We arrived in Donnelly, ID about 6:45PM Friday. In 2010 my impression of Brundage and McCall was quiet and under the radar, thus a good place for weekend skiing. Snowave now lives in the area and the growth of Boise plus the COVID syndrome of local skiing has created weekend crowds at Brundage. He only skis there midweek but he has heard of half hour lines on the main Bluebird lift on Saturdays with sellouts for day tickets.
Thus he persuaded us to ski Tamarack Saturday and Brundage Sunday. We rode two chairs and took a top to bottom 2,800 vertical run on Bliss before meeting Snowave. It was a bit colder than Friday, about 20F. There was fog on top, but only for about 300 vertical feet.
Snowave said the 10 minute line for Tamarack Express was the longest he had ever seen there. After another top to bottom lap we moved to Wildwood Express, the lift that was removed during bankruptcy but restored two years ago. Liz and I diverted into scattered bumps on the way there.
View NE over Cascade Lake from Wildwood:
Liz and Snowave at top of Wildwood lift:
Snowave about ¾ of the way down the Wildwood liftline:
There were moguls but not visible in the pic with the light. These SW Idaho areas definitely have the Great Gray North midwinter weather. However this is good for snow preservation. Tamarack's primary exposure is east but the upper half of vertical was all soft packed powder. Lower down the subsurface was occasionally firmer as Tamarack’s base is 900 feet lower than Bogus Basin or Brundage.
Overall conditions were excellent, but when melt/freeze weather occurs, it will hit Tamarack harder than the other two areas.
Leaving Wildwood we skied Salsa (and a few trees) to the base for a snack break. Back up to the open bowl skier’s right had great snow but the fall lines there tend to pull you away from the 1,110 vertical Summit lift and toward the long run to the base.
In November there was a 60 acre fire that burned some of these trees viewed from the Summit lift.
View up the Summit lift about 3PM after the cloud layer lifted off the mountain:
View SE from Upper Serenity:
Liz and Snowave skied to the base in time to collect 3:30PM weekend cookies. I took an extra lap and poked around the Mystery Glades. I finished with 19,200 vertical. Tamarack is ski area #242 for me #173 for Liz.
Thus he persuaded us to ski Tamarack Saturday and Brundage Sunday. We rode two chairs and took a top to bottom 2,800 vertical run on Bliss before meeting Snowave. It was a bit colder than Friday, about 20F. There was fog on top, but only for about 300 vertical feet.
Snowave said the 10 minute line for Tamarack Express was the longest he had ever seen there. After another top to bottom lap we moved to Wildwood Express, the lift that was removed during bankruptcy but restored two years ago. Liz and I diverted into scattered bumps on the way there.
View NE over Cascade Lake from Wildwood:
Liz and Snowave at top of Wildwood lift:
Snowave about ¾ of the way down the Wildwood liftline:
There were moguls but not visible in the pic with the light. These SW Idaho areas definitely have the Great Gray North midwinter weather. However this is good for snow preservation. Tamarack's primary exposure is east but the upper half of vertical was all soft packed powder. Lower down the subsurface was occasionally firmer as Tamarack’s base is 900 feet lower than Bogus Basin or Brundage.
Overall conditions were excellent, but when melt/freeze weather occurs, it will hit Tamarack harder than the other two areas.
Leaving Wildwood we skied Salsa (and a few trees) to the base for a snack break. Back up to the open bowl skier’s right had great snow but the fall lines there tend to pull you away from the 1,110 vertical Summit lift and toward the long run to the base.
In November there was a 60 acre fire that burned some of these trees viewed from the Summit lift.
View up the Summit lift about 3PM after the cloud layer lifted off the mountain:
View SE from Upper Serenity:
Liz and Snowave skied to the base in time to collect 3:30PM weekend cookies. I took an extra lap and poked around the Mystery Glades. I finished with 19,200 vertical. Tamarack is ski area #242 for me #173 for Liz.