Skiing / Bob Lochner : 50 Years of Going Downhill

American skiing is 50 years old this winter, and the biggest birthday party will be held at Sun Valley, Ida., where W. Averell Harriman created the nation’s first ski resort in the middle of nowhere back in 1936 to stimulate business for his Union Pacific railroad.

Sun Valley has already opened for the season with 3 1/2 feet of snow on its slopes, but the festivities won’t begin until Feb. 1, when a week-long series of events will officially commemorate the origins of this crazy sport based on the principle of sliding downhill at a rapid rate.

Of course, cross-country enthusiasts will point out that skis have been used for transportation and for such purposes as carrying the mail across mountain ranges for much longer than 50 years.

But Sun Valley, with its amazing first single chairlift, was the birthplace of skiing as we know it today--half glamorous winter sport and half multibillion-dollar industry.

There are now 15 triple and double chairlifts on two mountains, Baldy and Dollar, with a total of 53 ski runs at Sun Valley, and there is also, of course, a world-class resort with Sun Valley Lodge as its centerpiece.

Among the planned highlights of the 50th-birthday party:

--On-hill demonstrations of the evolution of ski techniques over half a century.

--A festival of ski films.

--Exhibits of rare ski memorabilia.

--Nightly performances by pianist Peter Duchin, 47, in the Lodge’s Duchin Room, named after his father, Eddy, who played there in the ‘30s and ‘40s.

--Celebrity invitational races with Paul Newman as host, starting Jan. 30.

To paraphrase the old Glenn Miller song, “It’s Happening in Sun Valley” again this winter.

Closer to home, Badger Pass in Yosemite National Park will also be celebrating 50 years as a ski area, although it got its first chairlift somewhat later than Sun Valley.

The “party” at California’s oldest resort will continue throughout the season with a series of events, including a winter carnival, an old-timers’ day, youth ski clinics, Nordic races, and special Ahwahnee Hotel ski buffets.

Tuesday night’s storm dropped up to a foot of snow in the local mountains, enabling four Southland ski areas to report the following depths Wednesday: Goldmine 24 to 30 inches, Snow Summit 24, Snow Valley 18 and Mountain High 48. Cold temperatures have also permitted extensive snowmaking where it’s available.

Additionally, Ski Sunrise said it will open today, and Ski Green Valley and Shirley Meadows are preparing to operate this weekend. The other resorts were uncertain about their plans.

Meanwhile, there have been intermittent snow flurries throughout most of the High Sierra since Saturday, producing powder and packed powder conditions.

Mammoth Mountain had 73 inches at mid-level Wednesday, June Mountain 48, Badger Pass 40 and Sierra Summit 36 to 52. Farther north, snow depths ranged as high as 96 inches at Sugar Bowl.

Skiing Notes Squaw Valley will cut the ribbon, launching its new Siberia Express quad chairlift, Saturday at 10 a.m. . . . Heavenly Valley plans to open its Nevada side this weekend. . . . Two Southland ski areas--Snow Summit and Goldmine--are offering NASTAR races for recreational skiers this season. Eight High Sierra resorts are also participating in the program--Mammoth Mountain, Badger Pass, Dodge Ridge, Bear Valley-Mt. Reba, Heavenly Valley, Alpine Meadows, Squaw Valley and Northstar. . . . The reshuffled World Cup racing schedule now calls for women’s downhills both today and Friday at Val d’Isere, France, and a men’s downhill Saturday at Val Gardena, Italy, followed, it is hoped, by a men’s giant slalom Sunday at La Villa, Italy, and slalom next Tuesday at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. . . . Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland, the defending men’s World Cup champion, is expected to return to the circuit this weekend after suffering a badly bruised right hip and back in a spectacular spill during downhill training last week at Val d’Isere. . . .GGP Sports’ tape of that season-opening downhill race will be shown on Channel 7 at 3 p.m. Saturday. . . .Park City, Utah, has been awarded the first World Cup races of the 1986-87 season--a men’s slalom on Nov. 29 and a men’s giant slalom on Nov. 30--according to the resort’s Craig Badami . . .Jure Franko, 23, of Yugoslavia, the 1984 Olympic giant slalom silver medalist, will compete on at least a portion of the Pegueot Grand Prix men’s pro ski tour, which opens this weekend at Aspen, Colo.