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Playful Terrain
by Jennifer Tuohy
photos by Tal Roberts and Mark Oliver
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The terrain is changing at Sun Valley as the resort gets ready for the future. Three-year-old Dollar Mountain terrain park—which has quickly become the hottest, hippest spot on campus—is graduating to the big leagues. Get ready to jib, tap and stall as a new jump line has been installed and 20 new rails are just waiting to be buttered. An added bonus, the halfpipe moves to Dollar from Bald Mountain. "Now we finally have a complete terrain park pod, with a halfpipe, jumps, rails and jibs all in the same place," said Brian Callahan, terrain park manager for the resort. The pod consists of a small, medium and large park each aimed at different skill levels. It is open to all ages and abilities but has proven to be a magnet for youth. "Kids who left home to find terrain parks are now coming back home because of the terrain park," Callahan said with justifiable pride. The Sun Valley Cross Course, one of only a handful in the country, rounds out the diminutive mountain's oversized offerings. And it's all included in the price of a lift ticket. The resort's push for youth and family hasn't passed by Baldy. The venerable mountain has had a small nip and tuck, making way for six new adventure trails aimed at the young and the young at heart. These simple, gladed runs—with cute names like Redheaded Woodpecker, Foxy Forest and Huckleberry Bear—have been created in areas off Broadway, Olympic Ridge, Lower College, French Dip and Warm Springs. They offer children gentler routes from their speedster parents, with each of the interpretive serpentine trails connecting back to the run they left for a safe reunion with the old folks.
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