Soldier Mountain Signs Deal With U.S. Ski & Snowboard To Host Training Camps

The Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals at Sun Valley Resort in March isn’t the only event drawing members of U.S. Ski & Snowboard to Idaho this winter. Nearby Soldier Mountain just signed an agreement with the slopestyle teams for the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team and the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team to host the inaugural annual training camps in December and late March.

Established in 1947, Soldier Mountain is a family friendly mountain resort located near Fairfield, Idaho, at 1043 N. Soldier Creek Rd. in the Soldier Mountains of the Sawtooth National Forest. It is about two hours from Boise, 80 minutes from Sun Valley, and 90 minutes from Twin Falls. The resort offers skiing and snowboarding on 35 named trails and a terrain park on the frontside comprising 1,150 lift-served skiable acres and 2,000 acres of snowcat-accessible backcountry. Soldier Mountain has two chairlifts reaching an altitude of up to 7,177 ft., a magic carpet, and a tubing hill. In the summer it offers five mountain biking trails, a skills park, and a nine-hole disc golf course. Its lodge restaurant serves homemade fare while The Fox Den Pub provides guests with a cozy spot to hang out after a great day on the mountain. Camping spots are available at the end of the resort’s parking lot at Pioneer Campground and along the road beyond, and motel lodging and vacation rentals are available in Fairfield about 10 miles away. As an Indy Pass partner, Soldier Mountain also offers season passholders discounted Indy Passes as an add-on.

The Southern Idaho ski area, best known as the resort actor Bruce Willis used to own, will build a training facility for the slopestyle teams to train on as part of the Soldier Mountain Snow Training Center, which serves competitive athletes throughout the Western U.S. Designed by world-renowned terrain park builder Charles Beckinsale, the site will support the slopestyle teams’ needs for large-scale jumps, which are part of competition but not widely available to train on. Beckinsale will personally construct the training facility on the run Canyon underneath the High Trail Express Lift (Chair 1).

The three-year partnership has allowed Soldier Mountain to enhance its snowmaking system, with the resort recently acquiring new state-of-the-art TechnoAlpin TR10 snow guns. The move doubles Soldier Mountain’s snowmaking capacity and will ensure skiers and riders enjoy full top-to-bottom coverage on the runs North Ridge and Canyon.

“This is a huge win for a small, independent ski resort like Soldier Mountain,” GM David Alden said. “One of the things that makes Soldier Mountain so attractive is that we’re small enough to be nimble and eager to try new things. And U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s financial and philosophical commitment to a small ski area like Soldier Mountain will ensure we offer a sustainable domestic training venue for the world’s best snowsports athletes for many years to come.”

Leadership at U.S. Ski & Snowboard concur.

Teaming up with a small mountain complements U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s affiliation with the Indy Pass, with Soldier Mountain one of seven Idaho Indy Pass partners. And the resort’s proximity to Utah — Soldier Mountain is less than 5 hours by car from U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s headquarters in Park City — eases logistics and is a good fit with the team’s Easy Green environmental initiative by reducing the carbon footprint of its training.

Soldier Mountain has presented us with a unique opportunity to build world-class jumps in the USA at a time of year that will give our Slopestyle teams a huge advantage going into the competition season,” Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team Sport Director Rick Bower said.

Stifel U.S. Freeski Team Sport Director Skogen Sprang agreed, adding the teams are “excited to explore a new location that is so passionate about freeskiing and snowboarding and are looking forward to seeing what kind of magic Soldier Mountain can make up there.”

Alden is super stoked about the impact the new training facility will have on rising stars on the snowboard and freeski scene.

“U.S. Ski & Snowboard is dedicated to creating training opportunities at the grassroots level,” Alden said. “Bringing a training venue of this magnitude to the western region gives up-and-coming snowboarders and freeskiers who are looking to compete at a higher level but can’t afford to travel far to train an unprecedented opportunity to hone their big-air skills. It’s like the major leagues building a new stadium for the minor leagues because they realize they need to nurture the next generation of pros.”