Sun Valley To Upgrade Two Essential Chairlifts This Summer

Construction for two chairlift replacements will start at Sun Valley, Idaho, this April.

The resort, in a press release, announced that it got the green light from the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to move forward with the replacement of the Christmas Lift and Lookout Express.

The Christmas Lift arrives near the top of Bald Mountain after departing from the Roundhouse Restaurant, dropping skiers off above classic groomers like Christmas Ridge and Ridge.

Its replacement, another detachable quad, won’t have more seats than its four-person predecessor, but it’ll be newer and faster, with a ride time of 4.5 minutes. The current Christmas Lift is nearly four decades old.

The Lookout Express detachable quad will be replaced with a high-speed six-person lift that cuts the ride time to about 8.5 minutes. Like the Christmas Lift, the existing Lookout Express has been around the block more than a few times, first opening in 1993. 

According to Sun Valley, both new lifts will “meaningfully increase uphill capacity, reduce wait times, and improve ride consistency.”

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“The replacement of Christmas and Lookout Express lifts is another major milestone in modernizing the lift network at Sun Valley. Both lifts play a critical role in getting skiers and riders to the top of Bald Mountain,” said Pete Sonntag, COO at Sun Valley Resort, in the release.

Sonntag said the project builds on other recent lift modernization projects at Sun Valley, including upgrades to Seattle Ridge and the new Challenger, which replaced the previous Challenger and Greyhawk lifts in 2023.

Sun Valley noted that the Christmas and Lookout replacements will cause intermittent impacts to hiking and biking in the River Run area over the summer, but the resort plans to stay open. It will publish updates on the mountain operations tab of its website in the spring. 

Sun Valley’s best-known ski area, Bald Mountain, is slated to stay open until April 12, 2026. The beginner-focused Dollar Mountain closes on March 22.

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