ARTS NEWS
NUESTRA VOZ CUENTA
Time For Three PG 2 SUN VALLEY
KETCHUM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Go Green Revolution! PG 6
LOT & Lava Ridge PG 6
BELLEVUE
HAILEY
PICABO
CAREY
WOOD RIVER WEEKLY
YOUR VOICE IN THE WOOD RIVER VALLEY
Free | April 19 - May 2, 2023 | Vol. 4 - No. 8 | woodriverweekly.com
“Earth is what we all have in common.” – We n d e l l B e r r y
DID YOU SKI 100 DAYS?
Seven-year-old Dylan Smiley of Ketchum hit 100 ski days this weekend at Baldy. He is already counting down the days until the next ski season. Photo credit: Smiley’s Mountain Photo, www.smileysmtphoto.com
What it Takes…
Thank You to Our Community
S
By Will Brandenburg, SVSEF Alpine Program Director and 2023 U.S. Alpine National Championships Chief of Race.
unday, April 2, will be a day I will never forget. I got to the mountain a little before 5 a.m. Riley Berman (Chief of Course for the event) was driving on Warm Springs Road just behind me. The weeks leading up to this morning had been brutal on the entire crew as mother winter extended her stay this year. After watering the venue top to bottom, the grooming team had no choice but to blade off the new snow to maintain the race surface needed for an event of this magnitude. This takes extensive hours of cat work, and the grooming team had been at it relentlessly for weeks. Because of this, we had to keep most of the B-net off the hill. The snow that came in on Saturday gave us no choice but to set up the majority of the protection on a world-class Super G course the morning of the event, meaning a super early load Sunday morning. I drank a cup of coffee and walked over to the yurt to meet Riley and the crew. I was expecting to see the normal crew there, but when I opened the door, it was standing room only. It was 6 a.m. and nearly 100 people had shown up to help. School teachers, doctors, chiropractors, restaurant owners, bankers, trainers, and so many community members were there to show their support and help pull off the event. Then it was Riley’s time to shine. On the big screen in the yurt, Riley had it all mapped out. He had nearly every name in the room organized with a specific job to do. Continued Thank You Page 4
Volunteers gather atop Bald Mountain in celebration of efforts to prepare for the U.S. Alpine National Championships, held April 1-5, 2023, in Sun Valley. Courtesy photo