Brundage Mountain

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 of Brundage is 7640 feet (2328 m) above sea level, with a vertical drop of 1800 feet (548 m). Five chairlifts serve the 1,500 acres (5 km²) of west-facing terrain, which overlooks Adams County. The area's annual snowfall is over 300 inches (762 cm).

Brundage also offers backcountry powder skiing on terrain north of the ski area, 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 has lift-served mountain biking on over 20 miles (32 km) of specially built single-track trails.

Brundage is accessed from Highway 55 via Goose Lake Road, four miles (6.4 km) west of central McCall. Goose Lake Road climbs just over 1000 vertical feet (305 m) in 4 miles (6.4 km) to the ski area's parking lot, at an elevation of 6000 feet (1830 m). Travel time from McCall to Brundage is twenty minutes.

History

In the late 1950s, alpine skiers in the McCall area had just the Little Ski Hill, with its 405 foot (123 m) 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 agribusiness tycoon J.R. Simplot, who had a vacation home on Payette Lake.

Financed by Simplot, the Brundage Mountain project took shape under the guidance of longtime McCall resident and ski legend Corey Engen. Brundage opened in time for Thanksgiving in November 1961, with a double chairlift, T-bar, and a rope tow. The lift tickets were five dollars, and Engen would stay on as resort manager until 1970. [http://www.brundage.com/about/history.aspx]

A second chairlift was added in the mid 1970s, a double in parallel.In 1990, a triple chairlift "(Centennial)" was added to the southern edge of the terrain, increasing the area by 30% and adding 200 feet (61 m) of vertical drop (by lowering the base). 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. [http://www.firsttracksonline.com/news/stories/114626377614071.shtm]

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. [http://www.firsttracksonline.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=259]

In 2007, Brundage invested more than $3 million to install two new chairlifts, "Bear Chair" and "Lakeview", both fixed-grip triples. The "Lakeview" lift opens up 160 acres of south-facing terrain, with sweeping views of Payette Lake. [http://www.brundage.com/article.aspx?newsid=115]

External links

* [http://www.brundage.com Brundage Mountain Resort] - official site
* [http://skilifts.org/id-brundage.htm Ski Lifts.org] - photos of Brundage Mountain's lifts
* [http://www.idahoskiresorts.com/overview.cfm/id05/Brundage Idaho Ski resorts.com ] - Brundage Mountain
* [http://www.idahowinter.org/alpine/brundage.aspx Idaho Winter.org] - official state tourism site
* [http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=2&S=12&Z=11&X=709&Y=6229&W=2&qs=%7cDonnelly%7cID%7c Terra Server USA.com] - USGS topo map & aerial photo