Brundage Mountain Ski Resort; McCall, Idaho

The Little Ski Hill     Brundage Mountain     Tamarack Resort

Brundage Mountain is a ski area in the Payette National Forest in west central Idaho, 8 miles (13 km) northwest of McCall. The summit elevation is 7640 feet with a vertical drop of 1800 feet). There are three chairlifts that serve the 1340 acres of west-facing terrain, overlooking Adams County. The area's annual snowfall is over 300 inches.

The ski area also offers backcountry powder skiing, served by snow cats. Half-day, full-day, and two-day trips are available. The two-day trip spends the night in a mountain yurt.

In the summer months, Brundage is open with lift-served mountain biking on over 20 miles of especially built single-track trails.

History

In the late 1950s, alpine skiers in the McCall area had just the Little Ski Hill, with its 405 foot vertical drop. Bogus Basin was over three hours away (in good conditions) by vehicle, and Sun Valley was even farther. One of these skiers was Boise tycoon J.R. Simplot, who had a vacation home on Payette Lake.

Financed by Simplot, the Brundage Mountain project took shape and the ski area opened in November 1961 with a double chairlift, T-bar, and a rope tow. Lift tickets were five dollars and longtime McCall resident and ski legend Corey Engen was the area's first manager, staying until 1970.

A second double chairlift was added in the mid 1970s, in parallel. In 1990, a triple chairlift (Centennial) was added to the southern edge of the terrain, expanding the area's acreage by 30% and adding 200 feet of vertical drop. A triple chairlift (Easy Street) was installed at the beginner area in 1994. The parallel double chairlifts were replaced by a single high-speed quad chairlift (Blue Bird Express) in the summer of 1997.

In April 2006, the J.R. Simplot Company sold its 50% interest in Brundage Mountain to the ski area's long-time co-owner, the DeBoer family.

In August 2006, a long-anticipated land trade with U.S. Forest Service was completed, which gave Brundage Mountain ownership of 388 acres (1.57 km²) around its base area, and an opportunity for future resort development. The USFS gained important private in-holdings in the Payette National Forest.