Sun Valley Resort

Sun Valley Resort is a piece of American mythology — the country's first destination ski resort, created by Union Pacific Railroad in 1936 to bring wealthy East Coast vacationers west and designed by Count Felix Schaffgotsch, an Austrian ski expert who surveyed the American West looking for terrain that resembled the Alps. Ernest Hemingway fell in love with the Sawtooth Mountains and Wood River Valley and wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls here; his grave is in Ketchum, just down the road. The resort's Nordic Center offers groomed cross-country skiing, and the spa features Finnish sauna and thermal facilities designed for the high desert mountain environment. Bald Mountain's 3,400 vertical feet of ski terrain remains world-class. The combination of celebrity history, natural beauty, and remote Idaho setting makes Sun Valley unlike any other American resort.