Sun Valley has waited a long time between luxury hotel openings. Viceroy says The Observatory, which opens October 30 in downtown Ketchum, is the area’s first new luxury hotel since the Sun Valley Lodge opened in 1936. The wait ends with 73 rooms and suites, 12 penthouse residences, and a silver dome on the roof.
The dome is the point. Ketchum sits inside the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, where the night sky is dark enough that the Milky Way is a nightly event rather than a rumor. Viceroy has built the resort’s evenings around a 17-inch PlaneWave telescope, an in-house astronomer and programming timed to meteor showers and planetary alignments. Rates start at $800 a night.
The program after dark
The observatory sits in a rotating dome on the roof, and cameras feed the telescope’s imagery to screens across the resort, so a guest at the bar can watch the same nebula as the group standing upstairs. Sessions are led by Travis Amick, a local astronomer and celestial photographer, and run from open stargazing to private bookings. Viceroy calls it the area’s first night-sky observatory at a resort. Arash Azarbarzin, the company’s chief executive, put the wager plainly: “Sun Valley helped define the American mountain town nearly 90 years ago, and it’s remarkable how true to itself it has stayed.”
Ketchum, inside the rooms
The resort stands at 300 River Street East, in the middle of town rather than up at the mountain. Rooms use natural materials and floor-to-ceiling windows, and the suites add separate living space and private balconies. The ironwork comes from local maker Red Star Ironworks, the rugs from Ketchum shop Davies Reid Rugs, and the walls carry photographs by Dick Durrance, the pioneering alpine ski photographer. Around the U-shaped courtyard sit an outdoor pool, a hot tub and a dipping pool.
Dinner is at Joan, named for Joan Blank, a Ketchum performer and horsewoman, serving American cooking from local ingredients. Odin’s Corner covers the café hours and Andy’s Watershed works the pool. The 5,000-square-foot spa, six treatment rooms with an indoor thermal pool, cold plunge, sauna and steam room, opens at a later date. The opening offer, called First Light, takes 20 percent off stays of two nights or more and adds a $25 daily food and beverage credit. A meetings and corporate retreats program is in development, aimed at groups that want the mountain setting with a town address.
Ski season on Bald Mountain opens in a matter of weeks. The Observatory is betting that after a day spent looking down the mountain, its guests will pay to look up.
The Social Register’s event directory tracks the season’s galas, benefits, and society evenings. Plan your next evening there.
