Izzy is torn today:
ski with the family (usually a no-brainer of a choice) or go to ski
school (what if they do something fun and I miss it?). Eventually she chooses us, and I think she is
glad she did, but man, that Parker must really be something to generate this
kind of agony among his students. I want
to note that Parker is not young and handsome like Izzy’s other fave
instructor, Spencer at Telluride. Parker
calls his charges Knuckleheads, and he himself is the King of the
Knuckleheads. giggle giggle giggle from
Izzy.
Everyone has been watching the weather, hoping for some
snow. There is plenty on most trails,
but they’ll need more if they’re to make it through March. And we’d like some freshies to scootch about
in. Today we got it. Rain in Ketchum turned to snow and dumped
about 6 or so inches up top early on.
Pretty heavy going at first, then we found some trails that worked
pretty nicely. And the sun even came out
for much of the afternoon, until the snow started blowing again, and it snowed
all evening.
In case I haven’t made it clear yet, Sun Valley is dense with
history and tradition, and a swell place to catch a sense of that is at the
Roundhouse, about half-way up Baldy at the top of the gondola. This was the first on-mountain day lodge here,
and it is a lovely old building, modeled on a train roundhouse, with lots of
timber and elk-antler lighting fixtures, a cozy bar and a four-sided fireplace
in the middle. It’s all white
tablecloths, and wine glasses and table service, but not really more expensive
than the other on-mountain lunch options.
The real draw is the house specialty of cheese fondue. It comes for two and you can add on people
and extra stuff like veggies or sausage or mushrooms. The basic order brings a plate piled high
with bread and potatoes and apples and pears and grapes. An immediate scrum of fondue forks ensued at
our table, with Izzy having to stand up to get hers in there. They actually don’t give you a ton of cheese,
so we scraped that pot clean and then, because you know we hadn’t had enough
carbs, had some really tasty apple bread pudding to finish things off.
That was so civilized.
If it wasn’t for the carb-induced coma afterwards, I’d do that
everyday.
Here’s another thoughtful Sun Valley touch. At the ticket counter, they say that for
Military and Parent Predicament rates, please inquire within. I get the military rate, but what on earth is
a parent predicament? Turns out, it is
when there are two parents who want to ski, and one kid who can’t. The parents can share a ticket, and trade it
back and forth over the course of the day.
Bill and I checked out the Sun Valley Museum of History this
afternoon, which was kind of interesting – lots about sheep and trains, and the
fellow working there told us that the second building was all about the ski
history and technology and Hemingway (they have to put him somewhere). But it was kind of uneven, and I think they
could do a lot more. How can a museum
that purports to address the history of skiing technology not even acknowledge
the positively seismic invention of the chairlift, which happened right here at
Sun Valley? Or Smith goggles, except by
way of a small plaque to Dr. Bob Smith, in the Sun Valley Hall of Fame? Or Scott poles? Or heli-skiing, developed by Bill Janss? All of these things happened right here, and
skiers should know about them! The
museum guy did tell us that they get a lot of equipment donations but there are
only so many pairs of 1970s-vintage skis that you can put on the wall.
I did love seeing Gretchen Fraser’s elegant ski suit and
parade overcoat from the 1948 Olympics, however. Boy, did they know how to dress back then.
Sheep have been a big part of the economy here since
forever. The original Native American
band that lived here were known as Sheep-Eaters, and it wasn’t until 1970 that
the Idaho census noted more humans than sheep in the state! Herds are still brought through town in the
spring to graze on the highlands, and then back down in the fall. Once the railway closed, and a nice walking
and bike path was put in, this apparently became problematic, because where
1500 sheep go, so goes their sheep poop.
And the runners and bikers really didn’t like running and biking after
the sheep came through. So some crafty
town elder came up with the idea of the “Trailing of the Sheep.” Now, when the sheep come, there is a big
sheep-themed festival, and everyone follows the sheep and cleans up after
them. I guess it is a major event in
Ketchum now, and hundreds of people come to town for the day, just for this big
occasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment