Sometimes I enjoy skiing at lift serviced ski resorts. And who doesn’t like a free ride to the top of a mountain and overpriced tapped beer? It has been apparent to me through research that ski resorts are not necessarily good for skiing. Most, if not all ski resorts are owned by a large corporation. Vail resorts owns most more than 60% of the major ski resorts in North America and makes most of its revenue not from lift ticket sales, but from real-estate. The large corporations such as Vail Resorts Co. have to show profits to share holders and there bottom line objective is not to have a great ski experience, but sell “experiences”, real-estate, and village stuffs to anyone willing to pay a premium. Given there share price on the stock market, they are efficient at marketing themselves to the sheep known as the American public.

Then there are a couple “mom and pop” resorts left that are far from a major interstate and far from a major metropolis that only care about the ski experience. Brundage mountain in the Payette range in central Idaho is one of those “mom and pop” mountains. I have heard some great things about Brundage and while visiting my special lady friend in Idaho I had the opportunity to have a lift served ski day. The closest town to Brundage is McCall Idaho, which I had heard about when I was a kid while reading snowmobile magazines. I convinced the woman of my life to go ride lifts with me for the day and here’s how it looked:

The drive from the Polouse heading south to central Idaho.

 

For a Saturday, Brundage was sparsely crowded. No lift lines, no problem. Crack a beer.

 

You can ride one lift from the bottom to the top. Roughly 2,000ft of vert.

 

Sometimes skiing isn’t about being selfish. Sometimes you need to ride the terrain that your partner enjoys as well. Beautiful girlfriend, beautiful views. couldn’t ask for more.

 

Fun terrain with great views of the Wallowa’s in the distance.

 

Apres ski Idaho style. Gotta walk on Lake Payette.

 

The McCall winter-fest was going on. Lots of families meandering around town. The winter fest reminded me of my upbringings in the Midwest. Specifically when I would go to Caseville Michigan for the Shanty Day festival. We ended up going out for dinner at a local brewery in McCall that was over capacity. I look forward to going back when the town is a little less crowded.

McCall is in such a great part of Idaho. A great mix of back country ski opportunities a few miles from town. Lots of terrain for the sled neck crowd. The people who live in Boise (nearest major city, if you wanna call it one) are lucky to have the gem of McCall just a couple hours down the road.