Topic: Travel

Although she grew up in a small town in Western Appalachia and has lived in Ketchum for over thirty years, Anne Reed Gallery Owner, Barbi Reed, is no small town girl.

New employees descend on Sun Valley each season from as near as Twin Falls, to as far away as Russia, with France, Argentina, and Romania in between. According to George Rutherford, the resort’s director of Human Resources, Sun Valley Resort hosts an international village of between 1300-1600 employees during peak season.

Sun Valley’s foreign employees use two different government visas, the J1 visa for college students on vacation, and the H2B visa for foreigners seeking career training in the United States.

Students on the J1 visa work for three to four months and then have 30 additional days to travel the country. The program allows them to earn some money, experience life in the United States, and, of course, practice their English. The H2B, on the other hand, allows for stays of up to 18 months, and Sun Valley tries to match these older, more experienced employees with their specific career interests and work experience.

Where do they work? The largest department is Food and Beverage as the Sun Valley Company operates as many as 14 restaurants at a time. Drawing heavily from French culinary schools, the resort may have as many as 80-90 trainees in the department at one time, including chefs, restaurant managers, and servers. Foreign employees also work the front desk of the Lodge, the ski slopes, and in accounting.

In addition to wages, Sun Valley also offers all of its employees dormitory housing. These 540 beds, says Rutherford are a “big selling point,” since affordable housing is otherwise difficult to find in the area. In the winter, most of Sun Valley’s employees come from South America, where November through March is summer and therefore their summer vacation. In the summer, the trend reverses and most new employees come from across the Atlantic, filling the Valley with Russians, Ukrainians, Poles and even Kazakhstanis.

With a national limit of only 66,000 H2B visas each year, competition for these workers is stiff, says Rutherford, and much to Sun Valley’s dismay, the H2B quota for the summer has already been filled. So, any locals looking for resort work might take note: job applications are available. For more information contact George Rutherford by email or phone (208-622-2061).

Introducing snowPRO, Plum's newest web feature. Hear from mountain pros all winter long; their adventures, their techniques, and their love for Sun Valley. We start off with Hank Minor and his European tour with world-class skier, Bode Miller.

Local character and owner of Sun Valley’s famous après ski bar, Apple’s, Hank Minor is currently on the trip of a lifetime. The destination? Western Europe. The company? Bode Miller. That’s right, Hank Minor is on Bode’s bus for ten full days of world-class skiing and more fun than anyone could imagine, as Hank follows Bode on the FIS race circuit. Lucky for us, Minor has agreed to give Plum daily updates from his life on the road with Bode. So stay posted and get ready to live the dream, vicariously, at least.

January 25, 2008

January 27, 2008

January 29, 2008

Today, Hank and the crew took the bus to Val d’Isere. Johno has put Hank to work on the course and according to Hank this downhill “is really fast, big, scary intense and hectic.” As always, Bode is cool, calm and focused.

January 31, 2008

Bode has his second training run and Hank says, "Bode is skiing well and this course will be a test." Bode races on saturday in Val d'Isere, which Hank calls "a true ski town."

Stay tuned for more this week!

Have you heard about the hottest wheels in the Wood River Valley? Mountain Rides has them, and they’re willing to share. Mountain Rides is the new umbrella organization (replacing KART, PEAK, and Wood River Rideshare) charged with providing “transportation alternatives,” i.e., rides, to everyone visiting, living in, or working in the Wood River Valley. And we mean everyone: skiers who want a free lift to the mountain, locals who need a ride from downtown Ketchum to Warm Springs after a night on the town, commuters from south Valley to north Valley, and even Sun Valley workers who live as far away as Twin Falls and Shoshone.

Plum recently chatted with Jason Miller, the executive director of Mountain Rides, who says the main goal of Mountain Rides is to reduce single occupancy vehicles in the Valley. They do this a number of ways, most obviously, with buses, some free and others just a couple of dollars for a round trip. They also organize commuter vanpools bringing commuters together to share the cost of a car and gas (a whopping $500-plus per month in savings) and to cut down fuel emissions and traffic.

To date Mountain Rides’ total annual rider-ship is an impressive 320,000, most of them skiers and boarders in Sun Valley and Ketchum, with the down valley commuters tallying nearly 6,000 a month, and the around town riders averaging 3,000 a month during slack and up to 40,000 a month during peak seasons.

As the traffic any weekday afternoon on highway 75 demonstrates, there are plenty more potential riders. According to Miller, Mountain Rides is always expanding and keep in mind, it’s their goal to take those single occupancy vehicles off the road. In addition to providing buses and vans, Mountain Rides also offers online and phone ride matching, consults employers and commuters on transportation alternatives, and promotes walk and bike initiatives including a safe routes program so kids can get to and from school safely without using a car.

To find out more visit Mountain Rides or email Jason Miller.