Sun Valley for shades of fall, Hemingway

Sun Valley in Idaho is an "American Original" – the nation's first destination resort, where the world's first ski chairlift was engineered – it was built to enchant the nobility and celebrity of the day.

Today the patina of old world charm blends beautifully with everything modern, easily accessible with non-stop daily air service to Sun Valley's Friedman Memorial Airport (SUN).

While the resort offers perhaps more year-round recreational activities than any other on the continent – Ice skating outdoors in the summer anyone? How about swimming in one of Sun Valley's heated outdoor pools this fall or hiking/biking on the newly unveiled trails which offer breath-taking views? – one of its most intriguing elements is Ernest Hemingway.

"Papa", as his friends and family called him, completed For Whom the Bell Tolls (which many consider his greatest novel) while staying in suite 206 of the Sun Valley Lodge in the fall of 1939. Averell Harriman had invited Hemingway and other celebrities, primarily from Hollywood, to the resort to help promote it. Gary Cooper was a frequent visitor and hunting/fishing partner, as was Clark Gable.

Hemingway was a part-time resident over the next twenty years, eventually relocating to Ketchum (Papa and his fourth wife are buried in the Ketchum Cemetery), which is next to Sun Valley. The Hemingway Memorial, dedicated in 1966, is just off Trail Creek Road, about a mile northeast of the Sun Valley Lodge.

He fell in love with Sun Valley and the scenery, fishing, hiking, hunting and resort pampering it offered. In fact, Hemingway became fast friends with many of the locals including several of the resort's hunting-fishing guides.

One guide in particular – Gene Van Guilder – became such a dear friend that upon his death in a freak hunting accident, Hemingway was moved to write the following eulogy which he read (and which many aficionados of Papa's work and life say mirror his own passion for the area's beauty and unfortunate passing):

"Best of all he loved the fall. The leaves yellow on the Cottonwoods. Leaves floating on the trout streams and above the hills. The high blue windless skies… now he will be part of them forever."

These words can be found on a memorial plaque and bust of Hemingway adjacent to the Sun Valley Gun Club and overlooking Trail Creek and groves of Cottonwoods.

While Sun Valley's peak seasons are summer and winter, fall and spring are underrated times to visit the resort. They afford more time and less resort visitors with which to appropriately drink in the gravity of Hemingway's spirit, as well as the resort's storied legacy.

One feels transported to a more refined and simple era during off-peak seasons at Sun Valley. And the rates are value-laden at this time. For instance, fall room rates run Oct. 23 thru Dec. 16 this year with prices from $179 to $379 per night with a variety of lodging options from which to choose (high winter season kicks in after Thanksgiving week).

Sun Valley will kick off its 72nd ski season Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving week is still off peak, not high season. This year's Thanksgiving package begins Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, Nov. 21 and runs thru Sunday, Nov.25. It includes four nights lodging, three days of skiing and a lavish Thanksgiving feast. Package begins at $293 per person double occupancy.

If winter's your preferred season, beginning in December try snow-shoeing or Nordic skiing on the miles of trails dedicated to each. Downhill skiing and snowboarding on the "pipe" at Sun Valley are just as enticing and the mountains here have spawned numerous Olympic medalists including Gretchen Fraser, Christin Cooper, Picabo Street, and disabled skier Muffy Davis. All four have runs named after them on Bald Mountain.

Golf, spa, horseback riding, tennis, restaurants, lounges and many other four-season amenities are why Sun Valley remains so popular. Come visit this fall and see why Papa Hemingway was so emotionally moved by the destination.

For more information about Sun Valley Resort, visit www.sunvalley.com

October 31, 2007   Posted in: United States NorthWest