Sun Valley Closes Its 89th Season With Music, Spring Skiing
BY Mark Dee
Sun Valley’s spring saw our home hill host the world’s best. Now, it’s ending the season with a weekend for the rest.
The resort wraps its 89th season with the Baldy Bash—complete with music, festivities, and, of course, spring skiing—at the Warm Springs base area on Saturday, April 19. Then, come back decked out in whatever costume you choose on Easter Sunday, April 20, for a proper closing day on Bald Mountain.
At press time, River Run was slated to close on Sunday, April 13, leaving the north-facing Warm Springs the only way up. Terrain will stay open as conditions permit, Jess Fiaschetti, a spokeswoman for Sun Valley Resort, told Wood River Weekly.
What is set are the bands for Saturday afternoon. Sun Valley-based Moonshine Schubert opens the après from 2–3:30 p.m. with his mellow take on beachy, reggae-inflecting alt-rock. From 4–5:50 p.m., the groove-heavy electric trio Cycles closes the show outside the Warm Springs Lodge with a free, jam-influenced style honed by more than 350 shows on the road.
“Drawing influence from artists such as Rage Against the Machine, J. Dilla, Primus, Weather Report, and many more, Cycles fuse an eclectic blend of genres to produce an original sound that has become harder and harder to find,” the resort says of its headlining act.
The show is free, no tickets required. Parking is limited, though, so consider taking Mountain Rides down to the Picabo Street stop.
While Sun Valley plans the party Saturday, it’s up to skiers and riders to carry Sunday—unofficially Gaper Day—with onesies, costumes, and an appreciation of every last turn before the lifts stop spinning.
For Sun Valley Resort, this weekend hails a winter that saw Bald Mountain return to the world stage, hosting the World Cup Finals—and thousands of rabid ski racing fans—from March 20-27. Those races marked the culmination of years of work to develop, construct and maintain elite racecourses down the Warm Springs face of Baldy.
“It’s spring, and spring at a ski resort is a combination of celebration and fatigue,” said Pete Sonntag, chief operating officer of the Sun Valley Company. “There is a tremendous sense of pride in what we pulled off with World Cup Finals, and also a commitment to make all our traditional events as good as they’ve ever been.
“We’re in this business because we love it and the final days should be a blast. We will recuperate when the season is over and then jump into summer and begin planning for next winter.”
For Sonntag, the season was a “great success,” with a run of key storm cycles lining up with big skier weeks. As of April 10, Sun Valley logged 180 inches of snowfall for the 2024-25 season, slightly below its 220-inch average, according to Visit Sun Valley, the regional marketing alliance. But, Sun Valley is holding strong with a 98-inch base, the resort says, well ahead of the same time last season, according to the ski weather tracking site OpenSnow.
With conditions lining up, Sonntag hopes the Baldy Bash offers locals a chance to celebrate their home hill.
“Obviously, the World Cup Finals were the big story and I’m very proud of how our team and the community rose to the occasion,” he said. “The course prep was not without its impacts and we learned so much from our first experience with it. I have to say I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing people lapping the course since we’ve opened it back up after the races. It is amazing spring skiing!”
Looking ahead
For the first time in two years, the lifts that closed on Baldy will be in line to open unchanged for the next. After overhauling the Warm Springs lift system in the summer of 2023 and Seattle Ridge in 2024, the resort plans to stand pat on infrastructure this summer, though there are “tentative plans” to proceed with plans to replace the Christmas lift over the summer of 2026, Fiaschetti said.
The big change next year won’t happen on the lift, but in the lift line. Sun Valley plans to move its passes to radio-frequency identification, or RFID, next season. RFID passes replace traditional ticket scanning, where skiers present a barcode to staff, with a tiny transponder that opens a gate at the bottom of each lift. That means skiers won’t have to present their pass to scanners during the 2025-26 season—and that resort employees need to install gates at every lift.
“We know this is something our guests have been wanting and we’re excited to be able to bring it to Sun Valley,” Sonntag said. “As for future lift projects, stay tuned!”
