.
In a cooperative agreement arranged by
members of the Wood River Valley’s ski and snowmobiling communities, the
northern valley was zoned to separate the conflicting winter uses. The
Sawtooth National Forest adopted the agreement in November.
Jonas said the burning of the Boulder Yurt
had nothing to do with his decision to sell the business he’s fathered
for the past 19 years.
In fact, he said he’s excited that the
arson seemed to spur skiers and snowmobilers to resolve the growing
conflict between their user groups.
"I’m very excited that, in many
respects, it may have been a catalyst toward getting the two groups
together," he said.
Jonas’ decision to sell the business,
rather, was the result of Sun Valley Trekking’s growth.
"I love the guiding life, but in terms
of running a business, I’m ready to move on from that," he said.
"I’m not an office type of persona."
Sun Valley Trekking operates the Tornak,
Coyote and Boulder yurts—all in the Smoky Mountains—and Fish Hook and
Bench yurts in the foothills of the Sawtooths.
The Tornak and Coyote yurts are in areas
open to snowmobiles.
Though Jonas has sold the business, he’s
going to stay on board as a guide and consultant this winter to help iron
out wrinkles in the ownership transition.
And you can bet he’ll continue to make
the backcountry his second home.
The Sun Valley area is really just a total
ski resort, he said.
"The backcountry’s less known, but
it’s fabulous. I don’t think there’s a finer place in America for
that."
