sun Hailey
•
Ketchum
•
Sun Valley
•
Bellevue
•
the weekly
Carey
•
s t a n l e y • F a i r f i e l d • S h o sh o n e • P i c a b o
Caritas Chorale to Perform Holiday Sing-a-Long
Freeride Programs Combine
Page 5
Chasing the Snake Photographer, Kirk Anderson to Stage Picture Show
read about it on PaGe 7
Page 11
Interact: High School Kids Just Want to Help With Page 17
D e c e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 3 • Vo l . 6 • N o . 5 0 • w w w.T h e We e k l y S u n . c o m
USA Today Seeks Public Votes for Best Ski Destination
Hoping for Greatness
FOR THE WEEKLY SUN
I
n the Friday, Dec. 6 edition of USA Today, readers were reminded of the opportunity to vote for their Travel Guide. One of the divisions they are seeking votes for is Best Ski Destination in North America, and of course, Sun Valley is among the twenty nominees they have listed. Votes have to be entered online at www.10best.com/awards/travel/ best-ski-destination no later than noon on Monday, Dec. 30. You can vote once per day. tws
New Policy Forbids Going Uphill During Downhill Hours BY KAREN BOSSICK
S
kinning up to head up Baldy? Not between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sun Valley Company has a new Uphill Travel Policy that forbids skiers, boarders, snowshoers and others on foot to head up the mountain between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. when skiers and boarders are using the lifts to descend the mountain. Sun Valley officials hammered out the policy with representatives from the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The new policy is being enacted for safety’s sake, said Ski Patrol Supervisor Bryant Dunn, who broke the news to those attending Saturday’s Snow Safety Festival at Community School. The number of people climbing the hill has increased exponentially. And there have been problems with dogs chasing skiers, boarders and— in general—anything that moves. People can still ascend before 9 a.m. or after 4 p.m., provided the mountain isn’t closed for avalanche control. “If you ascend, please descend by 9 a.m., even if it means turning around halfway up,” said Dunn. Bob Rosso, who owns The Elephant’s Perch, said he was okay with the new policy. “We’ve just needed it to be clear,” he said, noting that the issue has been debated for the past few years. “All upskiers wanted was clarification. The vast majority understand you’re coming from a safety point of view—you’re trying to be proactive, trying to avoid a tragedy.” “When you’re coming down, you can tell people, ‘Time to turn, people,’ ” he added to Dunn. Uphill travel and safety protocol for those who do travel uphill during permitted hours: • Stay clear of machinery • Wear reflective clothing and/or lights. • Adhere to trail closures. • Leave pets at home for safety’s sake. • Pack it in; pack it out. Information:sunvalley.com/mountain/mountainsafety. tws
Chris Grover Heads to U.S. Nordic Ski Team Chris Grover grew up in Alaska, which is a pipeline to the U.S. Nordic Ski Team. A quarter of the athletes on the team are from Alaska. STORY & PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
C
hris Grover is poised to make history this winter. As head of the U.S. Nordic Ski Team, he’s charged with leading the young athletes who could reverse the United States’ long history of poor cross-country ski showings at the Olympics. “The United States has only had one Olympic medal in the history of cross-country skiing—Bill Koch’s in 1976. We now have the strongest team the USA has fielded in 30-plus years. We feel we’re in the best position ever to go after medals in a number of events—four, five, perhaps six events,” Grover says. This year’s team has more potential than the team the U.S. fielded at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Grover adds. “We didn’t have a World Cup podium the whole year before the 2010 Olympics. Last year we had so many breakthroughs—10 World Cup podiums. Almost every weekend was a historical weekend. That confidence really helps the athletes—all they have to do is take care of themselves and they’ll do fine.” So far, Grover’s athletes are doing just that. Kikkan Randall took a silver in last week’s sprint in Finland where the com-
petitive season opened Nov. 29. And the U.S. women took third in the 4-by-5-kilometer World Cup relay in Lillehammer, Norway, on Sunday. “This is so exciting for our community leading up to Sochi, as we have so many people here who are psyched about cross-country skiing,” says Chris’ wife Svea Grover. “Getting the cross-country community here to get to know the U.S. team athletes will just make the Olympics that much more fun to watch.” Grover grew up in Alaska where cross-country skiing—not football—was the dominant high school sport. He trained on lighted trails and competed against other high school students from around the state. He met Rick Kapala—head coach for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Nordic program—when Kapala was head Nordic coach at his high school. “He was such a gregarious, fun-loving person. For sure, he was one of the reasons I’m still involved in coaching skiing,” says Grover. Another of Grover’s mentors was Nina Kemppel, one of the top U.S. Nordic skiers for a decade. “She and a couple other women were the ones I followed around. She was a year older and way more advanced in
technique. I even followed her to Dartmouth where I raced for four years,” Grover recalls.
From “Heart of Darkness” to trails of white
Grover studied English literature, reveling in the classics like Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire,” Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” Ernest Hemingway’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and Shakespeare. He put it to good use in his first job, teaching English literature while coaching skiing at Stratton Mountain School in Vermont from 1993 to 1995. But Dartmouth’s head coach and Olympic coach Ruff Patterson—a native of Ketchum and Pete and Susie Patterson’s brother—told him to look westward to Sun Valley. Grover came. He saw. And he immediately fell in love with the area and the locals’ love and appreciation for the outdoors and outdoor recreation. “The cross-country skiing is for sure some of the best in the world,” he says. “I’ve skied everywhere and very few places can hold a candle to what we have here given the awesome work the Blaine
continued, page 18