McCALL, ID – So shoot me, I never learned what a shot-ski was until long after college.
“You don’t spend enough time in ski town bars,” my skiing wingman intoned, chuckling, and he’s right. That’s because I didn’t spend much time in ski towns period. As a kid it was condos at Sugarbush, my cousin’s house (and big, BIG jacuzzi) at Whiteface, or my college pal’s family bungalow at Killington. Other than that, it was day trips. And as for apres, I’d rather do the James Bond thing: a girl, a drink, some oysters, and another big, BIG jacuzzi. (My favorite is in Saranac Lake, near my beloved Whiteface, but more on that later…).
As such, I never saw the inside of a skiing bar until much later in life. (And as for a shot-ski, the first time I saw one of those was a mere three years ago, when my local ski club crashed my birthday party with one and tried to send me way far down on lemoncello and bourbon. I was fine, and everyone had an extra good time. It’s now become a tradition…)
But skiing journalists can’t spit without finding themselves in a ski town, and now following the road where it takes me, I found myself in McCall, Idaho, a ski town about two-and-a-quarter hours due north of Boise, on the edge of scenic Payette Lake. And I was kickin’ it in the BIGGEST, BADDEST jacuzzi yet.
BOISE TO McCALL
Boise isn’t just an up-and-coming city, it’s arrived. It’s like a hit song that raced to the top of the charts and dominated for weeks: number one with a bullet, as they say in the industry. Everyone is moving here, from all across the country. Yet it’s also a young city, as McCall is a young ski town.
The 90-mile road from Boise to McCall, Route 55, is a slithering sidewinder, twisting its way below and between a tumultuous ocean of greenish-beige hills. Do not speed, for any reason, nor tailgate; there are steep drop-offs and narrow hairpins. Do yourself a favor and book an all-wheel drive vehicle. Otherwise, you risk having to deal with chains. That’s a nightmare out of Wes Craven’s catalog. No, thank you! But finally, after roughly two hours of almost nothing and nearly no one, Route 55 becomes South 3rd Street, and the long and winding road empties into McCall.
South 3rd Street runs directly to the southwest tip of Payette Lake, before curving sharply left along the water’s edge. Brundage is seven miles outside of town. Tamarack, a fellow Indy Pass resort, is another ten miles further away, and the two make an excellent option for a week-long excursion. Most of the town is set along this fishhook section of the road, especially lodging options.
McCall may be a young ski town, but it is also an old mining town, dating back to Gold Rush days, so it has some Old West character. Cut to 2024, and you’ll also find a stew of Scandinavian influence, outdoor sports outfitters for all seasons, (especially skiing), and touristy restaurants. You’ll also find plentiful powder, super-friendly people, tall timber, mountain views and – best of all – endless, ENDLESS stoke.
SKIING AT BRUNDAGE, DAY 1
[Author’s Note: Circumstances dictated that Your Author could only take a short tour on Day 1, but in five runs we took four different lifts, all of them speedy, efficient, and ergonomic.]
Forgive my cribbing notes from Julius Caesar, but Brundagia est omnis divisa in partes quattuor: All Brundage is divided into four parts. These are the front side, the Lakeview Bowl, Hidden Valley, and the extended lift accessed, yet unpatrolled extreme backcountry. (This backcountry area’s higher summit altitude (7,803 ft.) is regarded as Brundage Mountain’s official highest altitude, making the resort’s total vertical drop 1,921 feet. There are also cat-skiing excursions into this territory.)
The front side is a mix of intermediate and expert terrains, with an extensive novice area at its base. A separate progression area lies just adjacent in its own small pocket skier’s left of everything. The lower-level area extends in a crescent shape, with two high speed summit quads – the Bluebird Express and new Centennial Express – sandwiching the midmountain-reaching Bear Triple Chair. Park features are also accessed in this lower section of the mountain.
Popular front side blue runs include North, Rodeo, and 45th Parallel. Your Author looks forward to tackling more difficult terrain, including something colorfully called the Stair Step and another highly-recommended run called Beeline. And, of course, who doesn’t love a Hollywood run down the lift line, and at Brundage one pays homage to the great ski jumper Corey Engen who along with founder and financier J.R. Simplot (the famous potato baron, agribusiness genius, and Idaho’s first billionaire), and Warren Brown, is revered as an icon of the mountain.
The summit at Brundage is actually a long ridge, and if one continues along its cat track skier’s left, one will descend into the scenic Lakeview Bowl, a delightfully verdant smattering of intermediate trails overlooking Payette Lake with some more difficult glades interspersed between small stands of trees.
“That’s our little snow globe! There’s nothing like the picture of the bright white snow ghosts against a dark cerulean sky as you ride up the Lakeview Triple Chair,” beamed an ebullient April Whitney, public relations specialist for Brundage. “But the real magic of the Lakeview area is the skiing. There are countless little powder patches in the glades, and it’s super easy to take a few turns off trail into a powdery glade, and them zoom back onto a groomed run.”
If, however, one turns to the north off the summit, then one finds themselves in the Hidden Valley, Brundage’s wildest and most ungroomed terrain, strictly single and double black diamond territory. An appropriately named run, Goat Track, serves as the entryway into several chutes and chicanes – runs with such sweet, soothing monikers such as Terminator, Backbreaker Flats, and Impact Gulch.
“Oh, don’t be super-intimidated by those,” laughs Michael Hayes, sales and events manager for Brundage, and one of its most beloved ambassadors. “The snow is nice and deep after a storm, so don’t miss it. My favorites over there are Northwest Passage and upper zones like North and South Nozzle,” he concluded, speaking of twin chutes off the Goat Track.
A whopping (and heartening!) 46% of runs at Brundage are marked expert or higher. Happily, under ordinary circumstances, the trail map reads just a little harder than the mountain dictates, so go ahead – challenge yourself to get the next level. There’s deep and plentiful pow to cushion your wipeouts.
PLACES TO STAY – ***JAY’S CHOICE – THE EVERGREEN HOTEL***
Visitors to McCall enjoy a bumper crop of great affordable lodging. My personal favorite is the Evergreen Hotel, an old hunting lodge in the process of being converted into a supremely comfortable set of suites at reasonable prices. Rooms are ginormous, featuring a fully furnished sitting area with its own TV, as well as a dining room table, chairs, and couches. Tall vaulted ceilings tower over your bed, and there are plenty of amenities, yet one stands out above all the rest – head and shoulders.
You get one guess.
That’s right, the biggest, baddest jacuzzi of all.
First of all, the entire pool area is gargantuan. Featuring the same gorgeous wooden vaulted ceilings as the rest of the hotel – two stories high, in this case – the entire pool and jacuzzi area are encased floor-to-ceiling in glass on three sides. Pool hours generously allow for sunrise or sunset swims and soaks, and by day the natural light is dazzling, while by night both pool and jacuzzi are lit in romantic blue.
The jacuzzi is Brobdingnagian; the largest I’ve yet seen at a hotel, and definitely now the Gold Standard going forward. You can swim laps across it in either an east-west or north-south direction or just soak on the perimeter. There are beach lounge chairs to sun yourself in and tables for your gear.
Now here’s the best part: Some interior design genius – seriously, we’re talking Stephen Hawking level marketing here – decided to hang all the stuffed animal heads in the pool and jacuzzi area. Forget your ordinary moose and deer you find in America, we’re talking Bronx Zoo-worthy exhibits: okapis and wildebeests, black rhinoceri and antelopes, elands and nyalas.
The only thing missing is a gnu.
Now I’m waiting for some weisenheimer to make the joke, “But Jay! No gnus is good gnus!”
[Editor’s Note: Surprise. The first “weisenheimer” was, of course, April Whitney. New business cards are on order: April Whitney – PR and Marketing Maven and First Weisenheimer…]
Anyway, the jacuzzi. Full stop.
Other solid lodging options abound, all within a mile or so of each other. The McCall Hotel is both popular and comfortable as it oozes old west charm. Those whose tastes edge more towards elegance might choose the Shore Lodge. Both feature spacious, beautifully appointed rooms, (many with gorgeous lake views right from the water’s edge), and white glove service.
FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD, WE’RE ANXIOUS TO TRY IT (PART 3,000,000…)
All right everyone, I need you to do a cheer with me! Are you ready?!
GIMME AN R!
R!
GIMME AN E!
E!
GIMME AN A!
A!
GIMME AN L!
L!
GIMME AN F!
F!
GIMME AN O!
O!
GIMME ANOTHER O!
O!
GIMME A D!
D!
WHAT DO WE WANT?
REAL FOOD!
WHAT DID THEY SERVE ME ALL WEEKEND IN McCALL??
***CRICKET! CRICKET! CRICKET!***
It was that bad. The struggle was real. I would love to tell you all about the food in McCall, but no one served me anything worth writing about. And I stuck to the sane side of the menu – beef! I didn’t dare venture into okapi or gnu or homegrown yak (I kid you not; yak empanadas are on a menu…and I’m going to try one…). And as for the Mexican food, I’ll leave you with this assessment: I used to think a couple lemoncellos from a shotski would kill the taste of anything, but after seeing a tortilla chip covered in whipped cream and chocolate sauce, I’m not so sure.
