For over 50 years, the six backcountry huts that comprise the Sun Valley Mountain Huts system have served our area, housing countless outdoor enthusiasts over the years. The hut network, which includes the Bench, Boulder, Pioneer, Coyote, Fishhook, and Tornak huts, has long been a local resource for adventurers seeking powder turns, solitude, and alpine beauty. Ownership of the system has switched hands many times over its history. Now, the huts are entering a new era, as the Environmental Resource Center (ERC) takes on ownership of this local legacy, ensuring and expanding access while supporting the ERC’s environmental programming.
The huts have been operated for the past 25 years by Joe and Francie St. Onge, who have always seen themselves more as “stewards” of these huts than owners, and have long envisioned transferring ownership of the huts to the community.
“We’ve had a lot of people express interest in taking over,” said Joe, “but all along, our North Star has been that this should go to community ownership. The huts are a piece of us, a piece of our family, and it’s extremely important to us moving forward to see the huts succeed and to provide the amazing resource to the community that they do.”
The backcountry hut system has been a recreational mainstay in the area for decades.
Photo by Ray Gadd
The St. Onges found what they’d been looking for in the ERC, whose mission of addressing environmental issues affecting our community through education and community initiatives seemed to align with the ethos of these backcountry huts. “It felt like kind of a natural handshake to be able to deliver on the historical vision of the huts, the vision Joe and Francie have for the huts going forward, and also the ERC’s vision,” explained ERC Executive Director Ashton Wilson. “It felt like a good fit.”
The ERC will maintain current public access to the huts (which serve over 2,000 people each year), utilizing its nonprofit status to maintain sustainable pricing for a broader user base without sacrificing quality or sustainability. But, with this new resource, the ERC will also have a new home for a significant part of its programming, namely its summer EcoCamps, the longest running, non-religiously affiliated overnight camps in the region. Using the huts in the summer during the ERC’s peak programming season and during the “off season”—previously only two of the huts operated in the summer—illustrates just one of the ways that the new ownership is a good fit. The ERC’s long-standing relationship with the Forest Service also makes managing the huts a natural extension of this affiliation that aligns with the shared goals of sustainable access and education.
The St. Onges will remain involved with hut operations, but John Preuss, a steward of the huts for over 15 years, will be the new hut director. Day-to-day operations of the huts will continue as always, with staff providing porter service to the huts, hut orientations, snowmobile services, hut maintenance, and wood cuts.
Though the ERC took over ownership in fall 2025, the organization is still actively fundraising to both ensure the existing sustainability and quality of the huts, but also to help fund future changes, from developing new huts and opening existing huts for summer use to creating hut-to-hut biking and hiking routes.
“The shared values of the ERC and Sun Valley Trekking ensures that these special huts will continue to serve the community as they have for over four decades, providing extraordinary experiences in wild places and will also provide the potential to develop in exciting new and meaningful ways,” noted Francie St. Onge. “We have every confidence that the huts we know and love will be maintained with dedication and care, ensuring unique access to these beautiful mountains for generations to come.”