Sun Valley

Carving the deep, white powder runs framed by building-sized pine trees and the descriptively named Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho’s Sun Valley, one word comes to mind repeatedly – big.

“Bald Mountain is 3400-feet vertical from peak to base, has no flats, no plateaus and nothing but downhill,” says James Grant, who’s originally from Canberra and is now director of mountain operations at Sun Valley Resort (hotel.qantas.com. au/sunvalley).

“With the barely-there lift lines, there’s plenty of time to make as many turns as your legs will allow, usually under a sun that shines for 80 per cent of the year. ‘Baldy’ is a mountain for people who like to go downhill, no matter the type of terrain or what they strap to their feet.

The runs range from expert to beginner, groomers to off-piste.”

Then there are the Rocky Mountain elk, which can be the size of horses and watch skiers from among the trees.

Over the decades, celebrities including Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe and Arnold Schwarzenegger have flocked to Sun Valley – about a 20-minute drive from Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey or about 2.5 hours drive east of the larger Boise Airport. It’s still possible to stay in the same large, chalet-style rooms at the resort as they did.

“There are beautifully designed lodges for on-mountain dining and après,” says Jess Fiaschetti, an Australian living in Sun Valley. “From the historic Roundhouse restaurant and Averill’s bar at the top of the gondola to River Run and Warm Springs base lodges, where you can have freshly baked cookies or refresh with an ice-cold beer at the end of the day.” Adds James Grant: “Sun Valley has the feel of an Australian country town with the overlay of the culture, shops and restaurants of Melbourne or Sydney.”

Aside from skiing, there’s snowshoeing, hiking, fishing and mountain biking, plus the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve. And there’s Sun Valley’s “other” mountain. “Dollar Mountain is where skiing learnt to ski,” says Grant. “The home of the world’s first chairlift, it now has fun terrain-park offerings, along with beginner-friendly slopes. It’s the hidden gem of skiing and it’ll make you say, ‘Why didn’t we come here years ago?’”