About 100 miles north of Boise, Idaho a new resort named Tamarack has finally opened its doors to skiers and snowboarders. I decided to check it out. Twelve inches of snow fell on the mountain the night before. It’s hard to have a bad experience at any resort when Mother Nature offers up so much powdery new snow. From what I can derive from the one trip to the mountain, the resort has a lot of potential. It’s currently only operating with two chairlifts, but future plans call for five. The use of both lifts is required to ski off the top of the mountain. The runs are well thought out and long but too often not at the right angle for the proper acceleration needed to navigate deep powder. Remember, however, I say that from a snowboarder’s perspective and not that of a downhill skier’s.

The grooming machines seem to purposely leave a certain portion of the top half of the mountain un-groomed. I believe this is what will attract me back to the mountain. I’ve been told this is done on purpose. It would seem to make sense that the upper half of the mountain should remain more technical than the bottom half and, therefore, have less groomed snow. At any rate I like the idea.

Overall I have very little to complain about in consideration of the new snow and the fact that I did not pay for my ski pass. On my way to the mountain we gave a lift to some Tamarack employees in Donnelly and they generously gave me a free pass. So, I skied for free on a foot of new snow at a new resort. I think I am going to have to go back just so I can have a more realistic opinion. My fear is that at $55 for a ticket and the fact that good skiing conditions are unpredictable, I might have a very different opinion upon a second trip. I am, however, recommending that if snow sports are your cup of tea, check it out at least once in your life.

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