It is hard to complain about the clear, sunny weather we’ve been experiencing locally for what, maybe 723 months.  But if someone was going to complain, then let it be me. Come on, this lack of mountain snowfall is really getting old.

If I told you well in advance that this would be one of the worst seasons for snowsports in Pacific Northwest history, would you still have purchased that season’s pass and enrolled your kids in ski school? Our Cascade resorts have put up a great fight and a brave face, but the truth is conditions are really spotty.

So what Western ski resort does the most with the least? For my money, it is definitely Sun Valley, the Idaho queen bee of snow management. They make it, they farm it, they groom it, all in the relaxed, cushy setting that so many of us know and love.

Given the local ski conditions, I made a last minute decision to spend the week of Winter Break there, and I was surely not disappointed.  There was not a single cloud in the sky for five days, temperatures rose from below freezing at night to balmy during the day, and there were no crowds. And of course the slopes were groomed to perfection; nothing like fresh corduroy to get your Jones on, first thing in the morning.

It is not a secret that the first chairlift in history was installed in Sun Valley way back in 1936, and that no resort celebrates its history as much as this one does. But that doesn’t mean that everything is old, because in truth the lodges and lifts rank at the top of skiing’s food chain. When you buy a lift ticket here, you get a lot of thoughtful service for the money.

Speaking of lift tickets, I bought mine on the website Liftopia, saving nearly 20 percent off the normal multi-day ticket price, plus I received $60 worth of lunch vouchers per ticket. Since eating lunch in the lodges is considered mandatory by my family, there was absolutely no problem getting value from the vouchers. I saw that skiers from Seattle are the second largest group of buyers of Liftopia ticket sales for Sun Valley.

While we were there, the old, famous Sun Valley Lodge was actually closed for renovation. The room count is being reduced by around 50 percent, making the remaining rooms bigger and with fancier bathrooms. The Lodge will reopen in plenty of time for next ski season, and no doubt will continue to attract its upscale clientele.

In the town of Ketchum, the Aspen Ski Corporation has announced it will be building its first hotel outside of Colorado, called the Aspen Limelight Hotel. Located reasonably close to the River Run base area, the hotel will have a little over 100 rooms, and should start construction soon.

Now here is the best thing I found out during my recent visit. It will soon be announced the Sun Valley has become part of the Mountain Collective for next season. If you are wondering what is the big deal, I thought you’d never ask.

Simplistically, the Mountain Collective is a group of resorts that have banded together to sell a ski pass that is good at all of the resorts. For this current season, you could have purchased a pass for $359, and could have skied two days for free at these resorts: Alta/Snowbird, Banff, Mammoth, Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Squaw Valley/Alpine and Whistler/Blackcomb. Once you skied the two free days at any resort, any other days cost 50 percent of the normal price.

This is a great deal, and now Sun Valley will be a participant. Go to MountainCollective.com for more information.

Ski you later.

Contact John Naye at jnaye@trekworks.com.