AVERILL HARRIMAN, heir to, and Chairman of the Board of, the Union Pacific Railroad company, in 1935 requested that Count Felix Schaffgotsch of Austria find a site in the U.S. suitable for development as a ski resort of a quality to match the best that Europe had to offer. The Count found such a site at Ketchum in Idaho and the Sun Valley Resort was built just outside the town.

The resort has since attracted visitors from all over the world including the rich and famous Americans whose portraits adorn the walls of the Sun Valley Inn and Sun Valley Lodge.
The area was featured in a number of films including Glenn Miller's 'Sun Valley Serenade'. The film, made in 1941, also starred Sonja Heinie, Norwegian innovator of the performance style in ice figure skating. She won world championship figure skating for ten years (starting in 1927), seven European championships and the Olympics in 1928, 1932, and 1936, before becoming a Hollywood film star.
Bald Mountain at Ketchum (above left) and 'Sun Valley Serenade' poster (above right).

The Sun Valley Inn is one of the original buildings constructed in the late 1930s at Sun Valley.

A still from the film 'Sun Valley Serenade' with Glenn Miller, Sonja Heinie ('a blonde, dimpled ice skater who was also a ranked tennis player in Norway') and John Payne. The 'set' appears to be the same as that shown in the above photo. An ice rink, which also featured in the film, is still to be found at the rear of the Inn.