Sun Valley’s Transforming Summer Acts
by Michael Ames
An angler checks their fly while float-tubing on Silver Creek near Sun Valley
Dave Faltings and a friend test the
waters at Silver Creek
The Pioneer Mountains east of Sun Valley
[photo courtesy of ID Tourism]
silver creek offers some of the densest
trout populations of any stream its size
in the country.
the Sun Valley Summer Symphony
The Sun Valley Village offers a beautiful pedestrian area filled with shops and restaurants
[photo by James Bourret]
The Big Hitch moves through downtown
Ketchum during the annual Wagon Days
parade.
[photo by James Bourret]
top 2 photos + banner courtesy of
silver creek outfitters
All other photos courtesy of Sun Valley/Ketchum Chamber, unless
otherwise noted.
IN THE NATION'S FIRST WINTER DESTINATION RESORT, summer is now the main attraction. Nestled at the north end of central Idaho’s bucolic Wood River Valley, Sun Valley long ago shed any notion of being merely a snowbound retreat. These days, the high summer sun is invitation enough for the throngs who descend here and the locals proud to call it home.
Summer in Sun Valley is about transformation. Just gaze up at Bald Mountain — always a fair yardstick of seasonal attitude — to know where you stand. After the world-famous ski hill sloughs off spring’s brief indignity of mud and patchy snow, ‘Baldy’ morphs into a playground of a greener stripe. Wildflowers bloom. Critters emerge from winter slumbers and the high speed quads get humming again, this time with mountain bikes hanging off the sides and bare legs dangling in the sun. In the neighboring hamlet of Ketchum, an entire town breathes a collective sigh of relief. Skis are stashed in attics and garages. Gloves and hats are gleefully tossed into storage bins in exchange for toys of a more carefree season: fly rods, cruiser bikes, hiking boots and picnic baskets.
“Summer is just more relaxed. You breathe easier,” said Sun Valley Mayor Jon Thorson. Even in this tony enclave of second homes, where hardships are few, the summers bring an increased sense of ease. “You go on a hike and walk along and just flop down and sit there for awhile beside a stream and eat a sandwich. In the winter you don’t do that.”
Thanks to such streamlined formulas for contentment, mid-summer in Idaho’s premier resort has become the busiest time of year. And while thousands converge on this town for their annual summer idyll, the lifestyle is a choice for Blaine County’s roughly 20,000 full-time residents.
To what do the locals attribute summer’s hypnotic effects?
“It’s the light,” said Nappy Neaman, to explain the longitudinal luck that wraps the Pacific Time Zone around southern Idaho and keeps the state lit well past its eastern Rocky Mountain brethren. “You get off work at six and still have four hours of light.” Neaman has worked for 16 years as one of the family of outdoor gurus on staff at The Elephant’s Perch, a hub for enthusiasts and athletes in Ketchum. He organizes popular Wednesday night bike rides, where a social group of cyclists head north from town in a speedy peloton that lasts until the sun sinks below the Smoky Mountains.
Like Thorson in Sun Valley, Neaman senses the seasonal change in Ketchum’s attitude. Gone are winter’s adrenaline-fueled charges to be the fastest or the earliest. “The summertime has no first tracks,” Neaman said. Sixteen hours of sunlight breeds a pervasive laissez-faire. “The clock goes away.”
Endless sun-drenched activity in central Idaho’s high and dry desert is not for the feint of heart. “You need stamina,” said Kirk Anderson, one of this state’s most prolific nature photographers. Anderson is drawn to dramatic weather for his landscapes and finds his best summer light on the margins of the day.
“I’m not a blue sky kind of photographer. I like things stirred up a bit.” For his adventure fix, Anderson waits for the isolated storms that stream across the Camas Prairie, southwest of Sun Valley, or the evening ‘thunder boomers’ that roll through the upper Wood River Valley. “I’ve definitely been in some lightning situations where I shouldn’t have. I just hope that the tires in my car ground me.”
Anderson concedes that most visitors are looking for a more serene engagement with nature. To his thirsty eye, the valley is a photographer’s dream. From the Pioneer’s jagged peaks to the east, to the riparian banks of the Big Wood River teeming with wildlife to the south, the options are endless. “In just a 10-mile radius from Sun Valley, you’d be amazed at what you can find. There’s a lifetime of discovery in here.”
For those who take their nature with a dose of Zen, Idaho’s essence can be had in a short stretch of rushing water. The rivers, streams, creeks and drainages surrounding Sun Valley equal the storied waters of Montana’s romanticized fishing locales and, as far as people here are concerned, may even excede them. The legendary Silver Creek — once Ernest Hemingway’s preferred hunting and fishing haunt — has history and beauty aplenty for local anglers. This meandering creek, an easy 45-minute drive southeast of Sun Valley, boasts some of the densest trout populations of any comparably sized river in the nation.
The men and women who wade into Silver Creek’s clear currents seek changes at a slower pace. Dave Faltings, 23-year-guiding-veteran at Ketchum’s Silver Creek Outfitters, has seen the rivers’ restorative powers at work.
“We get a lot of high-powered people from all over the country. Once they get out here, it transforms them. It slows them down. It teaches them patience.”
Jon Thorson has been trout fishing for 40 years and never tires of the lessons he divines from the river. “It’s not just about hooking something and reeling it in,” Thorson said. “You have to be aware of nature and your surroundings. These fish aren’t jumping out of the water. You have to look and see a little mouth sucking down a bug.”
According to Faltings, the forecast for low water this summer will demand river walkers to notch up their attempts at omniscience. “The fish will be a bit more educated this summer. They will be elusive . . . your approach will need to be more stealthy.”
Silver Creek Outfitters offers a weekend class — Fly-fishing-101 — throughout July and August. On August 9-10, there will also be a class, taught by and for women.
Exclusive women’s classes and group activities are on the rise in Sun Valley. Expedition Inspiration (EI) is an organization of breast cancer survivors dedicated to funding cancer research through group hikes and expeditions. Though EI organizes hikes around the country (for upcoming excursions check www.expeditioninspiration.org), Idaho has become a center of activity as the group attempts ‘5 in 5’ — five peaks in five Idaho ranges in five years.
The August 18-19, EI climb to Castle Peak features the highest summit in the White Cloud range at 11,815 feet. Nancy Noble, a survivor and early EI member, said that Idaho’s endless peaks provide a perfect forum.
“There are many ways climbing a mountain is like fighting breast cancer: it takes great stamina, you go one step at a time and are surrounded by others.”
For three weeks in late July and early August, Sun Valley undergoes its greatest sensory transformation. The Sun Valley Summer Symphony — now in its 23rd season bringing world-class musicians to central Idaho — is the largest ‘free admission’ symphony in the country.
If nature and culture bring you equal solace, this concert series, set on the spectacular Sun Valley Resort lawn, offers the best of all worlds. Through tireless local fundraising and organization, the symphony has become the centerpiece of Sun Valley’s cultural calendar. This is community-supported arts gone right.
The lawn, which can fill with upwards of 3,000 people for a night’s show, becomes a patchwork quilt of this eccentric town. In one shady nook, a well-heeled party of 12 may enjoy a decadent gourmet picnic as Chopin takes the place of dinner conversation. Ten yards away, the audience lets its hair down as mud-splattered mountain bikers collapse, staring up at a deep blue sky while Brahms saturates their post-ride glow. Euphoria is a word that gets a lot of play during this symphony.
Andrew McCandless, Principal Trumpet in Sun Valley, cannot underestimate the quality of this annual gathering. “I don’t think there’s a better-playing summer orchestra anywhere in North America.” For musicians like McCandless, who in his flatlander existence plays Principal Trumpet with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the annual Idaho pilgrimage provides that rare mix of a relaxing getaway with a galvanizing professional challenge.
Jim Gorton (Co-principal Oboe, Principal English Horn) and his wife Gretchen Van Hoesen (Principal Harp) have been playing with the symphony since its inception. Today, the two make the annual drive from Pittsburgh with their daughter, Julia, a harpist training at New York’s Juilliard School. “Every year when we arrive, the feeling is so unique . . . that we look at each other and say ‘Why don’t we live here?’ ”
For many locals, the more common question from friends and family back in the big cities is “Why do you live in Idaho?” For those who call this place home, the answers surround them. Lauren DuBose grew up in the South before landing here in 2002. Now the Publisher of Women&Cancer — a magazine produced by Ketchum’s Omni Health Media — Dubose fits a common Ketchum pattern: moved here for the winter, but stayed for summer. Each year, she finds that Sun Valley’s seasonal transformation repeats itself.
“And then, as you venture out on foot or bike — not trudging through snow or burdened by pounds of gear — you realize that you are finding even more stunning and secret places than you could on your skis. You catch your breath and realize that this place still thrills you. Actually, it keeps you in awe year-round,” she said.
WHAT TO WEAR: Ketchum is proud of its elevation, as denoted by the ubiquitous ‘5840’ stickers you see around town. At this height, hot nights are rare and once the sun dips below the ridgelines, temperatures fall fast. Typical nighttime lows in July and August can drop to the high 30s to low 40s, so pack a sweater or jacket and a hat.
SAVE THE DATE:Labor Day Weekend's Wagon Days Festival (September 1-4) is the highlight of the Ketchum/Sun Valley tourism calendar. Featuring the longest non-motorized wagon train west of the Mississippi, Wagon Days is three days of family-friendly events and activities, culminating in the historical parade on Main Street.
If parades aren’t your thing, September is also a time to come channel the spirit of Ketchum’s most famous former resident at the annual Ernest Hemingway Festival, September 20-23. This year’s theme is ‘Hemingway in Paris.’ For details on Wagon Days or the Ernest Hemingway Festival, check in with the Chamber of Commerce at www.visitsunvalley.com.
SkyWest Delta Connection serves Sun Valley with daily flights to and from Salt Lake City.