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.
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 , the steepness provides a very demanding but relatively short course at ; lasting about 85 seconds, the average vertical descent rate is approximately 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.
This particular 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. The season finals are scheduled to return in March 2027.
Sections 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 SeasonDateTypeWinnerSecondThird2011974/7513 March 1975 GS Ingemar Stenmark Piero Gros Gustav Thöni202 15 March 1975 SL Gustav Thöni Piero Gros Ingemar Stenmark2541976/775 March 1977 SL Phil Mahre Ingemar Stenmark Steve Mahre255 6 March 1977 GS Ingemar Stenmark Christian Hemmi Heini Hemmi 2024/25 22 March 2025 DHdelayed by snowfall, cancelled due to strong wind1962 23 March 2025 SG Lukas Feurstein Raphael Haaser Franjo von Allmen1963 26 March 2025 GS Loïc Meillard Marco Odermatt Henrik Kristoffersen1964 27 March 2025 SL Timon Haugan Clément Noël Fabio Gstrein
Women SeasonDateTypeWinnerSecondThird1941974/7513 March 1975 GS Lise-Marie Morerod Monika Kaserer Fabienne Serrat19514 March 1975 SL Hanni Wenzel Christa Zechmeister2471976/775 March 1977 SL Perrine Pelen Claudia Giordani Monika Kaserer2486 March 1977 GS Lise-Marie Morerod Kathy Kreiner Abbi Fisher 2024/25 22 March 2025 DH delayed by snowfall, cancelled due to strong wind1843 23 March 2025 SG Lara Gut-Behrami Lindsey Vonn Federica Brignone1844 25 March 2025 GS Lara Gut-Behrami Federica Brignone Sara Hector1845 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.
References
External links sunvalley.com (official)