In the Beginning

It All Started Here

Sun Valley's long and fabled history began in 1936 when Averell Harriman, the chairperson of the Union-Pacific Railroad, decided to establish the first destination ski resort in North America. With a vision of modeling the resort after European ski areas, he enlisted the expertise of Count Felix Schaffgotsch, a renowned Austrian ski instructor. Schaffgotsch searched far and wide across the West. When he came upon Ketchum, Idaho, a mining town surrounded by majestic mountain ranges, he knew he had found the ideal location for an exceptional ski experience

Brass Ranch

The land that would become Sun Valley was once known as Brass Ranch. When Schaffgotsch arrived in Ketchum, he met Roberta Brass, whose father owned a 3200-acre ranch in the area. Brass Ranch was purchased from the family at about $4 per acre, and resort construction started the following spring, in May 1936. Gilbert, Stanley, Underwood and Company, an architect firm based out of Los Angeles, was enlisted, and after seven months, the Sun Valley Lodge and resort opened on December 21, 1936.

Proctor Mountain

The ski runs at Sun Valley were designed by Charles Proctor. Proctor was one of America's foremost ski pioneers and had been a ski racing star at Dartmouth. Proctor Mountain, northeast of Bald Mountain, takes its name from him. Still a popular area for hiking and trail running, Proctor Mountain also features remnants of the lower terminal of the world's first chairlift.

World's First Chairlift

Now that the ideal resort location had been found, efforts to further revolutionize the ski experience began. At the time, the only way for skiers to return to the peak of the mountain after a run was by strenuous hiking or rope tow. Jim Curran, a Union Pacific engineer, used his experience engineering banana conveyor systems to imagine a new way to transport skiers safely and speedily. Equipped with Curran's ingenious design, construction began on both Dollar and Proctor Mountains in the summer of 1936, and a few months later, Sun Valley became the birthplace of the modern chairlift.

Celebrity Getaway

As Harriman developed plans for Sun Valley, he enlisted the expertise of Steve Hannigan, a publicity maven out of Miami, Florida. Hannigan was instrumental in introducing the new resort to the world. He is credited for naming Sun Valley and branding it with its first tagline: “Winter sports under a summer sun.” It was also Hannigan's idea to bring Hollywood royalty to the resort. Several notable films used the areas in and around Sun Valley as a backdrop, including “Bus Stop” starring Marilyn Monroe, “Sun Valley Serenade” featuring Sonja Henie, “I Met Him in Paris” with Claudette Colbert, and Clint Eastwood's “Pale Rider.”
Perhaps the celebrity whose identity is most intertwined with the resort, Ernest Hemingway spent twenty years living in Sun Valley on and off, and is even laid to rest in the Sun Valley cemetery. Hemingway first visited in 1939, and quickly took to writing in Room 206, which is where he finished his novel, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” Though he enjoyed the serenity of the resort for his writing, he also spent time hunting and fishing in the outdoor paradise surrounding the Wood River Valley.

A Four Season Resort

While the foremost objective was to introduce mountain sports to a wider American audience, the Sun Valley founders quickly realized that the magic of the resort wasn't just reserved for winter. That's why, beginning in the summer of 1937, Sun Valley became a year-round destination, offering various activities over the years such as golf, archery and shooting, biking, horse-back riding, ice skating in the summer, bowling, and even hosted a rodeo at one time.