KTRV Fox 12 Bogus Basin Opens

Bogus Basin Opens

Boise, Idaho -- Some good news to report for skiers and snowboarders.

With all the snow recently, officials at Bogus Basin will be opening at least a portion of the mountain Wednesday.

Even though they missed an early Thanksgiving opener, employees say financially it's much more important that they open by Christmas.

And, as it turns out, mother nature cooperated.

"I'm hoping we don't have too many people calling in sick tomorrow at work and at school," said Jennifer Johnson, Bogus Basin marketing director. 

No matter how you get to Bogus Basin, the message is simple -- the ski resort will be open.

Although much like any other year, at least early in the season, only about half the mountain will be operational.

"We'll be opening the front side. We'll have chairs No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, and No. 7 operating  just on the front side 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.," said Johnson.

And employees are expecting good crowds.

Since the snow has been deep enough to make a difference, many have been up here preparing this day and working to insure everything is just right for their first customers.

"For the past couple days, we've just been kind of preparing the lines here and setting up the mazes for people to walk in and out," said Matt St. Cyr, a new Bogus employee.

He has been looking forward to this job all year. It's his first time working the mountain, but his excitement began waning a few weeks ago when there still wasn't any snow.

"It's been kind of iffy if we were going to have snow, and then all of a sudden we had that nice little weekend of winter," St. Cyr said.

Fortunately last weekend's storms dropped between 18 and 24 inches, blanketing the ski runs.

Sadly it was relatively dry and created a challenge for employees.

"The storm we had on Saturday brought a lot of wind with it. It took a lot of the new snow right off the top of the mountain," said Johnson.

But the slopes have since been groomed and Johnson says everything is ready for the season opener.

And even though many see it as a little late, she says the timing couldn't be more perfect.

"We wanted to be open by Christmas, by the holiday break when everybody could take some time off and come up and play. So for us, we're right on target, we're okay with that."

If you do go up Wednesday, lift tickets will be discounted -- running $25 for a full day, and $15 for half day.

Nordic skiing is also open, but the tubing hill is not.