Sun Valley's New Event, the Stampede, Aims To Find the "Best Skier in the West"

If you were ever one yourself, you know this to be true: young skiers are an imaginative bunch.

They scan the hill for moguls that could produce airtime. Rollovers become jump spots. Cat tracks? No, silly, those are butter pads. Through their hungry eyes, the contours of the mountain are the building blocks for something bigger.

In helping craft the inaugural Sun Valley Stampede, the resort’s competition services manager, Riley Berman, tapped into that youthful part of himself. He grew up sliding down the slopes of Sun Valley Resort, and remembered, when he was a kid, telling his friends how cool it would be if there were a jump atop Race Arena, a classic, cruisey run.

When the Stampede comes to town, that dream, among others, will be real.

“There are ideas that I've thought about when I was 10 years old on this mountain that I'm getting to execute today for this event,” Berman said.

For more information about the Stampede and how to register, click here. The event starts the weekend of March 14, 2026.

The Best Skier in the West

The competition will unfold in distinct chapters. 

It starts at the mid-station of the Challenger chairlift, with skiers—who drop two at once—facing off on a head-to-head dual giant slalom course. The Race Arena jump comes next, followed by a mogul-studded off-piste descent. The penultimate section delivers a banked slalom and more terrain park features. Then, the final course of a varied meal: a hip jump with one landing on the left and one on the right in front of the crowd gathered near the Warm Springs base area. 

The concept germinated last summer when Jake Moe, a renowned local and the founder of POWDER, started talking with Sun Valley leadership. The hope was to create a competition that crowned the “best skier in the West.”

After being approached with that plan, Berman’s mind ran wild. He fondly recalled the Lane Parrish Memorial, an event at Sun Valley that, in the past, included one super-G run and one moguls run. He also made note of trademark throwdowns at other resorts, like the Kings and Queens of Corbet’s and the Rahlves’ Banzai. 

Berman had questions, too, about what Sun Valley’s take on a signature event would look like. How would the resort name the best skier? What was Sun Valley's interpretation of the best skier?

At a mountain with famously steep runs, a deep racing pedigree, and flashes of freestyle talent like Toby Rafford and Banks Gilberti, the resort decided it’s someone who can do it all. That means railing a turn, smashing through moguls, and, when possible, gracefully soaring through the air.

The Stampede, Berman said, is “a celebration of all the skiing and all the skill sets that we love.” While an ex-racer might be able to blitz the giant slalom section in record time, it’ll be the freestylers who’ll make the most of the jumps. The judging takes this spectrum into account. The Stampede is timed, but the style element is also graded by the judges, contributing to a skier’s overall score.

“If you need to make up time, you might skip those terrain parks and just get around the gates and try to be fast,” said Berman. “But if you have some time to spare and you want to add to your judge score, you might hit a rail, or you might hit a little terrain park feature.”

The finals portion of the two-day event will include a yet-unannounced roster of invited professional skiers. Still, the Stampede, which begins with a qualifier on Saturday, is open to anyone who wants to sign up, regardless of age. Kids 12 and under can't advance to the finals (they’ll have a modified course), but everyone else, if they score high enough, could earn a spot.

“With this format, you have your hometown, 16-year-old kid that has a run of his life on Saturday, and he might be going up against one of the best skiers around the next day,” Berman said. “To have that opportunity for the local ski community is really cool.”

A bracket component adds another wrinkle. The qualifier round is scored individually. During finals, though, skiers advance through head-to-head brackets, meaning the winner might ski the course seven or eight times, depending on how many people compete. Consistency, then, is just as important as adaptability. 

The Stampede, however, isn't an elite-level World Cup race. The finals may get tense as the “best skier” title looms, but like any good ski party, fun and glory aren’t mutually exclusive. You could show up and win. You could take a lap or three on an imaginative, purpose-built course before cheering from the sidelines. Maybe, instead, your kiddo wants to participate and improve their skills along the way. All options work.

The Stampede

After graduating from college and returning to the Sun Valley area, Berman served as a coach and event manager for the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. He also oversaw the foundation’s small ski area, Rotarun, for several years. 

More recently, when Sun Valley Resort called him up, they wanted his help running the on-hill part of a “little” ski race, he said, slyly referring to the World Cup finals, the all-consuming event that took over the resort last winter. Big alpine racing names from around the world, like Lindsey Vonn and Marco Odermatt, descended on the resort. So did hordes of fans. 

Putting the World Cup together was a huge lift for Berman. In his role managing events at Sun Valley, he coordinates with the ski patrol, snowmaking, and grooming departments to ensure everything runs smoothly. Dirt works and tree clearing to shape the course started months in advance. It was go time, non-stop. 

Now, Berman is taking what he learned and applying it to the Stampede, which is smaller in scope but a “uniquely Sun Valley event,” he said. It forges a new path down the slopes of the resort, embracing the past, present, and future all at once.

That involves Berman building those jumps his 10-year-old self imagined all those decades ago. He just has a few more grooming machines and snowguns to play with this time.