History
In the late 1950s, alpine skiers in the McCall area had just the Little Ski Hill, with its modest 405-foot (123 m) vertical drop. Bogus Basin near Boise was over three hours away (in good conditions) by vehicle, and Sun Valley was considerably farther. One of these McCall 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, Warren Brown (1912-2000) and ski legend Corey Engen. A former Olympian and instructor at the Little Ski Hill, Engen laid out the trails on the mountain during the summer of 1961. Favorable snowfall allowed Brundage to open on Thanksgiving on November 23, with a double chairlift, T-bar, and a rope tow. The lift tickets were priced at a then-lofty five dollars, similar to Sun Valley's rates; Engen would stay on as resort manager until 1970.
A second double chairlift, Brundage Creek, was added in 1976, in parallel with the original Pioneer. The Centennial triple chairlift was added in 1990 to the southern edge of the terrain, which increased the area's terrain by 30% and added 200 feet (61 m) of vertical drop by lowering the base. The Easy Street chairlift was installed at the beginner area in 1994, adding a lower parking lot at its base. The parallel double chairlifts were replaced in the summer of 1997 by a single high-speed detachable quad, the Blue Bird Express, which ascended to the summit in a rapid 7 minutes.
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. (Diane (Brown) DeBoer is the daughter of co-founder Warren Brown.) That August, a long-anticipated land trade with U.S. Forest Service was completed. It gave Brundage Mountain the ownership of 388 acres (1.6 km²) around its base area, allowing the opportunity for future resort development. In return, the USFS gained important private in-holdings in the Payette National Forest.
In 2007, Brundage invested more than $3 million to install two new fixed-grip triple chairlifts, Lakeview and The Bear. The Lakeview lift opened up 160 acres (0.6 km²) of south-facing terrain, with sweeping views of Payette Lake, McCall, and Valley County. The Bear connects the Centennial base area to a ridge above the main base area. A platter lift which served the expert Race Course and easier runs was removed. A small lodge, The Bear Den, was added at the top of the lift. Excluding the Easy Street chair, total uphill capacity for the area was increased from 3100 to 6700 riders per hour.
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