I was last at Bogus Basin in 2010 with NASJA. This parking lot sticker caught my eye then.
Here’s one for 2020.
2010 was a blue sky spring day. This one was very different with a persistent fog layer on the upper half of Bogus’ 1,800 vertical most of the day. There was an ongoing storm in the Panhandle, with Brundage/Tamarack getting a few inches on the edge but Bogus Basin was too far south for any new snow. Nonetheless there must have been significant wind earlier because most of the north facing trails had significant windsift that yielded delightful skiing despite the visibility.
Our first run from the Deer Point chair was pea soup and we got separated. We regrouped to take Morning Star to the backside. The north facing Superior lift was a slow double in 2010 but it and Morning Star are now high speed quads. We got there via the War Eagle cat track and trail. By the next run on Bonanza we learned to relax more in the fog because the snow was so smooth, consistent and forgiving.
So we ventured off the groomed down the Superior liftline.
Partway down we diverted skier’s right into scattered trees and bushes.
We then moved to the Pine Creek Express via Paradise run. This faces east and had good corn last time but was all winter snow at this time of year with current conditions. The top of that lift had intense fog and the traverse skier’s right to access many of the runs is just above treeline. One again Liz and I got separated and we both failed to stay on the wide open Mary’s Ridge run, both veering off into the trees, Liz to skier’s left and me farther down to skier’s right. After regrouping we tried again and stayed on the trail, eventually pausing for this view under the cloud layer.
Next we skied ungroomed in spaced trees near the Pine Creek lift.
The lower quarter of that liftline feeds into a narrow gully but there was an easy traverse out skier’s right.
About 1PM we skied Tiger back to the base for a break and snack. Tiger was foggy most of the way but had scattered bushes for orientation. We did not ski the steepest runs directly off Shafer Butte that I skied in afternoon corn in 2010 due to lack of vegetation.
Bogus Basin was more user friendly to those who needed a break or brought their own food. They set up an outside tent with space heaters.
We found it nearly impossible to rest or thaw inside at Alta and Snowbird a week ago.
After lunch we thought we would check out the Bitterroot lift but it was closed. So we were diverted to Superior. We found more interesting runs there as we finally got some sunny breaks in the fog.
Heading back to the frontside here’s the view NW over the closed Bitterroot runs.
As the cloud layer lifted we finally skied 3 runs on the Deer Point lift. View of the base area from Shaker Ridge:
Liz was very impressed by Bogus Basin, as I was on such a different day in 2010. Liz is often put off by bad visibility, but with the snow conditions today she skied great. Perhaps she’s more “Zen” after her Kristen Ulmer clinic last week. We skied 23,100 vertical.
Here’s one for 2020.
2010 was a blue sky spring day. This one was very different with a persistent fog layer on the upper half of Bogus’ 1,800 vertical most of the day. There was an ongoing storm in the Panhandle, with Brundage/Tamarack getting a few inches on the edge but Bogus Basin was too far south for any new snow. Nonetheless there must have been significant wind earlier because most of the north facing trails had significant windsift that yielded delightful skiing despite the visibility.
Our first run from the Deer Point chair was pea soup and we got separated. We regrouped to take Morning Star to the backside. The north facing Superior lift was a slow double in 2010 but it and Morning Star are now high speed quads. We got there via the War Eagle cat track and trail. By the next run on Bonanza we learned to relax more in the fog because the snow was so smooth, consistent and forgiving.
So we ventured off the groomed down the Superior liftline.
Partway down we diverted skier’s right into scattered trees and bushes.
We then moved to the Pine Creek Express via Paradise run. This faces east and had good corn last time but was all winter snow at this time of year with current conditions. The top of that lift had intense fog and the traverse skier’s right to access many of the runs is just above treeline. One again Liz and I got separated and we both failed to stay on the wide open Mary’s Ridge run, both veering off into the trees, Liz to skier’s left and me farther down to skier’s right. After regrouping we tried again and stayed on the trail, eventually pausing for this view under the cloud layer.
Next we skied ungroomed in spaced trees near the Pine Creek lift.
The lower quarter of that liftline feeds into a narrow gully but there was an easy traverse out skier’s right.
About 1PM we skied Tiger back to the base for a break and snack. Tiger was foggy most of the way but had scattered bushes for orientation. We did not ski the steepest runs directly off Shafer Butte that I skied in afternoon corn in 2010 due to lack of vegetation.
Bogus Basin was more user friendly to those who needed a break or brought their own food. They set up an outside tent with space heaters.
We found it nearly impossible to rest or thaw inside at Alta and Snowbird a week ago.
After lunch we thought we would check out the Bitterroot lift but it was closed. So we were diverted to Superior. We found more interesting runs there as we finally got some sunny breaks in the fog.
Heading back to the frontside here’s the view NW over the closed Bitterroot runs.
As the cloud layer lifted we finally skied 3 runs on the Deer Point lift. View of the base area from Shaker Ridge:
Liz was very impressed by Bogus Basin, as I was on such a different day in 2010. Liz is often put off by bad visibility, but with the snow conditions today she skied great. Perhaps she’s more “Zen” after her Kristen Ulmer clinic last week. We skied 23,100 vertical.
