Building Bogus Basin by Brassey Chandler

The Boise Jaycees backed the effort to develop a ski area. Of course, finding the site and getting people up the hill to enjoy it were two different things. They did some trudging, some looking, and a lot of skiing from Horseshoe Bend Hill to Pilot’s Peak near Idaho City-some 85 miles across the ridges-before settling on Shafer Butte and nearby Deer Point, a site that seemed to offer dependable snow. Joining him in the search were Boise Ski Club President John Hearne and Boise Forest Landscape Architect Yale Moeller. They began looking for a better place to ski close to town.Īlf Engen of Sun Valley was an early competitive skier and ski-jumper commissioned by the Forest Service to look for a site on the Boise National Forest that might work. Even so, the members of the ski club were hooked.

The most convenient places to ski were at the American Legion Golf Course at the end of 8th Street, and on the summit of Horseshoe Bend Hill. They formed the Boise Ski Club at a time when all skis were made of hickory and ski poles were made from bamboo.

Young, fit Boiseans, enthralled with Sun Valley, were eager to bring this new sport of downhill skiing closer to home. That same year, in December, the Sun Valley Ski Resort opened in Idaho, becoming the first destination winter resort in the U.S. It started to emerge as a recreational pursuit in the 19th century and didn’t become an Olympic sport, in the form of slalom racing, until 1936. Downhill skiing has been around for a while, but maybe not as long as you think.

Building Bogus Basin by Brassey Chandler