Bob and John with their father, Bob Jonas, at base of Baldy - circa 1954

Sun Valley winds-up its 2014/15 competitive ski slate with the upcoming Western Spring Series, a series of alpine giant slalom and slalom races for men and women that runs on Baldy's Warm Springs side April 1-6. (See story later in this newsletter.)

The end of the season has made me reflect on how dramatically the competitive ski scene has changed since Sun Valley's founding in 1936. I rapped with my brother John about that. We talked about how it was for a kid ski-racing in the valley during the forties and fifties.

We didn't have cross-country track, snowboard or freestyle. None of that existed. Just the Ram race on Dollar and the Sun races on Baldy. And the Kindercup.

The Ram and Sun races - the Silver, Gold and Diamond Sun - were standard races operated throughout the winter by the Sun Valley Resort and ski club. These races were equivalent to the latter-day NASTAR races. The Diamond Sun was rarely run, but the Ram, Silver and Gold ski races were fixtures - for both locals and guests.

The Gold Sun was a favorite of local kids. "Just a starting gate at the Roundhouse and a finish line at the bottom of River Run" said John. "You had to make a certain time to get your gold sun pin. We schussed Roundhouse Slope, Lower Canyon, 42nd Street and River Run. Great fun."

The big ski event of the winter for kids and the entire valley was the Harriman Cup. "A big crowd of locals would gather near the bottom of Exhibition to watch the best racers in the world rocket down Exhibition."

Come on out and celebrate the alpine spring series. Watch some of the hottest gate skiers in America, know that the local kids you see zooming around can easily dodge you, and expect the growth of more great world-class ski competition in Sun Valley be it alpine, cross-country track, snowboard or freestyle.

The Western Spring Series ski races April 1-6 will bring approximately 250 top athletes, representing the next generation of skiing families, to Ketchum.

"The races are important to the entire community," said Ruben Macaya, race events coordinator for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. "Although it is the Western region, we get people from around the country as well as Canada. At least half have never been to Sun Valley.

"The average age is late teens to mid-twenties, and these are people who are going to be skiing for the rest of their lives, introducing their children to the sport and taking their families on ski vacations," he said.

This year's Spring Series is just one of the national-caliber races that will bring people here over the next few years. Sun Valley also will host the  U.S. Alpine Ski Championships for the first time in 65 years in 2016. In addition, Sun Valley has applied to host the Spring Series again in 2017 and already is scheduled to host the alpine championships in 2018.

Although Spring Series winners do not qualify for other races as it is the end of the ski season, top competitors come to the attention of scouts for the U.S. ski team and its May training camp, Macaya said.

A highlight this year will be a free program offering guidance for a successful life following a skiing career. Speakers at the event at the Community School on Friday, April 3, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., will include Olympic medalist Christin Cooper, Saucony President Richie Woodworth, two-time Olympian Otto Tschudi, former Goldman Sachs partner Kipp Nelson and George Macomber, vice president of career and education for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association.

Good ridership on the "Night Owl," the experimental late-night bus service from Dec. 26 until Feb. 2, provided valuable information for possibly implementing permanent late service during peak winter and summer seasons.

"Mountain Rides learned that there is demand for evening service here, just as there is in most resort towns," Kim MacPherson, support specialist with Mountain Rides said. "Overall ridership for evening service is strong, especially for the Blue 2 route that has existed for many years and has a solid following." The Blue Route serves the Warm Springs area of Ketchum, Elkhorn and central Ketchum and Sun Valley.

Buses carried an average of 13 riders per hour, accounting for about 10 percent of the total ridership on the Blue Route, between 9:30 p.m. and 3 a.m. Service was particularly popular on weekends and on "Dollar Nights," when one of the downtown bars offers draft beers for $1.

"The bus service really helped business because people knew they could stay downtown later and take the bus home," said Kristin Derrig, a member of the Mountain Rides board and co-owner of The Cellar Pub. "It used to be that bartenders or servers would offer to call a cab, and there weren't any available. I saw servers promoting the use of the bus and giving bus schedules to people.

"It also helped alleviate the parking shortage and people worrying about their cars being towed when there was snow. Best of all, it helped eliminate drunk driving. I think it was very successful for a first time, and it will only get better as more people become aware of it. We already have people asking when it will start again."

The city of Ketchum contributed $12,575 and the city of Sun Valley, $2,000 toward the free service. Riders also were asked for donations, and contributed $425.