The Sun Valley Lodge is where the modern American ski resort was invented. Averell Harriman, chairman of Union Pacific Railroad, hired Austrian count Felix Schaffgotsch in 1935 to scout for a destination that could fill empty winter trains heading west. Schaffgotsch found his snow in the Wood River Valley and Harriman built a hotel here that opened to its first guests on 21 December 1936.
The Lodge has been remodelled several times but the original character is intact — a long horizontal building of stained concrete and timber, with a heated outdoor pool that runs steam into the cold air all winter. The lobby photographs of Gary Cooper, Marilyn Monroe, Ernest Hemingway, and the rest of the regulars from the 1940s are worth a slow walk through.
Even if you are not staying here, drop in for a meal at the Duchin Room or a drink in the bar and look at the place. It still functions as the social anchor of the resort.