Why Sun Valley Keeps Winning Title Of North America’s Best Ski Resort

13.10.2023 - 13:52 / forbes.com / Ernest Hemingway / Bill Gates / Oprah Winfrey / Marilyn Monroe

In the ski industry, there is no more important ranking than the annual one Ski Magazine puts out, and in that ranking, there is no higher honor than Best Resort North America. Idaho’s Sun Valley has won that lofty title the last three years running (2021-2023, the 2024 awards should be announced soon).

I’ve been to nearly every place in the country that can justifiably call itself a “destination ski resort,” many of them several times. By this I mean a place worth getting on a plane and taking a weeklong vacation to. I had visited Sun Valley a few times over the years, summer and winter, but not since they began racking up this lofty title annually, so this year I returned to see what the fuss about - especially curious for a place that famously does not change much. After all, Sun Valley was literally the nation’s first destination ski resort, inspired by early European spots such as Gstaad and St. Moritz. Its many loyal fans revel in the fact that it has remained timeless, old school and independent (the passionate family owners also have Snowbasin, UT, another quirky, big, wonderful, award-winning and under the radar mountain). But it turns out the resort has quietly kept making itself better and better.

Sun Valley was created to woo a Hollywood and society audience, and to this end the entire resort was purpose-built for comfort, user friendliness and laid-back luxury. To set it apart from every competitor on earth in terms of creature comforts, the founder literally invented the chairlift, and when Sun Valley opened, it had the first two in the world. Before that, if you wanted to ski down, whether in Colorado, Vermont or Zermatt, you walked up, or were dragged by some sort of rope or cable.

The resort also opened with its flagship hotel, the Sun Valley Lodge, which has been dramatically improved in recent years to remain one of the best in skiing. Its rooms have been graced with a Who’s Who of royalty, politics, CEOs, celebrities and athletes, from Clint Eastwood to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Onassis to Marilyn Monroe, Bill Gates to Oprah Winfrey, but none more notably than Ernest Hemingway, who stayed for months and wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls here.

The “Best” ski resort is a much different thing from the best ski mountain, as the former needs a perfect mix of weather, terrain, lodging, dining, activities and après ski fun, in manner that can please all sorts of visitors, young, old, beginners, experts, skiers, snowboarders and so on. As Ski Magazine’s summary in its write up on the Number One spot so aptly puts it, “Sometimes a ski vacation is much more than skiing. It’s attentive service, memorable dining that’s worth the money, luxury lodging that makes you feel pampered, and yes, a