Dan ‘Dano’ Hawley has skied at least 25,000 vertical miles on Baldy since he first visited Sun Valley in the mid-1950s. He has most likely skied more, and he’s only 69. The circumference of Earth is 24,901 miles and is still spinning and so is he.
Dano is a true Idahoan, born to ski Sun Valley. His great-grandfather, James H. Hawley, was the ninth Governor of Idaho from 1911 to 1913 and Mayor of Boise from 1903 to 1905. Both his father and mother (though they hadn’t yet met) and their siblings skied Sun Valley in 1936. Dano has a photo of his mother skiing on Lolo Pass in 1929. His father was working as a physician in Hailey where he planned to stay when WWII began, but when the war ended Dr. Hawley returned to Boise where Dano was born, raised and schooled. The Hawley family often visited Sun Valley and introduced Dano to skiing Dollar Mt. when he was 5. Within a year the boy was on Baldy.
After high school Dano attended the College of Idaho in Caldwell where he earned a BA in Economics. Skiing interrupted education when he took one year off college to move to France to ski, which he considers a ‘great experience.’ He graduated in 1972 and immediately moved to Ketchum where he has lived ever since. He makes his living plowing snow in winter (Hawley Snow Removal) and working as a river guide for Solitude River Trips on the Middle fork of the Salmon River in summer and Barker River Trips on the Jarbridge, Bruneau and Owyhee Rivers in spring. He is quoted on the Solitude website as saying, “I love seeing little kids grow up and come back with their own kids.” He worked as a heli-ski guide for 25 years and as a ski coach for the Hailey Ski Team for 12 years. He is an avid mountain biker between ski seasons and rides his bike most days when he’s not on the river. He says that in the late 60s, before there were mountain bikes, “I would ride my French road racing bike through the backcountry to all the high mountain lakes.”
Physical activity and personal interaction with others are intrinsic to Dano’s life. A typical winter day when it has snowed begins at 2 a.m. when he goes to work plowing until about 8 a.m. After that he shovels out the iconic Irving’s Red Hots hot dog stand on Picabo Street across from the Warm Springs Lodge. He has completed this chore for owner Jill Rubin for the 40 years her landmark business has operated. According to Dano, 150 winter mornings he walks a quarter mile to the Warm Springs lift by 8:30 a.m. where he socializes, is on one of the early chairs (never—except on certain powder days—competing for the first chair) and begins his Baldy day of skiing. Dano says of his passion for skiing, “Each time I go skiing I have more fun that the time before.”
Dano skis at least 10 runs every day, sometimes more, often with friends and periodically alone, interspersed with tea and social time at Lookout Lodge on top of Baldy. For Dano, “It’s home. There’s a lack of crowds. It’s our own private Idaho.” He skis the bowls, the groomers, the bumps and the cat tracks with an inimitable style and relaxed demeanor, and he is a reliable source of finding the best skiing of the day on Baldy. After all, few know it better.