Indy Ski Pass Road Trip – Idaho or Bust!

PHOTO: Beginning on February 5th, On The Trails & Summits Columnist Amy Patenaude and her friend Bria, drove from New Hampshire all the way to Washington and Oregon. Here they are at Brundage Mountain Resort in McCall, Idaho where they arrived on the evening of the 10th. Using their Indy Passes they skied in New York, South Dakota and Montana along the way.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Bria and I left Henniker early Sunday morning, February 5th. The only thing that was cast in stone was Bria’s return airline ticket for February 14th from Boise to Boston.
We both have the Indy Pass, a ski pass that is good for two visits at over 120 ski areas across the country. Our goal was to ski as many Indy Pass resorts as we crossed the country on our way to McCall, Idaho to ski Brundage Mountain and Tamarack Resort.
Sunday afternoon we hit our first ski area, Swain Resort in western New York State. The ski hill has a 650 foot vertical drop and three quad-chairlifts, lots of snowmaking and night skiing.
The place was busy. Their lifts were like no others we have ever seen–the quad chairs were two double chairs put together side by side. There were many novices on the slopes, we witnessed a lot of wipeouts.
Back in the car we drove and drove and made it just east of Cleveland, Ohio.
Monday, we didn’t stop until we reached Mitchell, South Dakota, 964 miles. We took turns driving but I was driving when we went through scary Chicago on I-90. It was 10 am and everyone was a maniac and I swore I won’t do that again.

Tuesday, on our way out of town we swung by Mitchell’s famous Corn Palace. Luckily it had lots of bright lights because it was still dark and we admired the Palace. The outside wall murals are made using all the parts of the corn plant–from cobs to colored corn seed. The theme changes every year and this year it is the Circus.

Bria and I skied four hours non-stop and we enjoyed the fresh powder snow. In the liftline we met John, a retired Wyoming Game and Fish officer and he ended up skiing with us. He had lots of good stories about his career and growing up in the wilds of Wyoming. We followed John on I-90 and he showed us where to stop to spy the Devil’s Tower.

We spent Tuesday night in Sheridan, Wyoming. We went out for pizza, the town is quiet in the winter.
Wednesday, we made the three hour drive to Red Lodge Mountain in Montana for the first tracks. As we drove up the access road we could see a snowstorm heading our way. This is a wild big mountain with over 2,400 vertical feet of drop with a mixture of slow and fast lifts. The snowstorm hit and we skied in near white out conditions dumping 4 inches of snow but the sun came out just past noon. We skied some crazy steep bumped up terrain. The views from the slopes were vast and jaw dropping, we were in the mountains now. We then drove over the Continental Divide and spent the night in Butte, Montana.

Thursday, we drove from Butte and over scenic and snowy Lolo Pass, following Lewis & Clark’s route. We hoped to make it to McCall, Idaho by late afternoon. When we arrived in Riggins, Idaho just one hour away from our destination we were stopped cold, Route 95 was closed because a propane tanker truck had crashed. Inside the Seven Devils Saloon, named after the local mountains, we sat with some US Forest Service employees who were rather concerned that the road would not be opening. We found a nice hotel right on the Salmon River and decided to wait and see.
Friday, we woke early to bad news, it would be closed for at least three days and the fastest way to get to McCall was a 9 hours drive. It was maddening to be so close and yet now so far away. Our reroute took us all the way to Walla Walla, Washington and into Oregon.
We stopped by Anthony Lakes Ski Resort, just east of I-84 with beautiful views of the Wallowa Mountains. The ski area is about the same size as Pats Peak and it is also celebrating its 60th anniversary. Anthony Lakes summit tops out at elevation 8,000 feet. The snow was good. Lift tickets were just fifty dollars. We skied for a couple of fun hours to break up the long drive.
It was dark by the time we checked into the Best Western in McCall. Mule deer were munching on the hotel’s shrubs. We counted our blessings that we made it and we enjoyed perfect weather all the way across the country.

We ate breakfast at Wall Drug, South Dakota. At Wall Drug coffee is still five cents.
Terry Peak Ski Area in Lead, South Dakota not far from Sturgis and Deadwood. We validated our Indy Pass and the gal gave us our RFID cards and some sweet gummy bears. This gem of a ski area has 1,100 vertical feet of drop, fast lifts and nice lodges and it welcomed us with some new snow. The summit of Terry Peak stands at elevation 7,100 feet and has the highest lift service between the Rockies and the Alps and lots of snow!

Saturday, we skied Brundage Mountain and it was everything we had hoped it would be. Lots of great snow, steep terrain, wild glades and fast groomers and wonderful mountain vistas that made our eyes pop! We met many locals while riding the lifts. A few led us around for a few runs and it was fun learning about the ski area. We skied all day.
Thanks to a local’s tip we picked up excellent Sushi for supper on our way to do more skiing.
McCall, Idaho is a fun town with a long skiing heritage. We went night skiing for an hour at Little Hill in McCall, opened in 1937, it is one of the oldest ski areas in Idaho. Boasting 400 vertical feet and lift served by a T-bar,lift tickets just $25.

Super Bowl Sunday, we went to the newest ski area in Idaho. Tamarack first opened in 2004 and new owners took over in 2018 and it is a grand first class resort. We felt like we had the mountain all to ourselves. The lift attendant told me it was mobbed on Saturday but he guessed everyone was off to celebrate football. Tamarack has 2,800 vertical feet of drop and lots of fast lifts. There is a great variety of terrain, steep, easy, glades and terrain parks.
We enjoyed another great day of sunshine and skiing. We tried to ski a different trail every run. Apres ski we joined the families roasting marshmallows and making S’mores provided by that mountain’s guest services.

Monday, we decided to go back to Brundage and we skied their Hidden Valley glades and bumps again. We wished we had another day to ski Tamarack again but Bria had to catch her plane to get home to her husband on Valentine’s Day. It was about a three hour drive to Boise.
We had a delicious goodbye dinner in Boise and reminisced about our adventure hitting so many Indy Pass resorts and finding so much wonderful snow..
Bria took the shuttle from the hotel to the airport and I was driving again by 6am in a snowstorm.
Things have gotten complicated this past week. I have learned a lot about road closures here in the Wild West. I am waiting for the blizzard that has closed the Interstates in Wyoming to move out. I have been staying with family in Sun Valley Idaho. The skiing has been wonderful but I am homesick and miss my husband Charlie. We live in a big country, I hope I can hit another Indy Pass resort on the way home. Have fun.