How Many Days Did You Ski This Season?
BY ISAIAH FRIZZELL
Sun Valley Resort
Of the many unique things to do in Blaine County, what’s your favorite? Thanks to Sun Valley Resort (SVR), there are always exciting events to get the community together in a healthy, natural environment. In addition to setting standards for ski resorts worldwide, SVR is known for having essentially created Blaine County. With strong ties to the film industry, they consistently show up for the people of Blaine County and consistently bring the goods in; that is, everything from live music to EMT training to even becoming a hospital during World War II. Read more here to catch up on that story: (https://woodriverweekly.com/index.php/2024/01/09/sun-valley-resort-hollywood-and-wwii/)
Ski Season
So you had from Thanksgiving until April—a little over five months—to partake of the powder. Baldy, Dollar, the distinct locales of Warm Springs and Seattle Ridge—how many days did you enjoy the slopes?
In joyous recognition of community, sport and health, each year Sun Valley commemorates those who skied at least 100 days out of the season. You arrive at the lift, scan your pass and slide the snow. When you’ve reached your 100th scan, it’s time to celebrate. The ceremony is endearing and unique—such that it almost looks like a marriage proposal. And perhaps it is, as you’re kind of married to the mountain! The official kneels down on one knee, in the snow, and presents the winner with a beautiful metal pin. It’s a lovely memorandum cast as a 16-point gold star with the bold words “100 Days” and the season in years at the top. As a gift from Sun Valley, for the skiers, the pin serves also as a sweet reminder of the dedication, honor and sincerity they put into accomplishing a goal.
The Health of Your Goals
Sometimes it’s tough to maintain goals and routines. Perhaps most would rankle at the idea of crawling from a warm bed a few hours early, just to bundle up and brace for the cold wind of the downhill slopes. So how does one gear up for 100 of the roughly 180-day potential season? Dedication. Dedication to the sport, health and the satisfaction of accomplishing your mission.
Skiing is on par with cycling, rowing and jogging for its obvious health benefits. It’s even been recognized as a type of interval training. You put in a quarter hour of intense exercise and then ride the lift for a break and a chat. Some do the days solo, and others, in groups. Meeting a couple of friends at the lift makes it all the more compelling and beneficial.
While it might be you versus the mountain on the way down, skiing is very much a community sport. You see familiar faces at the lift and might even share a cocktail afterward. If you time it right, you go for lunch and perhaps catch some live music to harmonize and weave in the memory.
Community Conviviality
Sun Valley’s 100 Days of Skiing is an event that the community loves, and this year included a pair of octogenarians. It’s just one of those things Sun Valley does. “I think it’s sort of in their DNA,” says Jeff Oak, a resident who has lived in Blaine County since the ’80s and completed the 100 Days this season along with his wife, Nancy.
The challenge comes with novel rewards.“You end up experiencing some better skiing than you expected.One time we went out and it was a sort of rainy day, and you know I probably wouldn’t have gotten out if it weren’t for the 100 Days, but it turned out to be just fantastic. It’s a great motivator.”
Oak is fully immersed in the communal joy of the moment. “I think it’s nice. The community here in Warm Springs gets together and the day when a friend gets their pin, all friends come to the lift in the morning for that 100th day and we do a little celebration… a little bonding over it.”
The Warm Springs community must also have it in their DNA. Liza Qaddourah, who hails from that borough, got her second pin this year. Her first year completing the 100 Days was a bit wild. And while some feel like it’s too strict of a commitment, Qaddourah sees it otherwise. “It did feel more like a job that year because we started late, but this year I did a lot of things. I didn’t go ski every single day. We took time out, we went to Vegas to see the Raiders play, went on a girls ski trip to other mountains, so it didn’t feel like a job, but you’ve GOT to get on it early.”
Yes, you get exercise, but it’s really the social workout that brings them out. Everyone enjoys the win differently but Qaddourah and her Warm Springs crew put on a wild show. “Whoever’s day it was, one day it was Patty’s, and it was miserable conditions outside, but we got out there and we did a little arch with our poles and she came down and they gave her the pin. Then we took a run and went and had Bloody Marys to celebrate.
“This year I did a mini bottle of Prosecco. It was Lori Cooley’s day, so we all signed it and we gave it to her. Then the day I did it she did a beer can, my favorite beer, we all signed it and drank it at the top! We don’t just brush it off. It’s a huge accomplishment. We’re thrilled and it’s a good time!
“The mountain brings everybody together. We always run into somebody. It’s so good for your soul. It’s church to me—every day.”
The wintertime escapades are, perhaps counterintuitively, even more bonding. “When the summer comes, you all scatter! You know, you’re hiking and fishing or paddleboarding and we all kind of separate a bit. So during the season, Sun Valley has a way of bringing us all together for this.”
The sense of excitement is huge when Qaddourah speaks. Skiing can be a challenging sport. For a couple of years, she was held back by injuries—a broken wrist and, once, a broken toe. “You feel guilty. I’m sitting there with my broken toe just looking out the window and I can’t go. I can’t get my toe in the boot!” And yet she mends up and goes on to get another 100 Days this season.
The health, the community, the love of the mountains all become palpable. “The connection is so strong. It fills my soul!”
The ability of Sun Valley to bring people together for something so exciting and natural as skiing is not lost on anyone who makes this journey. And, while Qaddourah has done it twice, her friend Lori Cooley, also from Warm Springs, has done the 100 Days eight times—in a row!
How do you measure yourself to ski, almost every day of the season, and keep the momentum for eight years? For Cooley, it is a strict routine. “It’s always nice to get up. It’s just routine. Get up, walk the dog, go ski. So I always know, you know, I have ‘til lunch time and then I should probably go let the dog out. But some days when it’s really good you’re, like, he’ll probably be fine for another hour.” Lori laughs. It’s simply become part of her life. “Last year was such a good ski year, but impromptu to be, like, ‘Oh, it’s for 100 Days. Let’s go to the Roundhouse, have an espresso martini, and then you come out and there’s this huge storm and you’re, like, OK, now we have to get home!” There’s planning involved in these adventures even when there’s not.
Cooley, much the nutritionist, tallies up the pre-ski snacks on a typical day. “Definitely coffee, yogurt, granola, go ski and maybe go to Apple’s for lunch. But springtime is more party time. Maybe at the top your Aperol spritz.” She laughs, mentioning “beer and skiing go really good together… oh, and then everyone wears costumes the last couple days.” Backcountry enthusiasm at full tilt. Cooley wore an ‘80s-inspired neon vibe for her last party.
Mountains of Madness
“You’ll see people in all types of things.” There’s apparently a photo floating around of two guys from a couple of weekends ago showing it all. “Do you remember that movie Borat? So these guys had literally a strap up their back, bare naked, and in the front, you know, was like a reindeer.” Show and tell time on the slippery slopes!
What’s the reaction to these shenanigans? “I think most people are, like, it’s Sun Valley, we do everything here.” Kudos to that. Blaine County is known for its strong community vibe and events like the Baldy Challenge or this 100 Days challenge put on by groups like Zions Bank and Sun Valley Resort are crucial in modulating the joyous frequencies that make Blaine County the adored community it is—giving people the opportunity to form lasting memories and cherished moments doing things they love.
So what do you do with the pin? Does anyone wear them? “Right now it’s sitting in its little ring box on my counter. I have it open so I can look at it when I walk by, but I’m moving it to my goggle strap next year. I saw one girl, she had it on the back, so it won’t be lost by the up-and-down motion of taking my lenses on and off, so if I secure it back there, I should be fine.” Qaddourah is already planning for her next pin!