I have lived in the Sun Valley area for 20 years. When I retired I moved to this area because my two favorite places were Sun Valley and Aspen, and I couldn't afford Aspen.
Strengths are fairly high average steepness, good top to bottom runs, minimal crowds. No better place for piling up vertical. Weaknesses are highish prices (but not as bad as Vail or Aspen), not a lot of beginner or extreme terrain, and not the best snow quantity and quality. Best for mogul fans or groomer zoomers.
See our video here

Skied last two days 1/14 & 1/15. 90% of this mountain is inaccessible to most skiers. Only groomed areas are cat tracks and very few other runs. Groomed runs are all scraped down to man made boiler plate in spite of having huge snow year. It appears the mountain is trying to save money by limiting grooming and consciously forcing beginners and intermediates off the hill.
See our video here

Great resort. Had a phenomenal experience.
See our video here

Would not recommend this ski resort for anyone who considers themselves to be anything less than an expert skier. While the resort loves to advertise 36% of the terrain on Bald Mountain as “beginner” this is certainly not the case. My fiancé and I have been skiing out west at ski resorts that advertise much less beginner runs and because of this had planned our yearly trip based on the fact that Sun Valley claims to have so many green and “beginner” runs. Unfortunately, on our first day of skiing we quickly learned that the greens far exceeded our skill and comfort levels. I typically stick to green runs; however, my fiancé has had no problems with blue runs at other ski resorts out west. After talking with staff at Sun Valley Resort, they expressed to us that ”most of the greens are actually more likely a blue in difficulty.” After our first day at Sun Valley, we realized we could not safely ski here. We had already purchased 4 day lift tickets based on previous ski trips and the number of green runs advertised by Sun Valley, and after explaining our situation to staff at Sun Valley and asking for a refund for the remaining three days of our lift tickets, we were ultimately told too bad and that the tickets were not refundable. Overall, we will not be returning to Sun Valley and would NOT recommend for anyone who is not a very confident and skillful skier and hope that others can learn from our very expensive mistake.
See our video here

We’d pegged Sun Valley as being all about groomers and sunshine, and being ritzy and expensive, but our trip gave us a few surprises.

We experienced some lovely long fall line groomers on our first day, but after that it just snowed and snowed. We renamed the place “Snowy Valley” because we scored a few days of amazing powder. The Bowls near the Lookout Lodge weren’t really happening because the abundant snow wasn’t enough for a reset, and too many wallies were putting in a series of traverse lines. Meanwhile the lower parts of Mayday, around Inhibition, and nearby sidecountry were going off! And under the gondola was an absolute smorgasbord of fun!

The lack of crowds was also a bit of a revelation for such a high profile ski resort. We visited in a slight lull just before President’s weekend and the Sun Valley Inn felt very quiet. On the groomer day, there were plenty of people on the slopes without being crowded, yet once it started snowing everyone seemed to run away. We’re used to ski resorts where all the locals come out for a feeding frenzy on a powder day, yet it seemed that only some of the locals were powder hounds (which may be related to the demographics). One powder day we left the comfort of the River Run day lodge just 10 minutes before the gondola opened, and we were one of the first to board (except of course for the cashed up folks who paid a fortune for the privilege of first tracks for half an hour). It will be interesting to see if the introduction of the Epic Pass changes the lack of crowds.

Sun Valley was a little bit of a place of contradictions where even though it has such a swanky image, it surprised me with some aspects. Firstly I’d expected better service levels across the board, but we experienced several pockets of poor service. As one example, the wifi didn’t work most of the time and no one seemed too concerned about it being fixed. And it’s not as developed as you’d think (which could be thanks to the forestry service), with a lack of ski-in ski-out lodging and hot springs that haven’t been piped into a hot spring resort. I assumed it would be a bit more progressive. Even though it’s a very traditional old ski resort steeped in history, some of the systems were a little old fashioned. This is probably a really positive thing and is part of what makes Sun Valley rather intriguing and a far cry from one of those cookie cutter ski resorts that are all too common in the USA.

Another potential misnomer is that a Sun Valley ski vacation has to be very expensive. Sure there are options for luxury accommodations, fine restaurants and fancy schmancy shops, and ski lessons are pricy, but there are lots of options for affordable lodging and dining.

We stayed at the Sun Valley Inn and you can see our review here. Also check out our thoughts on the pros and cons of Sun Valley on the overview page and see the US ski resort ratings regarding how Sun Valley stacks up against its counterparts.
See our video here

good overall just lack of snow when I went/drought
See our video here

WATCH OUT. GREENS ARE NOT GREENS...THEY ARE BLUE AND DOUBLE-BLUE on Baldy Mtn. This was a HUGE inconvenience for the little ones and our family was always split up between Dollar and Baldy. Assuming we were heading for a green run, but NO; our beginner skier could not navigate down and had to receive assistance from ski patrol to get safely down the mountain. TWICE. We never had this issue at Deer Valley or Whistler and those resorts really step it up when it comes to kids...over and above Sun Valley. Our snowboarding son, friend, 11 year old granddaughter, and hubby, really enjoyed Baldy, but our 7 year old granddaughter and I ended up at Dollar every day :-(

The staff on Baldy was outstanding and friendly. They truly cater to their visitors. I can't say the same for staff at Dollar as there were a handful of occasions where lift operators were chatting, on their cell phone, and just not paying attention when less experienced skiers were boarding the lifts. There were many close calls.

Downtown life is geared to the upper class so this area did not appeal to our family.

I could not believe that the ice skating rink, at Sun Valley Lodge, did not have the assistance walkers for new skaters as other resorts do. A disappointment, but thankfully our granddaughter progressed quickly.

Be sure you visit the Sun Valley Lodge's HUGE outdoor heated pool, and spa, with poolside beverage service. The pool is so warm it's all you need and a great place to meet new folks. While you need to either stay at the lodge, or obtain a guest pass through the rec center, we didn't mind packing up and driving over vs. using the spa within our condo complex. Luckly our VRBO owner springs for yearly passes for his guests. Sweet!

Don't get me wrong, Sun Valley is a wonderful resort but we just found that families, with younger kids, will be together more and can expect to receive stellar customer service, from everywhere within the resort at destinations such as Deer Valley and Whistler. We won't return to SV but will head back to DV or Whistler in the years to come.
See our video here

It's not the Steepest or the Longest but its the Longest-Steepest. That's what I kept hearing from locals here. Bald Mountain at Sun Valley has the longest steepest pitch in the U.S. and this mountain can burn you if you are not ski fit. I was last here in late January 2010 and I arrived to find only 50-60cm mostly man made snow but I was lucky enough to get 120cm of fresh in the next 3 days!

This mountain rocks, terrain is varied with tree glades, big steep groomers and bumps. Ketchum the town at the base of Bald mountain is funky with good bars and restaurants. Sun Valley has the reputation for an older crowd. I think they maybe right but with the best day lodges and facitlities iI can see why.

Value for money is good in Sun Valley. Lift tickets are cheaper than Jackson Hole, and a bed in a motel that will do breakfast for free will set you back $50.00 U.S approx per head.
See our video here