{"id":20827,"date":"2024-05-01T01:41:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T07:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=20827"},"modified":"2024-04-29T16:48:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-29T22:48:07","slug":"sun-valleys-100-days-of-skiing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/01\/sun-valleys-100-days-of-skiing\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun Valley\u2019s 100 Days of Skiing"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Many Days Did You Ski This Season?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

BY ISAIAH FRIZZELL<\/p>\n

Sun Valley Resort<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
100 Days pin from Sun Valley. Photo credit: Liza Qaddourah<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the many unique things to do in Blaine County, what\u2019s 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\/)<\/p>\n

Ski Season<\/strong>
\nSo you had from Thanksgiving until April\u2014a little over five months\u2014to partake of the powder. Baldy, Dollar, the distinct locales of Warm Springs and Seattle Ridge\u2014how many days did you enjoy the slopes?
\nIn 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\u2019ve reached your 100th scan, it\u2019s time to celebrate. The ceremony is endearing and unique\u2014such that it almost looks like a marriage proposal. And perhaps it is, as you\u2019re 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\u2019s a lovely memorandum cast as a 16-point gold star with the bold words \u201c100 Days\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

The Health of Your Goals<\/strong>
\nSometimes it\u2019s 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.
\nSkiing is on par with cycling, rowing and jogging for its obvious health benefits. It\u2019s 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.
\nWhile 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.<\/p>\n

Community Conviviality<\/strong>
\nSun Valley\u2019s 100 Days of Skiing is an event that the community loves, and this year included a pair of octogenarians. It\u2019s just one of those things Sun Valley does. \u201cI think it\u2019s sort of in their DNA,\u201d says Jeff Oak, a resident who has lived in Blaine County since the \u201980s and completed the 100 Days this season along with his wife, Nancy.
\nThe challenge comes with novel rewards.\u201cYou 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\u2019t have gotten out if it weren\u2019t for the 100 Days, but it turned out to be just fantastic. It\u2019s a great motivator.\u201d
\nOak is fully immersed in the communal joy of the moment. \u201cI think it\u2019s 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\u2026 a little bonding over it.\u201d
\nThe 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\u2019s too strict of a commitment, Qaddourah sees it otherwise. \u201cIt did feel more like a job that year because we started late, but this year I did a lot of things. I didn\u2019t 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\u2019t feel like a job, but you\u2019ve GOT to get on it early.\u201d
\nYes, you get exercise, but it\u2019s 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. \u201cWhoever\u2019s day it was, one day it was Patty\u2019s, 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.
\n\u201cThis year I did a mini bottle of Prosecco. It was Lori Cooley\u2019s 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\u2019t just brush it off. It\u2019s a huge accomplishment. We\u2019re thrilled and it\u2019s a good time!
\n\u201cThe mountain brings everybody together. We always run into somebody. It\u2019s so good for your soul. It\u2019s church to me\u2014every day.\u201d
\nThe wintertime escapades are, perhaps counterintuitively, even more bonding. \u201cWhen the summer comes, you all scatter! You know, you\u2019re 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.\u201d
\nThe 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\u2014a broken wrist and, once, a broken toe. \u201cYou feel guilty. I\u2019m sitting there with my broken toe just looking out the window and I can\u2019t go. I can\u2019t get my toe in the boot!\u201d And yet she mends up and goes on to get another 100 Days this season.
\nThe health, the community, the love of the mountains all become palpable. \u201cThe connection is so strong. It fills my soul!\u201d
\nThe 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\u2014in a row!
\nHow 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. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to get up. It\u2019s just routine. Get up, walk the dog, go ski. So I always know, you know, I have \u2018til lunch time and then I should probably go let the dog out. But some days when it\u2019s really good you\u2019re, like, he\u2019ll probably be fine for another hour.\u201d Lori laughs. It\u2019s simply become part of her life. \u201cLast year was such a good ski year, but impromptu to be, like, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s for 100 Days. Let\u2019s go to the Roundhouse, have an espresso martini, and then you come out and there\u2019s this huge storm and you\u2019re, like, OK, now we have to get home!\u201d There\u2019s planning involved in these adventures even when there\u2019s not.
\nCooley, much the nutritionist, tallies up the pre-ski snacks on a typical day. \u201cDefinitely coffee, yogurt, granola, go ski and maybe go to Apple\u2019s for lunch. But springtime is more party time. Maybe at the top your Aperol spritz.\u201d She laughs, mentioning \u201cbeer and skiing go really good together\u2026 oh, and then everyone wears costumes the last couple days.\u201d Backcountry enthusiasm at full tilt. Cooley wore an \u201880s-inspired neon vibe for her last party.<\/p>\n

Mountains of Madness<\/strong>
\n\u201cYou\u2019ll see people in all types of things.\u201d There\u2019s apparently a photo floating around of two guys from a couple of weekends ago showing it all. \u201cDo 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.\u201d Show and tell time on the slippery slopes!
\nWhat\u2019s the reaction to these shenanigans? \u201cI think most people are, like, it\u2019s Sun Valley, we do everything here.\u201d 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\u2014giving people the opportunity to form lasting memories and cherished moments doing things they love.
\nSo what do you do with the pin? Does anyone wear them? \u201cRight now it\u2019s 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\u2019m moving it to my goggle strap next year. I saw one girl, she had it on the back, so it won\u2019t 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.\u201d Qaddourah is already planning for her next pin!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,86,18,28,39,42],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-ketchum","9":"category-news","10":"category-recreation","11":"category-sport","12":"category-sun-valley"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20830,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20827\/revisions\/20830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}