Challenger
Place:United States Sun Valley, Idaho
Mountain:Bald Mountain
Opened:13 March 1975 (51 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%)

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 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, 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.

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.

Sections

Sun Valley is located in the United States
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.SeasonDateTypeWinnerSecondThird
2011974/7513 March 1975GSSweden Ingemar StenmarkItaly Piero GrosItaly Gustav Thöni
20215 March 1975SLItaly Gustav ThöniItaly Piero GrosSweden Ingemar Stenmark
2541976/775 March 1977SLUnited States Phil MahreSweden Ingemar StenmarkUnited States Steve Mahre
2556 March 1977GSSweden Ingemar StenmarkSwitzerland Christian HemmiSwitzerland Heini Hemmi
2024/2522 March 2025DHdelayed by snowfall, cancelled due to strong wind
196223 March 2025SGAustria Lukas FeursteinAustria Raphael HaaserSwitzerland Franjo von Allmen
196326 March 2025GSSwitzerland Loïc MeillardSwitzerland Marco OdermattNorway Henrik Kristoffersen
196427 March 2025SLNorway Timon HauganFrance Clément NoëlAustria Fabio Gstrein

Women

No.SeasonDateTypeWinnerSecondThird
1941974/7513 March 1975GSSwitzerland Lise-Marie MorerodAustria Monika KasererFrance Fabienne Serrat
19514 March 1975SLLiechtenstein Hanni WenzelAustria Annemarie Moser-PröllWest Germany Christa Zechmeister
2471976/775 March 1977SLFrance Perrine PelenItaly Claudia GiordaniAustria Monika Kaserer
2486 March 1977GSSwitzerland Lise-Marie MorerodCanada Kathy KreinerUnited States Abbi Fisher
2024/2522 March 2025DHdelayed by snowfall, cancelled due to strong wind
184323 March 2025SGSwitzerland Lara Gut-BehramiUnited States Lindsey VonnItaly Federica Brignone
184425 March 2025GSSwitzerland Lara Gut-BehramiItaly Federica BrignoneSweden Sara Hector
184527 March 2025SLUnited States Mikaela ShiffrinGermany Lena DürrSlovenia Andreja Slokar

Note

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

External links

  • (official)

43°40′44″N 114°24′14″W/43.679°N 114.404°W/ 43.679; -114.404