Brundage opinion....

jnelly

jnelly

Member
I have a trip booked to Brundage for Jan 21-27. Idea was to get onto a snowcat for a day or two while there. I was put on the list and told id def get a solo spot when they start taking bookings which were to commence end of December. I guess I mistook this as a beginning to the snowcat season and today found out that the cats prob won't begin operation until end of January. So, huge wrinkle in my amazing plan. Question is this: Is 5 days of Brundage and Tamarack going to bore a guy to death after 2-3 days? Anyone with a sense of this, please chime in. I am scrambling to possibly just bag this and just go to Utah and call it a day. But I dont want to be hasty in pulling the plug on a place Ive had on the radar for a year years now. Let me know what y'all think! I always appreciate the expertise given on here.
Thanks! jesse
 
Brundage and Tamarack aren't that small. Throw Bogus Basin into the mix and you definitely have 5 days of skiing without getting bored.

Brundage by itself will keep you very happy if you get fresh snow. It's wall to wall comfortably spaced trees with a consistent upper intermediate fall line. It can be busy on weekends but should be very non competitive midweek.
 
jnelly said:
Anyone with a sense of this, please chime in.
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@snowave is the resident Brundage/Tamarack expert.

Tony Crocker said:
Brundage and Tamarack aren't that small. Throw Bogus Basin into the mix and you definitely have 5 days of skiing without getting bored.
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I've been wanting to do a week-long southern Idaho road trip covering Brundage, Tamarack, Soldier, and Bogus (the Indy Pass covers the first three); however (and you've heard me say this a number of times), from the East Coast, I can fly to the Alps quicker than to Boise and without changing planes, so I'll save it for my aspired-to retirement.
 
Soldier is small with poor snow reliability and is closer to Sun Valley than to Boise. Tamarack is definitely worth a visit but Boise locals prefer Bogus Basin for terrain variety and Brundage for snow. That's the reason Tamarack has struggled financially.

And yes @snowave is the resident Brundage/Tamarack expert. He lives NW of McCall, probably does not ski Bogus much.
 
As Tony said, you won't probably won't get bored, especially with any new snow. I would definitely try and throw a day at Bogus in there... just make sure it's not a weekend. All 3 are fun ski areas IMO, and are are quite different in terms of terrain/vibe, etc. We are having a great start to the season, so coverage won't be an issue whatsoever.

I haven't done the snowcat at Brundage, and its really odd that I never hear anything about it, so I have no idea if it's any good. That might be a red flag, but maybe not... I've only been here a little over 3 yrs. ( and yes, they typically don't start operations until late January mainly due to ensuring coverage, I think).

My buddy from Socal will be up here that week, and we'll be on all 3 of these mtns during that time (Tamarack probably thurs the 25th, Bogus Friday 26.. not sure of the other days yet). I've only been to Bogus once, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. So if you end up coming, shoot me a message and maybe we can meet up.

Todd
 
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jamesdeluxe said:
@snowave is the resident Brundage/Tamarack expert.


I've been wanting to do a week-long southern Idaho road trip covering Brundage, Tamarack, Soldier, and Bogus (the Indy Pass covers the first three); however (and you've heard me say this a number of times), from the East Coast, I can fly to the Alps quicker than to Boise and without changing planes, so I'll save it for my aspired-to retirement.
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Yeah, you can get to the Alps quicker.... but once there, you probably don't have a free place to stay with an outstanding host and ski partner. ;P
 
snowave said:
Yeah, you can get to the Alps quicker.... but once there, you probably don't have a free place to stay with an outstanding host and ski partner. ;P
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I pledge to make it there in the next year or two!

Tony Crocker said:
James has been known to schmooze a fair number of comps in the Alps.
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Who, me? :eusa-shifty:

jnelly said:
I am scrambling to possibly just bag this and just go to Utah and call it a day.
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We're still holding you in contempt for bagging the Alps trip last year. There's enough Utah material here -- go to Idaho!
 
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snowave said:
Tony Crocker said:
Brundage and Tamarack aren't that small. Throw Bogus Basin into the mix and you definitely have 5 days of skiing without getting bored.

Brundage by itself will keep you very happy if you get fresh snow. It's wall to wall comfortably spaced trees with a consistent upper intermediate fall line. It can be busy on weekends but should be very non competitive midweek.
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As Tony said, you won't probably won't get bored, especially with any new snow. I would definitely try and throw a day at Bogus in there... just make sure it's not a weekend. All 3 are fun ski areas IMO, and are are quite different in terms of terrain/vibe, etc. We are having a great start to the season, so coverage won't be an issue whatsoever.

I haven't done the snowcat at Brundage, and its really odd that I never hear anything about it, so I have no idea if it's any good. That might be a red flag, but maybe not... I've only been here a little over 3 yrs. ( and yes, they typically don't start operations until late January mainly due to ensuring coverage, I think).

My buddy from Socal will be up here that week, and we'll be on all 3 of these mtns during that time (Tamarack probably thurs the 25th, Bogus Friday 26.. not sure of the other days yet). I've only been to Bogus once, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. So if you end up coming, shoot me a message and maybe we can meet up.
jamesdeluxe said:
We're still holding you in contempt for bagging the Alps trip last year. There's enough Utah material here -- go to Idaho!
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Brundage is officially locked and loaded. No sense in messing about with changing at this juncture particularly with the good base. Keep it coming! After thinking on it and considering Brighton has always been one of my favs (~1000 acres vs Brundage !1500) Toss in Tamarack and thats plenty of turf for several days.
We shall see on the snowcat. There was some inquiry about their wishy-washy communication about this on their FB page, which I chimed in about. They have subsequently responded that they may start to run this week, so I am hoping to get a call soon for a booking...we'll see and hope.
@jamesdeluxe I promise that all the Alps fodder will not be in vain! Not sure its in the card this year w/ all the warmth and rain, but it hasn't been written off completely yet for this season. However if I were a betting man, 2024 is prob more likely. Who knows..but I'd really like the first run at it be a no-brainer conditions-wise and w/o the idea of skiing with 90% of the EU on 10% of the terrain.
@snowave Ill keep you informed on the cat and will def see where the road leads that week for a meet up. That would be cool.
 
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