Challenger (ski course)

Challenger is a World Cup downhill ski course in the western United States, on the north slope of Bald Mountain in Sun Valley, Idaho. The course is part of Sun Valley Ski Resort, the most prestigious in Idaho.^[1][2][3][4]

Challenger
Place:	Sun Valley, Idaho
Mountain:	Bald Mountain
Opened:	13 March 1975 (50 years ago)
Downhill
Start:	8,783 ft (2,677 m) AMSL
Finish:	6,076 ft (1,852 m)
Vertical drop:	2,707 ft (825 m)
Length:	1.53 mi (2.459 km)
Max. incline:	28.8 degrees (55%)
Avg. incline:	18.5 degrees (33%)
Min. incline:	5.7 degrees (10%)
Super-G
Start:	8,120 ft (2,475 m) AMSL
Finish:	6,076 ft (1,852 m)
Vertical drop:	2,044 ft (623 m)
Length:	1.17 mi (1.876 km)
Max. incline:	28.8 degrees (55%)
Avg. incline:	18.3 degrees (33%)
Min. incline:	5.7 degrees (10%)

Tom Johnston, a very controversial character known as "Cowboy", designed the new or mostly renovated slope, starting on the original old course at Steilhang Traverse; in mid-section it runs left from the original slope, then returns for the finish on the same terrain as the old one. Challenger has the steepest average incline on the World Cup circuit at 36%, surpassing even the Streif course in Kitzbühel. With a vertical drop of 2,707 feet (825 m), the steepness provides a very demanding but relatively short course at 1.53 miles (2.46 km); lasting about 85 seconds,^[5] the average vertical descent rate is approximately 32 feet (9.8 m) per second.

Course

History

The Challenger was a steam locomotive introduced by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1936, the year it founded and opened Sun Valley ski resort with the first ski chairlift in the world, by which they are known for.

This spectacular and very demanding ski course hosted World Cup technical events in the 1970s, in March 1975 and 1977; Ingemar Stenmark, Hanni Wenzel, Gustav Thöni, and Phil Mahre won early events here. It also served as a training facility for alpine skiing during the 2002 Winter Olympics in northern Utah.

After 48 years, this course at Sun Valley returned to the World Cup circuit in March 2025, hosting the season finals. Located west of the Challenger chairlift, portions of several runs are used for the course, including International, Greyhawk, and Hemingway.

Sections

Sun
Valley

Location in the United States

• Sawtooth Jump
• Durrance Dive
• The Legends
• Carol's Wagon Wheel
• Steilhang Traverse
• Frontier Jump
• The Sluice
• Rudi's Roll
• Cowboy's Corner
• The Redd
• Proctor Park

World Cup

Men

No.	Season	Date	Type	Winner	Second	Third
201	1974/75	13 March 1975	GS	Ingemar Stenmark	Piero Gros	Gustav Thöni
202		15 March 1975	SL	Gustav Thöni	Piero Gros	Ingemar Stenmark
254	1976/77	5 March 1977	SL	Phil Mahre	Ingemar Stenmark	Steve Mahre
255		6 March 1977	GS	Ingemar Stenmark	Christian Hemmi	Heini Hemmi
	2024/25	22 March 2025	DH	delayed by snowfall, cancelled due to strong wind
1962		23 March 2025	SG	Lukas Feurstein	Raphael Haaser	Franjo von Allmen
1963		26 March 2025	GS	Loïc Meillard	Marco Odermatt	Henrik Kristoffersen
1964		27 March 2025	SL	Timon Haugan	Clément Noël	Fabio Gstrein

Women

No.	Season	Date	Type	Winner	Second	Third
194	1974/75	13 March 1975	GS	Lise-Marie Morerod	Monika Kaserer	Fabienne Serrat
195		14 March 1975	SL	Hanni Wenzel	Annemarie Moser-Pröll	Christa Zechmeister
247	1976/77	5 March 1977	SL	Perrine Pelen	Claudia Giordani	Monika Kaserer
248		6 March 1977	GS	Lise-Marie Morerod	Kathy Kreiner	Abbi Fisher
	2024/25	22 March 2025	DH	delayed by snowfall, cancelled due to strong wind
1843		23 March 2025	SG	Lara Gut-Behrami	Lindsey Vonn	Federica Brignone
1844		25 March 2025	GS	Lara Gut-Behrami	Federica Brignone	Sara Hector
1845		27 March 2025	SL	Mikaela Shiffrin	Lena Dürr	Andreja Slokar

Note

• Greyhawk / Hemingway is the name for technical (GS and SL) events course, which is the bottom half of the Challenger course.