Sun Valley
Sun Valley Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of Idaho in USA. The resort is in the town of Ketchum, ID.
We recently ranked all of Idaho's ski resorts, so you can see where Sun Valley stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Sun Valley is a part of the Ikon Ski Pass network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all or most of the Ikon-sponsored slopes with it throughout the year, depending on the type of pass you bought.
Sun Valley is a part of the Mountain Collective network. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all of the slopes that are also a part of the Collective.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Sun Valley around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Sun Valley Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Sun Valley has a total of 121 ski trails, which are serviced by 18 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 2,054 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 831 hectares, 3.2 square miles, or 8.3 square kilometers.
Sun Valley's slopes see on average 187 inches (4.7 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 15 feet every year!
Total Runs
121
Lifts
18
Skiable Acres
2,054(8 km2)
Annual Snowfall
187"(475 cm)
Sun Valley Ski Resort Elevation
Sun Valley Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 9,150 feet, or 2,789 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 5,750 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 3,400 feet (1,036 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
The summit of 9,150 feet makes this ski resort one of the highest in the country. The average ski slope summit is around 4,000 feet, so this is extremely high compared to its peers.
Summit Elevation
9,150'(2,789 m)
Vertical Drop
3,400'(1,036 m)
Base Elevation
5,750'(1,753 m)
Sun Valley Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
61out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Sun Valley has 2,054 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Sun Valley's difficulty level is higher than average, which is because 42% of its ski trails are rated as intermediate, and another 22% as expert.
Beginner
36%(739 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
42%(863 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
22%(452 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Sun Valley Ski Resort good for beginners?
Sun Valley is above average in its difficulty level, so... probably not? It will depend on which trails you take since only 78% of its trails rated for either beginner or intermediate skill levels.
Sun Valley Ski Resort Location
Sun Valley Ski Resort is located in the state of Idaho, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Ketchum, ID.
Address:
Ketchum, ID 83340 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
sunvalley.com
GPS Coordinates:
43.69000, -114.36000
Getting to Sun Valley Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Sun Valley Ski Resort), its coordinates of 43.69000, -114.36000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Ketchum, ID to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Sun Valley.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friedman Memorial Airport | SUN | Hailey, ID | 13 mi |
| Joslin Field Magic Valley Regional Airport | TWF | Twin Falls, ID | 84 mi |
| Boise Airport | BOI | Boise, ID | 94 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Sun Valley Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Sun Valley Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bald Mountain | Ketchum, ID | 4,400 ft | 41% | 47 mi |
| Soldier Mountain | Stanley, ID | 7,150 ft | 41% | 79 mi |
| Bogus Basin | Boise, ID | 7,590 ft | 60% | 87 mi |
| Kelly Canyon Resort | Monteview, ID | 6,600 ft | 38% | 88 mi |
Sun Valley Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 9,150 ft |
| Base Elevation | 5,750 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 3,400 ft |
| Trails | 121 (36% Beginner, 42% Intermediate, 22% Expert) |
| Lifts | 18 |
| Skiable Acres | 2,054 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 187 inches |