Blog
The Winter of Endless Snowfall
As we wait for fresh snow to start the next winter season, many of us are filled with amazing memories of one of the best ski seasons anywhere, ever. Since the Winter of 08/09 is still a little way off, we’ll be reminiscing here and sharing memories. We invite you to do the same!
September 11th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Rightfully dubbed “The Winter of Endless Snowfall” the ‘07/’08 ski season was one that left ski enthusiasts drooling and eager for more. Knowing that every night was bringing more and more of the light fluffy snow that was piling up on beautiful Brundage Mountain and the thrill of knowing I was lucky enough to leave my tracks from top to bottom and smiling from ear to ear.
September 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hey SkiWhit -
Who’s the guy in that photo?
September 13th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Re: the photo…doesn’t April have a hat like that??
September 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am
SkiWhit,
Very poetically written. Speaking of which, Can we still find the “Ode to Courderoy” on the new website?
September 15th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Yes, April has a hat like that, but she’s been known to loan it out to a worthy skier in a pinch. : )
Ode to Corduroy and other favorite videos will be added to the site very soon!
September 18th, 2008 at 11:33 am
All of our favorite videos are now online! Just click on ‘video gallery’ in the blue box at the top of the left hand side of this page. We’d love for you to share your great memories and help us get excited for the coming winter!
September 27th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I just read an article in Transworld Snowboarding about Southern Idaho and all it’s great attributes. Well Brundage has a section in it boasting 300 inches a year and of coarse the best snow in Idaho. If Brundage can they should look up the rest of the article and post it on it’s website. Just thought I’d let everyone know of my excitement in reading Brundages well deserved rating.
October 1st, 2008 at 1:53 pm
-Stupid deep-
This is my account of the best vacation of my life! It was at Brundage the first week of March.
We barley arrived at the condo after a very treacherous drive on the mountain highway 55, which incidentally was shut down a little while after we passed, White knuckles yeah right clenched fists on the wheel of death was more like it. When we finally got into town we had a little trouble with the map that we had for the condo’s location because all of the street signs were either buried or plastered with wind blown snow.
This was the deepest snow I have ever seen personally, six to ten foot snowplow banks, hollowed out sidewalk paths and the condo was the picture of a winter snow palace with walls of cascading snow and the fact that it was snowing at a clip of at least an inch or two an hour with no sign of letting up all added to the one of my most astonishing realizations, if it is like this here, what is it like on the slopes?
After a very quiet dinner and restless night our group decided to hit the sack and if the rest of my group was as anxious as I was they hardly slept dreaming about the feet, and yes I said feet, of snow that has blanketed the slopes since their 4:00pm closing the day before. Upon the first morning light I anxiously took a look outside of the condo’s front door, there was at least a foot and a half more of fluffy fresh powder blanketing every thing, the one car amid our SUV caravan on the trip was up to the bottom of the doors and we had to chain up the studded tires just to get it out of the parking lot, the area we were staying has a spot-on road clearing operation so the rest of the drive was on hard pack with no problems arising.
We arrived right before the lifts opened to an almost empty parking area. The only noticeable trait among all of the vehicles in the lot was the fact that most of the license plates were either the local counties or out of state ski bum rigs from Colorado, Utah, and Montana, plastered heavily with their local resort stickers.
The first run of the morning was my first run ever in true champagne powder and first off I drastically under estimated how far I should set my stance back so within the first ten feet of my first run I pitched forward and tumbled head over heals in the powder pillow. After getting up and digging out enough to get the board back on a plane I was back on the way down figuring out the correct lean of attack for the rest of the hill. We all met up at the Lift entrance and without saying much boarded the chairs. After seeing a couple of groups below us I noticed that almost all of the skiers and riders had no knees or legs, they were not para-skiers, they were buried knee to shin deep on the groomers.
The next run we hit some steeper terrain and had a blast surfing the pseudo-manicured snow in long graceful arcs, the last part of the run (Drop Line) doubled back and dropped in behind the lift shack and off to the sides of the run the powder was at least three feet deep and fluffy as all get out. Being within eyesight of the lift my ego got quite large so I charged into the side shot half expecting to tumble to my fate, my then to my astonishment I was the guy in the movies blasting the deepest snow of my life with no abandon, screaming at the top of my lungs all of the way. I had to stop half way down to asses my situation being that I just had a straight to the face powder shot that lasted for the first half I noticed that the liftee was just as excited, if not more than I was, screaming at me too hit that s@#t. I bailed in, leaned back and ate more powder. I have heard the talk of face shots and their associated joy but never thought that what I had only seen in the movies and mags would bring such a pure adrenalin based smile to my soul.
If that was my last day there I would have been happy but as luck would deal it was the first. We hit every double D run we could get to, being that we were on snowboards and the cat tracks and the Blue runs were just too flat to move and too deep to push. The mid point of the day we all got together at the lodge and decided to call it early due to our non-powder acclimated muscles. It was still dumping and only coming down harder so the coverage of the days tracks was awesome and the hill was closing in a few hours anyway so tomorrow was shaping up to be just as epic the this day was. I do not use the term epic loosely because I consider it to be a loosely used buzz word to describe any good conditions, but when I was listening to all of the seasoned snow veterans in the lodge describing their “epic” day with the same haggard look as our group I knew that we had been in the realm of the true epic conditions and hit them with the greatness of our snow idols.
The next day brought an even larger deposit of snow over night and a greater rate of accumulation thus far. When we arrived at the hill the same cars from the day before were there with us, quietly we all got geared up to hit the slopes. We grouped up went up the lift and started our descent within the first two turns we realized that this day was definitely a different beast than the day before The snow was deep and I mean DEEP. Overnight there was about two feet of fresh(20 inches) and again as I have said before getting heavier. I struggled to make it down my first run by actually having to lean back so far that I was resting my upper body weight on the tail of my board with my hand, and yes I did adjust my stance all the way back from the day before. I decided to lounge it for a while and found that I was not the only one, the overall conversations of the day were not of “epic” conditions but as I heard one of the locals remark of ”stupid deep” conditions. The word was that both the inbound and outbound highway routes to either side of the town and resort were closed by the state patrol due to avalanche and poor visibility.
Thank you Brundage, and ULLR, for offering truly epic riding!
October 6th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
WOW!
October 14th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hi April,
you know I was talking about you in that video! Looking forward to more days like that this winter.
October 14th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
The USASA Skiercross events last year sure were a good time. I hope you are holding them this year………..
October 18th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I am looking for information on ski swaps, my teenager needs some good used equipment this year. I think she is finally done growing, at 6 feet tall! Any tips? We live in Cambridge.
Thanks! We can’t wait for the snow!
October 20th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Hi there Kimski –
The two swap events I know of that are closest to you would be the Payette Lakes Ski Club Winter Sports Swap, which is this Sunday, Oct. 26th here in McCall. It’s at Payette Lakes Middle School from noon to 3:00 pm. It’s always a good idea to shop early for the biggest selection.
The other event in our area is the Bogus Basin Ski Racing Alliance Swap in Boise. That one is November 7 – November 9th at Expo Idaho.
Here are the hours:
Fri, Nov. 7nd 5:00pm — 10:00pm
Sat, Nov. 8th 10:00am — 8:00pm
Sun, Nov. 9th 10:00am — 3:00pm
We can’t wait for the snow either!
October 21st, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Early Season Predictions (Hopeful Thinking)-
Opening Day: November 21
Amount of Snow on Opening Day: 39 inches @ base
47 inches @ summit
Season Snowfall: 472 inches
What Are Your Early Season Predictions for Brundage Mountain??
October 23rd, 2008 at 10:14 am
Hey guys –
Here’s a link to that Transworld Snowboarding article about skiing in Southern Idaho. Thanks for the tip, Erin! http://snowboarding.transworld.net/2008/10/22/regional-report-southern-idaho/
October 30th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I live near Moscow, so I ski Lookout for one day trips, yet every time I go for an overnighter I come to Brundage. There is less snowPACK, but the snow is lighter, the POWDER is deeper, the terrain is steeper, the tree skiing is great, and I love McCall. This truly was the greatest winter ever, and I have lived in Idaho for all of my 24 years. Closing on May 10th? Except for Whistler Blackcomb or Mt. Hood, who has ever heard of that? When you can’t see your lawn until June, that’s when you know that you are living in a winter wonderland. ‘08/09 opener prediction: November 28, 26″ base/ 39″ summit.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Christian,
I just moved to Moscow to go to school and i’m looking for somebody to ski with. I just bought my Lookout and Brundage passes (utilizing my new student discount!!) Anyway I have pals in Mcall and New Meadows that I have skied with a bunch and they have room for company. Hit me up if you ever want to go together.
Chip Giles 208-891-9295
fasthorse55@yahoo.com
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm
i love snow. I hope it snows soon at brundage.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Well, Nick
It’s snowing at Brundage!!!!!!!!!
Let i t snow!
November 4th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Just thought I’d share my dismal story from last year. How could I have a dismal year last year you ask? Well, it all started in July when I ended up getting shipped to Virginia for work for 2 years. When my girlfriend and I got to VA, we were pretty homesick and tired of the hot humid weather and couldn’t wait for winter to get here. When it finally started snowing, I would check the Brundage web cams every day in amazement of how much it was snowing. We had planned a trip home to see family and go boarding during the middle of January, for 2 and a half weeks. As each day came, the excitement grew and we couldn’t hardly wait to get home to get on the mountain.
Well, when we finally did get home, the snow stopped. For 2 and a half weeks, we got about an inch of snow. The snow was still great and we had a blast, but every night we would be watching the weather for a hint of snow and eagerly waking up the next morning hoping the weather was wrong but to no avail.
Here’s the kicker. After we got back to VA, we still checked the snow reports every day and guess what…. It started snowing again as soon as we left. A week later, I had to hire 5 guys to go shovel snow off the roof of my house in Boise because the bathroom door quit shutting from all the snow…..
November 4th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Tass!
I’m so sorry to hear that! I wish everyone were lucky enough to live in Idaho so they wouldn’t have to play the odds like that. I hope you have better luck this year!
November 8th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
when is the date they will open
November 9th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Brundage Mountain will open as soon as we have enough snow! Keep an eye on the snow report page for the latest.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Alright here it is folks!
November 29
base: 35
summit: 46
November 17th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Still hopefull for post-thanksgiving friday Nov 28th with 29″ base and 37″ up top. The kicker is the 3 feet we will get the very next week!!!
November 20th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Looking to buy some powder telemark skis, around 177cm in length and wider then 87mm under foot.
If anyone has a pair of skis like these and would be willing to part with them let me know!
Much appreciated!
keep your minds positive, we’ll be getting that white stuff soon!
a_ron2222@hotmail.com
November 30th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Closing on May 10th? Except for Whistler Blackcomb or Mt. Hood, who has ever heard of that?
When I was in the 6th grade Sun Valley closed in early May. I believe it was the 3rd or the 5th. I miss those days now.
December 14th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
HOHOHO…….HOHOHO……..HOHOHO……..HOHOHOSNOWING AGAIN….THANKYOU WINTER!!!!SEE YOU ALL THIS WINTER IN WONDERPOW CITY…..THE BEST OF THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!TUNATOM
December 16th, 2008 at 7:04 am
I spend two months at Brundage last season with a friend and enjoyed one the best seasons in recent memory. Being from Minnesota and only having two months to ski I always pray that my choice will be a good one. Well last season at Brundage was a great choice. We have seen big snow stroms before and long periods of endless snow, but nothing I have experienced in the last four years has come close to last season. I was getting to the point where I though deep power and fresh tracks were the norm. I hope it does not ruin my expectations for this season, I will be up north at Schweitzer but hope to ski Brundage sometime. Thanks Brundage for all that you are; Deep stashed, no lines, great trees, and even greater people (I did not meet an (unpleasant person) until about three weeks into my time at Brundage).