BOISE, Idaho — A big helping of new snow in Idaho's mountains this week came as a huge relief to ski resorts just ahead of the critical holiday season.
Ski hills rely heavily on lift ticket sales during the two-week break when students are out of school, and families head to the mountains.
Skiers and snowboarders will be treated to great conditions on the slopes.
Bogus Basin announced on Thursday that it will open for night skiing starting on Friday. The nonprofit mountain recreation area will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday. Holiday hours will be from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily starting on Saturday through January 6.
Bogus, which started snow-making operations this season, is reporting 24 inches of snow at the summit and 24 inches at the base. The recreation area picked up eight inches of new snow earlier this week.
The foot and a half of fresh snow that fell at Brundage Mountain this week has allowed the resort to open up 100 percent of its terrain, the mountain reported on Thursday.
The last holdouts were expert runs Hidden Valley and Northwest Passage. But officials say the dumping of snow this week paved the way for those runs to open, and to expand grooming operations to include Lakeview Bowl and all primary frontside runs.
"This big storm is the gift that keeps on giving," Brundage spokesperson April Whitney said in a statement. "It delivered back-to-back powder days and gave us the depths and coverage we needed to get the whole mountain open and dialed in."
Brundage also announced that the newly-remodeled Bear's Ben Restaurant will open on Friday, bringing the mountain's food and beverage operations up to 100 percent.
"We're hitting the sweet spot at the sweetest possible time," Whitney added. "We can't wait to kick off Winter Break and welcome our holiday guests."
