Surrounded by the Sawtooth, the Smokey and the Northern Rocky mountains, Sun Valley’s 3,000 sheltered acres at 5,800 feet above sea level enjoy great weather. Opportunities for summer fun include three swimming pools and a shimmering lake; a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.–designed 18-hole championship golf course, soon to be enlarged; a day spa; 18 tennis courts; horseback riding; mountain biking and flat-terrain biking. There are also fly-fishing—with or without guides—and fly-fishing clinics. River trips on the Salmon, Snake and Payette rivers can be arranged for as many as 700 participants in a group. And the resort maintains one of only two year-round uncovered ice rinks in the U.S.

You can go skating even when it's 80 degrees out. There's even bowling deep in the Sun Valley Lodge. On the same ice rink every Saturday night in summer, Olympic and world-class ice skaters perform; this summer Sasha Cohen and Todd Eldredge are among the international lineup. Next year will be the show's 70th annual season. Groups can arrange reserved seating for the performance and also for the Terrace Buffet beforehand. Western barbecues at the historic Trail Creek Cabin are very popular, according to Sibbach. "Some groups do hayrides," he notes, as the cabin is about 1-1/4 mile from the Lodge.

All this is not to slight the skiing experience to be savored amid the 2,045 skiable acres on Dollar and Bald mountains. A recent article in Ski magazine said "Old-school Sun Valley lets you ski like water flows"; that's over 3,400 vertical feet with pitch, with no stops. Plus, the world's largest computer-controlled snowmaking systems guarantees fresh powder each morning; a high-tech gizmo that has as its precurser the introduction in the valley of the worlds' first overhead chair lift in 1936. There are 13 today on Bald Mountain—known locally as Baldy—with a combined capacity of over 23,000 skiers per hour; lift lines are kept to a minimum. That's also because there's very little real estate development at the privately held resort.

Neighboring Ketchum, about a mile away, has about 50 restaurants, art galleries with art walks, boutiques and entertainment. Between the various places to stay at the resort, there are a total of 510 rooms—all with flat-screen plasma TVs and high-speed Ethernet Internet access. And among its multiple venues, the resort's meeting space totals up slightly less than 26,000 sq. ft. The principal cluster is the 16,532 sq. ft. at the Sun Valley Inn.

Sun Valley is a one-stop shop for meeting planners, or as the resort representative puts it, Everything's under one umbrella. You don't have to go outside and negotiate with various people. The resort's ideal group size is around 250, although they welcome groups from 20–500. The best pricing is available in either the Early Season which runs from November 22–December 17, or the Late Season, from April 2 to the end of season, depending on the snowfall (sunvalley.com).

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Getting There

Friedman Memorial Airport - (flysunairport.com) is 12 miles south of Sun Valley in Hailey and is served by two commuter airlines, Horizon Air (Alaska Airlines) and SkyWest (Delta Airlines). There is nonstop service from Los Angeles, Oakland, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Back to Top

Not To Be Missed

A round on Sun Valley’s golf course.
A ride up to the top of Baldy on the summer lift.
A western barbecue dinner at the Trail Creek Cabin in summer.
A 20-person sleigh ride to the Trail Creek Cabin in winter.
The 70th Annual Saturday Night Ice Show.
Take at least one hike into the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, about 7 miles north.

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