Unknown to most, Sun Valley played a pivotal role in the evolution of downhill skiing worldwide. While it did not boast the first ski school, nor the earliest means of transporting skiers uphill, Sun Valley distinguished itself through a pioneering ingenuity, combining human talent and material resources in ways that ski areas across the globe would later emulate.

Before 1930, skiing in Europe was largely confined to the Nordic disciplines of cross‑country and ski jumping. The art of skiing downhill, alpine skiing, was, with only minor exceptions, virtually nonexistent. It was not until Hannes Schneider introduced his revolutionary “Arlberg Method” that the true development of alpine skiing began.

Born in Stuben, Austria, in 1890, Schneider learned to ski at a young age and eventually traveled to St. Anton to work as an instructor at the Hotel Post. For Schneider, the genuine seduction of skiing lay in the downhill run. His method transformed instruction by making the challenge of excessive speed manageable, guiding students through a systematic progression, beginning with the snowplow and culminating in the rotational parallel turn.

This breakthrough gave rise to alpine touring, where skiers climbed slopes to enjoy the descent, a practice that soon gained worldwide recognition. From the early 1920s until 1939, when Schneider was forced to leave St. Anton under Nazi occupation, his Austrian instructors stood at the forefront of alpine instruction and competition, laying the foundation for the sport’s global ascent.

By the mid‑1930s, several of Hannes Schneider’s instructors had crossed the Atlantic to establish their own “Arlberg” ski schools in the United States, including one at Sun Valley. Their arrival helped ignite a surge in alpine skiing’s popularity, transforming it from a niche pursuit into a rapidly growing sport.

This momentum was so strong that by 1936, alpine skiing was officially introduced as an event at the Winter Olympics in Garmisch, Germany, a milestone that marked the discipline’s recognition on the world stage and confirmed its place at the forefront of modern skiing

It was within this environment of spectacular alpine resorts, Hannes Schneider’s touring schools, and scarce ski lifts that the idea of an American destination ski resort first took shape. The vision belonged to one of the greatest statesmen of the twentieth century, a man whom John F. Kennedy once described as “holding more important positions and transcending more pivotal epics of world events than any other figure in U.S. history.”

Averell Harriman, born in 1891, embodied the sweep of modern America. When he died in 1986 at the age of ninety‑four, his life stood as a metaphor for the nation’s twentieth‑century journey. The son of E.H. Harriman, the railroad baron and financial tycoon, one of the richest and most vilified men in America, Averell inherited a fortune estimated at $100 million. Yet it was not wealth alone that defined him, but his ability to channel vision into action, reshaping landscapes both political and recreational.

Yet beyond his privileged aristocratic origins, Averell Harriman proved himself a remarkable figure in his own right. From a business perspective, he was an international banker, an early aviation pioneer, a railroad executive, and the assembler of America’s largest merchant fleet. He was also among the first Westerners to conduct business on a major scale in the Soviet Union.

Politically, Harriman served as Governor of New York and twice sought the presidency as a Democratic candidate. He advised every Democratic president from Franklin Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter, shaping policy across nearly half a century.

On the diplomatic stage, Harriman’s influence was equally profound. During World War II, he served as Washington’s Lend‑Lease administrator in London and later as ambassador to Moscow. In the decades that followed, he negotiated the neutralization of Laos, helped conclude the nuclear test ban treaty with Moscow, and led the American delegation in peace talks with North Vietnam during the Vietnam conflict.

One might argue that with so many accomplishments to his credit, Averell Harriman’s development of Sun Valley was only a minor matter. Yet Harriman possessed not only immense ambition but also a vision that would settle for nothing less than the best. When he turned that vision toward the creation of a destination ski resort in the American West, the result was inevitable: such a place would stand at the forefront of world skiing culture, setting a standard that others would follow.

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