Sun Valley, Idaho
We had the chance to ski and snowboard Sun Valley this year because my little brother, Brad, proposed to his girlfriend, Claire on our annual ski trip! He picked the ski resort, the hotel, a lot of our restaurants and plans, but honestly, I was all for it! It was our first trip away from Charlie, so not having to plan anything myself was a breath of fresh air. Also, Brad and Claire are the perfect amount of down-to-earth, and bougee, so they have great taste without being overly pretentious.
On the way home from our trip, Ronnie and I looked at each other and agreed that Sun Valley was our favorite ski trip to date… high marks for two pretty well-traveled skiers.
We had the best time celebrating them and traveling with about 20 of our best friends, so I thought I would share some of the highlights here.
One of the greatest things about Sun Valley is you can fly direct from Chicago to Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Idaho. If you’re staying with the Limelight (see below), you can reserve a hotel driver to pick you up. Uber’s are hard to come by, so wherever you stay, call ahead and make sure they have transportation. Once you’ve landed, you take a 20 minute ride by car from Hailey to Ketchum, the town at the base of Sun Valley Resort, and your vacation begins!
Eat
Coffee / Breakfast — Maude’s is the spot! Half boutique, half coffee shop, the customer service was fantastic, they coffee was delish, and the donuts were worth writing home about.
Lunch — After Brad proposed to Claire at the top of the mountain, we rendezvoused at The Roundhouse, which is about halfway up the mountain where the Gondola drops you off. This place was the vibe. You feel like you stepped out of Idaho and into the Swiss Alps! Food is delicious, and if you’re into it, I highly recommend the Espresso Martini. For anyone worried about getting down the mountain after lunch, you’ve got options: Take the Gondola back down, Take a nice Blue/Green traverse, or go a little more downhill on a Blue just past the Gondola.
Dinner — Warfield was a super cool vibe and probably my favorite food spot we went to. The drinks were fantastic (we got Manhattans) and the food was incredible as well. It’s about five minutes on foot from the Limelight, so it’s easy to get to and home from, should you be exhausted from a day on the slopes. We had a wonderful meal at Knob Hill on the edge of town as well. The vibes were a bit more upscale here, but the filet and the escargo here were phenomenal, Ronnie and I got a dirty martinis here.
Snacky snacks — Pick up your hotel-room go-to’s at the Village Market is literally directly across the street from the Limelight Hotel, so if you stay there, you can pop over any time you need for snackies and bevvies. They have a solid wine selection and a wonderful assortment of charcuterie-esque items plus your favorite “cool” brands like Lesser Evil, Hu, Poppi, etc.
Stay
We stayed at the Limelight Ketchum. I loved this spot for so many reasons, let me try to list them: hot tubs, apres bar, live music, delicious food / restaurant, stunning rooms, incredible customer service, proximity to the base of Sun Valley resort (5 mins), the shuttle service to and from the airport, and mountain, the heated gear room (so you don’t have to bring your skis back to your room covered in snow), the water pressure, the hotel room robes. I think that’s it… but if I can think of any more reasons to stay, I will let you know. It was a wonderful experience all around.
Workout
Any time we are on a ski trip, we don’t do much outside of walking around town and hitting the slopes, so I’ve got nothing to recommend here, that being said, if I were to have taken a yoga class, I would have checked out Gather Yoga. Oh! If you forget your yoga gear, there is a Lululemon in Ketchum! That was a nice surprise.
Play
The play here is all about Sun Valley Resort — it's got all the accoutrements of your favorite ski resorts — live music, great restaurants, an outfitter shop that has unpretentious nic nacs AND designer goods like Moncler jackets. It’s got hilarious locals who all know each other and talk shit while they sit at the bar. And it’s got some insanely cool runs. Know before you go: The Greens are Blues, the Blues are Blacks, and the Blacks are Double Blacks. This is a challenging mountain.
If you’re not much of a skier, downtown Ketchum is super cute and you can easily spend an entire day shopping, munching on food here and there, and hanging out. Your crew will catch up with you for apres at the Limelight anyway.
Overall, what an incredible trip! I have a feeling we will be back when Charlie is a bit older and we can get her on her first set of skis! I hope if you go, you will enjoy the delights of Sun Valley as much as we did and take a few of my recommendations.
