The Sun Valley story
(Book)

Sun Valley is the place where it all began. An idyllic valley that became the setting for a winter playground that drew the famous, the glamorous and the accomplished. The first chairlift was invented here. Hemingway made his home here. Step inside The Sun Valley Story and discover the people and places that helped define an American icon. Respected journalist, distinguished television executive, and renouned raconteur Van Gordon Sauter tells the remarkable story of the transformation of a remote Idaho mountain valley into America s first luxury ski resort and, eventually, one of the country s most beloved year-round vacation retreats. His fascinating anecdotal history is constructed around the personal passions and signal contributions of the resort s three successive owners: New York aristocrat and Union Pacific Railroad chairman Averell Harriman, Los Angeles land developer and Olympic skier Bill Janss, and self-made Salt Lake City oil man and hotel magnate Earl Holding. Sauter lavishes special attention on recounting how Harriman s founding vision was, with breathtaking alacrity over eleven months in 1936, translated into the unique, opulent, and acclaimed reality that formed the enduring base for the spectacular resort we know today.