Sun Valley.
A railroad boss built a ski resort in Idaho in the 1930s and used celebrities for clever marketing. Since then, the “Hollymountain” has attracted adored screen heroes.
In the middle of nowhere in Idaho in the Northwest of the USA has been a popular ski area for the rich and famous for decades. In Sun Valley, celebrity spotting is almost a winter sport in its own right.
Railroad boss Averell Harriman cleverly engineered this in the mid-1930s. The shrewd president of the Union Pacific Railroad set his sights on boosting passenger traffic. The world economic crisis was over unscathed. Coal and sheep were rattling through the Rocky Mountains in freight trains again, but not enough people. A new travel destination was a must.
With the whole world craving for this newfangled sport of skiing, a chic Alpine-style resort was the way to go—preferably some sort of private club for millionaires, magnates, and movie stars, Harriman figured. That would also attract fans. But where was the right stop for such a Hollywood mountain, such a Hollymountain?
In January 1936, Harriman’s scout, the Austrian Count Felix Schaffgotsch, spotted the perfect terrain on the western edge of the sleepy town of Ketchum: the 2789-meter Bald Mountain and its neighboring peaks, dramatically wedged by four mountain ranges.
Even then, a high desert climate ensured dry powder snow and 250 days of sunshine per year. Averell Harriman immediately bought the whole sunny valley and christened it “Sun Valley” for advertising purposes.
The Shah in a snow flurry and Hemingway with a gun
Less than a year later, in December 1936, the Sun Valley Lodge opened, made of refractory cement with a brushed wood look and an X-shaped floor plan. Hollywood star Clark Gable’s holdall is said to have been carried through the main portal just as the last construction worker disappeared through the back door. All film stars and starlets were initially allowed to vacation here for free, provided they were willing to be photographed for marketing purposes.
They have all come since then. Their black and white pictures still hang in gold frames in the long carpeted corridors: John Wayne with earflaps, Jackie Kennedy in a Norwegian sweater, Gary Cooper with a peaked cap, Ingrid Bergman in wedge pants, the Shah of Persia in a snow flurry and US President Gerald Ford with his family.
Ernest Hemingway sometimes posed with a shotgun, sometimes with a typewriter. As a permanent guest in Suite 206, he finished here in 1939 “For Whom the hour tolls”. He went duck hunting in Silver Creek Preserve and trout fishing in Trail Creek. His bronze monument stands under trees not far from the river.
In 1959 Hemingway bought his own house in Ketchum, spent the last few years there and now rests in the small village cemetery.
The Terminator in Idaho
A black slope is named after action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. First the “Terminator” was a regular guest, then he bought a second home here – as did Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Hanks, Demi Moore and Justin Timberlake.
What started more than 85 years ago with a hotel complex is now a mini town with 1800 year-round residents, 500 holiday accommodations of all kinds, three swimming pools, two ice skating rinks, post office and police.
The holiday paradise looks like a piece of the old world in the wild west. There is a clock tower, a carillon, wooden balconies, bronze hinds on pillars and the wood paneled one Opera House, which was built in 1937 and has long since been converted into a cinema. At the annual Sun Valley Film Festival world premieres are running here. Every year in spring, during the festival days, the number of celebrities in the ski area is particularly high.
Secluded, but easily accessible by plane
Coincidentally, nobody comes by in Sun Valley. The railway lost the fight for survival against the car for a long time. In 1987, Union Pacific Railroad dug up the last tracks. It’s an hour and a half drive to the nearest interstate highway and two and a half hours to the nearest major city, Boise. At least the resort has one Airport very close by, which is served by several US cities.
There are no lift queues in Sun Valley. So that the guests didn’t have to puff up the slopes, Averell Harriman had his engineers build the world’s first chairlift in 1936 from a converted banana cargo facility. In the meantime, 14 more chair lifts plus three T-bar lifts and a gondola are buzzing through a ten square kilometer ski area with 121 runs.
(dpa)
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