STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Quick! Which Olympian invented the Fosbury Flop and what is it?

If you answered Wood River Valley engineer Dick Fosbury and noted that it was a high jump style he introduced at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico, you know your Olympic trivia.

And you should have taken part in Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s Treasure Hunt and Scavenger Hunt honoring Sun Valley’s 55 Olympians and Paralympians on Olympic Day.

Jody Zarkos and the Ski Education orchestrated the hunt on Wednesday as one of Olympic Day celebrations held at Olympic training sites in 160 countries around the world.

And a bevy of youngsters and adults took part.

As Team Cuppa Noodles, the Garden Gnomes and others fanned out over downtown Ketchum, Team Axle Grease made up of Alex Guylay, Axel Hattrup, Ziggy Nacco and R.J. Frey joined them.

“I don’t know how good I’ll do at this,” said one of the teenagers. “I don’t know any Olympians.”

“I know maybe two,” said another.

While the hunt did have a few questions pertaining to Olympians, such as “Which Sun Valley resident will compete in his second Winter Olympics next year?” (Jack Adicoff), if also offered plenty of hands-on activities, like showing a stranger how to crouch down into a ski tuck.

Seven-year-old Chase Frieder and his 4-year-old brother Andrew weren’t so sure they were ready to learn, even though they are aspiring ski racers. But reluctantly they let Hattrup show them how to dip into pint-sized tucks as he snapped their picture.

Far more difficult was figuring out the location of 18 sites in downtown Ketchum based on clues such as “This national symbol flies high.”

Pull-off tabs bearing the names of 18 of Sun Valley’s Olympians awaited them at each site—good for three points each.

The boys could’ve sat down and figured out the answers to clues and grouped the answers into like locations before heading off in search of names like Gretchen Fraser, the first American to win an Olympic medal in ski racing; downhill racers Pete Patterson, Jonna Mendes and Maria Maricich or even hockey phenom Hilary Knight.

But, instead, they went with one clue at a time, a decision that took them back and forth from one corner of downtown to another and then back again.

 It wasn’t necessarily the most efficient way, but they did rack the miles—getting a good workout that could translate to good results on the ski slopes next winter.

Guylay and Hattrup found themselves at odds over the clue: “Old Glory lives outside this building in which boxes live.”

“It’s got to be UPS,” insisted Guylay. “They have boxes there.”

“I think it’s the Post Office,” countered Hattrup.

The boys walked several blocks to the UPS store, finding nothing there. Then they made the trip across town to the Post Office, where they walked right by tear-off names for three-time Olympian Picabo Street.

“Not so fast! Look around!” I finally broke my silence.

Once by the Post Office, the group headed to Atkinsons’ Park, which one boy insisted fit the clue, “This park is named after how you store and remember information.”

“It’s got to be Atkinsons’,” he reiterated.  “At-kin-sons,” he said slowly as if that would somehow enforce why that was the right answer.

They came up empty.

As they continued their walk through Ketchum streets, they did get the answers to several questions:

Sun Valley is famous for having the first__?  (chairlift). What was the original use of the bike path? (train tracks) Where would you find a Bowl of Soul? (Java).

They stumbled on “What color are Nappy’s toes?”

“Who is Nappy?” asked one.

I grinned and ducked into the Elephant’s Perch for a look at Nappy Neaman’s famously colored toenails as the boys continued walking down the street .

“Purple? I really thought you’d paint them gold in honor of the Olympians!” I said, remembering how he had in fact painted his nails gold to celebrate Kaitlyn Farrington’s gold medal halfpipe win.

The fact they weren’t exactly racking up the points didn’t seem to bother the boys.

One of them played a song on his phone and the four danced and sang their way down the street.

Hattrup’s mother happened by on her bicycle, stopping to give her son a swig of her Perrier.

“Having fun?”

“Having fun.”

As they passed The Elephant’s Perch for the third time, one of the boys read the next clue on his list, “A place for pachyderms.”

“What’s a pachyderm?” one asked.

Ever resourceful, one of the boys googled “pachyderm” on his phone.

“A very large mammal,” he said. “Now, what would be a very large mammal?”

CAN YOU FIGURE OUT WHICH KETCHUM BUSINESSES FIT THESE CLUES?

• This girl is often mean to Charlie Brown, but she still has her own park.
• You can use a smaller version of this to catch fish: __, line and sinker.
• This park is named after how you store and remember information.
• Old Glory lives outside this building in which boxes live.
• The French chef knows how to cook, but he just stands there.
• You would normally find this Deere on a farm.
• A place for pachyderms.
• The first president would want to keep his money here.
• One of the first people to discover Ketchum may want to eat here.
• There is a red dog here, but he does not bark.
• These large mining carts love a parade.
• Where do you find something that is black and white and read all over?
• Most mammals eat meat but this one prefers bamboo.
• You could say the owners of this Ketchum business are petal pushers.
• Inspiration for a lion?
• There are many spines here but no faces.
• A Jack-O-Lantern with a candle does this.”

ANSWERS:

Lucy Loken Park. The hook in Lucy Loken Park. Memory Park. Ketchum Post Office. Michel’s Christiania. The tractor in front of the Kneadery. The Elephant’s Perch.

Washington Federal and Savings. The Pioneer Saloon. Irving’s Red Hots. Ore Wagon Museum. Mountain Express. China Panda.

Ketchum Flower Company. Mane Muse. Community Library. Glow Café.