BOGUS BASIN, Idaho — The question all skiers and snowboarders are looking to answer: When will Bogus Basin open?
The popular Treasure Valley resort saw its first snowfall of the season last week, and for those who frequent the mountain, the urge to scratch their winter sports itch is growing by the day.
See what resort officials have to say about a potential early opening
“It’s always an exciting time. We watch social media just explode at the first few flakes,” said Brad Wilson, General Manager at Bogus Basin.
The good news is that the resort could open earlier than ever as new technology makes it easier to make snow without Mother Nature carrying the entire load.
Of course, fresh powder from an overnight snowstorm remains undefeated, but with new snow guns and grooming technology at the ready, Bogus is just a few cold nights away from being ready to go.
“It's about 27 degrees and relatively low humidity, we’ll start making snow. It’s probably about a week of snowmaking before we can get a trail open,” explained Wilson.
“Ya know, we need about a foot of machine-made snow on the trail to get open, which isn't very much, but that snow is very dense and holds up really well, so it’s a brave new world and we are not just sitting here waiting for the flakes to fall out of the sky.”
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Wilson also says that if you have a season pass at the resort that you need to pick up a new RFID media pass at the downtown office before heading up the hill. This will save time and get you on the slopes faster, which beats waiting in line at the mountain.
Also, La Niña winters tend to mean below-average temperatures and above-average snowfall for many Idaho resorts. Idaho News 6's chief meteorologist Scott Dorval says that while there are no promises in terms of increased snowfall, the weather pattern remains in our favor.
"It's always so hard to tell how much snow we are going to get for a particular season, but when we have La Niña, it points us in the right direction," said Dorval. "It puts us a little bit more favorable for that above normal snowpack, and so we are headed in the right direction."