Sun Valley Powder Skiing Original PosterSun Valley, boasted the best weather in the West, which included incredible powder days like shown here in this 1960's ski poster. The skier is as Sun Valley was close to California, it became the premier ski area for the Hollywood elite in the 1930's. This trend continues to this day. On the orders of Averell Harriman, Chairman of the Board, of the Union Pacific Railroad, the Austrian Count Felix Schaffgotsch had been combing the country, looking for the perfect place to build America's first full-scale ski resort. All agreed the area was perfect and Harriman built Sun Valley, which opened for skiing in 1936. It had the first single chair lift in North America. Sun Valley was very popular with the Hollywood crowd.