Brundage, ID, Feb. 15, 2025

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
On Saturday I drove 550 miles from Reno to Donnelly, Idaho. The rural Nevada part of that drive was quite efficient.
IMG_7087.JPG


View of Tamarack ski area just before sunset:
IMG_7088.JPG


I got on the hill at Brundage about 9:15. It snowed off and on but only about an inch total. The top was in fog most of the day.
IMG_4002.JPG


Lower down visibility was better.
IMG_3994.JPG


At any rate, Brundage is one of the best mountains anywhere on a bad vis day due to the nicely spaced trees.
IMG_3995.JPG


There are two high speed quads that averaged ~5 minute lines and peaked at maybe 10 minutes. This has to be a worst case scenario on the middle day of President’s weekend when main competitor Bogus Basin is only 27% open. Brundage is usually deserted midweek.

Skiers spread out fairly well.
IMG_3996.JPG


It snowed 19 inches a week ago, resurfacing anything unpleasant from the mid-January Pineapple Express. I ventured into the trees a couple of times, and while I often hit the subsurface, it was not icy.

The 550 mile drive was not the greatest way to recover from the 5 days of skiing, so I stuck mostly to groomers. I skied two runs on Lakeview, and even got the view of Payette Lake on one of them.
IMG_3999a.JPG


I finally ventured out to the North Boundary. In the haze you can see a group of snowboarders who were jumping off some features.
IMG_4000a.JPG


I left at 1:30 after skiing 15,600 vertical. I had 160 miles to drive to Lewiston and wanted to get there well before dark. Hwy 95 follows the Main Salmon River for a few miles starting in Riggins, which has lots of rafting company shops. I saw more than one of these signs.
IMG_7090.JPG


On Monday it took 8.5 hours to drive the 450 miles from Lewiston to Golden, B.C. It rained continuously from Lewiston to Sandpoint and snowed moderately beyond that. Average speed was a modest 53mph.
 
Back
Top