John W. Lundin

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Article

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In October, a delegation from the F.I.S. and US Ski & Snowboard (the country’s national governing body for skiing and snowboarding) gave final approval for the Sun Valley Resort to host the Audi F.I.S. Ski World Cup Finals between March 22-27, 2025. Twenty five men and 25 women from 30 countries will compete in all four Alpine skiing disciplines - slalom, giant slalom, downhill and super-G. International attention will be on Sun Valley, as European greats and their teams come for the tournament, and 2 million people are expected to watch the event in the U.S. alone. The final approval was based on the completion of the new Challenger race course on Warm Springs, which promises to be one of the most demanding downhill courses in North America. The name Challenger is a tribute to the Union Pacific Railroad and its Board Chair Averell Harriman, who built Sun Valley in 1936 as America’s first destination ski resort, and to the railroad’s Challenger railcars. In the 1930s, Challenger cars were part of U.P’s “age of streamliners,” luxurious and fast new trains made of aluminum and diesel powered that revolutionized passenger service. They “weren’t mere transportation — they were sophisticated hotels and restaurants on wheels,” with observation cars resembling the “parlor of a Gay Nineties madam.” The name also honors the resort’s new state-of-the-art Challenger chairlift, which serves Warm Springs and the new race course.

Publication Date

2025

Keywords

Skiing, Winter Sports

Disciplines

United States History

SUN VALLEY’S 2025 WORLD CUP DOWNHILL COURSE IMPROVES DICK DURRANCE’S 1939 COURSE, AND RECAPTURES THE EXCITEMENT OF THE CLASSIC HARRIMAN CUP RACES

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