STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Levon Blatz was just 1 when he began skiing at Rotarun Ski Area. Now 5, he says he can ski downhill from the third tower no sweat.
“I know how to ski from the top, but it’s scary so I can stop at the third tower,” he said. “And I love the night skiing.”
Blatz, who attended the Hailey ski area’s opening day Saturday with his father Nick and 3-year-old sister Remy, knows it’s a special place. And Scotty McGrew, the volunteer director of Rotarun thinks other children will buy into that, as well, thanks to five history panels that were unveiled Saturday at the “little mountain with a big heart.”
“When kids walk off the blue bus that brings them here, they’re going to feel like they’re part of something. And, when you feel like you’re part of something, you own it and you want to protect it,” he told a small crowd that gathered for the unveiling and a flapjack feed hosted by the Hailey Rotary Club. “They’re going to feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves. This will become their story, and there are a lot of stories left to be told on this small but mighty mountain.”
The Rotarun History Preservation Project, constructed with a grant from the Wood River Women’s Foundation and volunteer labor by the Savaria family, Carl Rixon Jr. and Skip Merrick, tells the story of Rotarun Ski Area from its founding in 1948 through today.
It’s the brainchild of Heather Foster, a Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation planner who became fascinated with the stories her husband Jesse Foster told her about the ski hill while serving as Rotarun’s board president.
“Whenever I take a road trip, I love to pull over on the side of the highway and read the signs about Sacajawea or the headwaters in Montana,” she said. “One reason to preserve history is so people who come here can understand how it came to be. So many people have their fingerprints on this area and so many have stories. Jesse and I were even married here on Dec. 12, 2019–the first day they turned on snowmaking.”
Read the full article at Eye on Sun Valley