About Sun Valley Mountain Huts
Sun Valley Mountain Huts operates one of North America's oldest and most distinctive backcountry hut systems, with six handcrafted yurts and huts scattered across the mountains surrounding Sun Valley. The system got its start in the 1970s when local Joe Leonard built the first-ever yurt used as a backcountry ski hut — the Fishhook Yurt in Iron Creek — and it still stands today. Formally established in 1982, the operation has been welcoming skiers, hikers, and mountain explorers for over four decades.
The six huts — Bench, Boulder, Pioneer, Coyote, Fishhook, and Tornak — each offer a unique setting and experience, from the double-yurt Boulder complex at 7,120 feet (the most deluxe, sleeping 14 with a connected annex) to the Pioneer Yurt in the Hyndman Creek Basin at 8,600 feet, and the high Smoky Mountain locations at Coyote and Tornak with commanding views across the Pioneer, Boulder, and Smoky crests. Tornak even has a backcountry sauna. All huts are built from native pine milled by hand on site.
Guests can book self-guided trips or arrange a guided tour through partner Sun Valley Guides; first-time winter users are required to have a guide for the first day. Now managed by the Environmental Resource Center, the huts serve as a platform for environmental education alongside backcountry adventure. Whether used for ski touring, snowshoeing, summer hiking, or simply disconnecting from civilisation, the Sun Valley Mountain Huts offer an experience that is hard to find anywhere else in the Lower 48.
