Anyone Been to Brundage or Tamarack in Idaho?

[ThatGuy]

Flight leaves tomorrow morning for Idaho and was wondering if anyone had intel on either of these mountains or the McCall area in general. Plan is one day at Little Ski Hill then two days each at Brundage and Tamarack. My girlfriends only an intermediate so not looking for any insane terrain, just some fun cruisers or easy glades.

 

[raisingarizona]

Keep your head on a swivel, your bayonet filed sharp and drink copious amounts of green tea. The local anti government, hard core Christian, gun obsessed white supremacy scene is alive and well in them parts. If the locals smell an east coast liberal is in their midst they tend to pounce, sick their pit bulls on their balls and curb stomp them with their steel toed boots.

Other than that, have a good time.

But seriously, will you have a gun with you? Be careful out there and disguise your accent, them folks really hate easterners and Californians to the point they are dangerous. Good luck and FFS watch your gawd damn back.

 

[Mainer]

I lived in McCall for a year. Beautiful area. Gold fork hot springs is nice. There is a natural hot spring south of tamarack that’s amazing. Riggings is neat to go for a walk out of the snow. Skiing is kinda similar to New England but with a ton more snow. Steamers was the nice restaurant then. My info is 15 years old. Great area

 

[Boxtop Willie]

The Storm Skiing Journal podcast has a great bit about Tamarack out today. Sounds like a great comeback story.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Keep your head on a swivel, your bayonet filed sharp and drink copious amounts of green tea. The local anti government, hard core Christian, gun obsessed white supremacy scene is alive and well in them parts. If the locals smell an east coast liberal is in their midst they tend to pounce, sick their pit bulls on their balls and curb stomp them with their steel toed boots.

Other than that, have a good time.

But seriously, will you have a gun with you? Be careful out there and disguise your accent, them folks really hate easterners and Californians to the point they are dangerous. Good luck and FFS watch your gawd damn back.

lol i am going to mission ridge, 49 north, schweitzer, and silver in 2 weeks. i will be sure to hide my jew as best i can.

unfortunately for OP, the pacNW is locked in high pressure thru about feb 13

fortunately for me, high pressure appears to lift and a pacNW storm track starts on about feb 13

 

[raisingarizona]

lol i am going to mission ridge, 49 north, schweitzer, and silver in 2 weeks. i will be sure to hide my jew as best i can.

unfortunately for OP, the pacNW is locked in high pressure thru about feb 13

fortunately for me, high pressure appears to lift and a pacNW storm track starts on about feb 13

Yeah, I was joshin. It's definitely a thing up there but I've never felt that threatened. In the 90's you didn't want to walk into a bar in a place like Browning. The natives there liked to play a game where when they saw an outsider approaching the bar they'd greet them with a punch to the head and see who could knock em out first. I guess you can't get an authentic western experience without a little of the Wild West shit going on. This is one of the reasons I love New Mexico so much, that sketch factor keeps things real unlike the fluffy, safe heavens for the mega wealthy like in Jackson, Aspen or Sun Valley. I like my powder skiing served with a healthy side of western grit I suppose.

 

[Mainer]

McCall is tourist town. The white supremacy is north of there

 

[deadheadskier]

Just got back from a trip there. Here's a video of current conditions

 

[jaytrem]

lol i am going to mission ridge, 49 north, schweitzer, and silver in 2 weeks. i will be sure to hide my jew as best i can.

Maybe tuck in the tzitzits.

 

[thetrailboss]

Flight leaves tomorrow morning for Idaho and was wondering if anyone had intel on either of these mountains or the McCall area in general. Plan is one day at Little Ski Hill then two days each at Brundage and Tamarack. My girlfriends only an intermediate so not looking for any insane terrain, just some fun cruisers or easy glades.

Visited these in the Summer of 2020. Might want to confirm that the Little Ski Hill is open because the T-Bar was down a fee weeks ago according to LiftBlog.

McCall is a neat town. Right on the lake. McCall has a lot more going on than Cascade (that town rolls up the sidewalks very early). There is not very many amentities at Tamarack.

 

[jaytrem]

I like McCall a lot. Was crazy how cheap we were able to rent a house a few years ago in the winter. I assume they're more expensive in the summer?

 

[ThatGuy]

I got the house we’re staying at for a steal. Won’t be arriving for two more days though because flight got delayed twice so it was either stay overnight in the airport or shuffle reservations around. Thankfully you can change flights with no charge and the home owner let us move the dates for free. The worst part was they almost sent our skis away on the plane without us.

 

[Los]

lol i am going to mission ridge, 49 north, schweitzer, and silver in 2 weeks. i will be sure to hide my jew as best i can.

unfortunately for OP, the pacNW is locked in high pressure thru about feb 13

fortunately for me, high pressure appears to lift and a pacNW storm track starts on about feb 13

“Hide my jew”? What in the blazing fuck is wrong with you? Jesus Christ.

 

[SenorQuesadilla]

Someone told him he had to be careful to hide his east coast liberalness or he'd be in danger so he makes a joke in response, and you have a problem with it? Wtf is wrong with you?

 

[ss20]

“Hide my jew”? What in the blazing fuck is wrong with you? Jesus Christ.

Lol you must be a blast at parties.

You should've heard what we were saying at the high school lunch table back in the day for humor.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

lol. get a grip nancy, by 'my jew' i mean my own jewishness. i'm not some goyim who travels around with a little jew in a cage that i need to hide round white 'premacists in idaho.'

anyway, this trip has been awesome. i did 2 each at mission ridge (bad), 49N (good), and silver (really good), and 4 so far at schweitzer (great) with one more tomorrow. it snowed about 6" at schweitzer last weekend with another 2" during the week, and 14" last weekend at silver. so good leftovers. tomorrow will be snowing and snow should continue thru tuesday or later and should pile up in the mountains. im done tomorrow tho, and hoping my flight isnt affected. i dont think it will be, this storm is all rain down in spokane, no wind, etc.

a restaurant near schweitzer advertised itself as real nyc italian food and i went to check it out. proprietor was a sweet nyc italian lady who moved out here with her idaho husband like 25 years ago. they were slinging proper italian food, had great nyc decor, and she gave me a big hug and wrote down my bill like crazy. people here have been nice.

 

[jaytrem]

Glad you're having a nice trip! What was bad about Mission Ridge? Decided to skip Red?

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Glad you're having a nice trip! What was bad about Mission Ridge? Decided to skip Red?

it hadn't snowed for like literally 3 weeks before my trip, so i didn't feel compelled to deal with crossing into canada and covid stuff. i got here weds 2/16 and it snowed at most places on like 2/19-20ish. mission ridge was a groomers only situation on 2/17-18. off-piste was variable and shitty, and never the good variable. cool terrain, just wasn't any snow. the entire high alpine hiking ridge was bare. the general coverage situation was wayyyy better at 49N, and they also got ~4" a day or two before i arrived. plenty to make it ski fun. then schweitzer got 6" the day before i got there and 2" while i was there, and silver got 14" on sun>mon, was closed tuesday, and i got it weds. tomorrow should be storm skiing at schweitzer.

 

[SenorQuesadilla]

a restaurant near schweitzer advertised itself as real nyc italian food and i went to check it out. proprietor was a sweet nyc italian lady who moved out here with her idaho husband like 25 years ago. they were slinging proper italian food, had great nyc decor, and she gave me a big hug and wrote down my bill like crazy. people here have been nice.

What's the restaurant? I've loved the food in Sandpoint while I've been here. Eaten way too many pork Adobado tacos at Joel's and had great meals at Utara and Matchwood Breweries and solid BBQ at Felkers. Also the Outback Inn between Cedar Park Express and Stella lifts has great food for cheap. Rare spot in ski country.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

What's the restaurant? I've loved the food in Sandpoint while I've been here. Eaten way too many pork Adobado tacos at Joel's and had great meals at Utara and Matchwood Breweries and solid BBQ at Felkers. Also the Outback Inn between Cedar Park Express and Stella lifts has great food for cheap. Rare spot in ski country.

Arlo’s. Solid chicken piccata and pasta with a legit menu of Italian food. Not just spaghetti and ketchup