Soldier Mountain reopened with a new lodge Jan. 28, replacing a 61-year-old facility that burned last March.

The lodge at Soldier Mountain may be new, but the laid-back vibe remains for a ski resort that welcomes everyone who wants to enjoy a day of skiing without breaking the bank.

Construction delays stalled the reopening of the 4,500 square-foot lodge, but now Soldier Mountain is operating with a good snow base and skiers and snowboarders are returning to the slopes.

“I think we’ve come out of this with a better situation than we had before. It’s a much nicer lodge,” general manager Larry Davenport said. “People had a lot of good memories (at the old lodge), but I think they will have a lot of good memories here, too.”

Soldier Mountain has long been a place for affordable, family skiing without trying to match the Hollywood glamour of its neighbor, Sun Valley Resort.

It’s ironic, considering Soldier Mountain’s owner, Bruce Willis, is straight out of Hollywood but wants Soldier Mountain to stay true to its roots.

“He wants it to be a family-oriented mountain,” Davenport said. “We’re affordable to the working guy.”

That’s not to say it’s second rate.

Soldier Mountain is open Thursdays through Sundays, so storms that hit Monday through Wednesday stockpile snow.

“This is a great place to be on Thursday mornings,” Davenport said. “It’s not uncommon to get two or three days of good powder skiing.”

If groomers are more to your taste, Soldier Mountain’s crews do their best to make the slopes accessible to everyone.

Rob Ferraro of Fairfield started his 3-year old daughter, Phoenix, skiing there last winter.

“It’s a great mountain for kids,” Ferraro said. “There’s a bunny hill, and if you take them up the first chair, it’s always easy for them to get down,” he said.

For Leslie Andrews of Hailey, Soldier Mountain is more than a place to go skiing, it’s a great place to hang out.

Andrews and her friends ski and then play music at the lodge afterwards.

“We love it, we have so much fun,” she said. “We come up every weekend all winter. The staff here is so friendly.”

So why does Andrews ski at Soldier when Sun Valley is closer?

“I’m not that good of a skier, so this is better for me,” she said. “I ski here to train for Baldy.”

Soldier Mountain’s new lodge may be the first in a string of improvements.

The Forest Service last year approved a master development plan that includes new lifts and opening more terrain.

There’s not timeline for when it might happen, Davenport said.

“Everything kind of got put on hold after the fire,” he said.

The reconstruction project also put Soldier’s backcountry cat skiing on hold for a year, but Davenport expects it to resume next winter.

So Soldier Mountain still offers the same slopes and lifts but with a new, modern lodge with rental shops and kitchen. And here’s Davenport’s best sales pitch for people to visit the mountain.

“If you want really down-to-earth skiing with good folks, uncrowded slopes and good snow, this is the place to be,” he said.