Tamarack, ID, Report: Sleeper Spring Pow Day

Winter has returned to Tamarack, Idaho. | Photo: Zach Armstrong

Report from Thursday, March 28, 2024

After a couple of weeks of warm spring skiing, I thought Idaho had seen its last powder days for the season. A friend of mine had planned a trip out to Tamarack, Idaho, for the end of March, and I expected to be packing my Hawaiian shirt and my jorts. Turns out, winter had a little bit more in store for us.

Thursday brought more than 8 inches of fresh snow to Tamarack, and it was still actively snowing at the resort while we made our way up from Boise. We arrived to find a nearly empty parking lot and a full on return to winter. Instantly heading for the Summit Chair, we were shocked at the amount of untouched snow visible from the chairlift, even at 10:30 am. At the top of the Summit Chair, we found knee-deep turns through soft fluffy snow, which gradually transitioned into the creamier ‘spring pow’ that I expected all the way down.

Some parts of the day were full on storm skiing. | Photo: Zach Armstrong

We made a few laps on the Summit Chair, waiting for more terrain to open as the Ski Patrol finished up their avalanche mitigation work for the day. Beyond the Upper Bliss Gate, the wind was blowing hard, and visibility was somewhat lacking. These conditions meant that we were some of the only people making the traverse towards ‘Me First and After You.’ We did a few runs of completely untouched snow, weaving in and out of the old growth trees. The snow stayed really nice near the summit, but lower down on the mountain it began to thicken up, resulting in some leg-burning finishes to our pow laps.

Following a quick sandwich break in the base area, we headed over to the Wildwood Chairlift. The snow was a little softer over there compared to the Summit Chair, and we were pleased to still find plenty of uncut snow. I like the Wildwood Chairlift because of the seemingly endless tree skiing off of Tamarack Run and feeding into The Grove. Exploring in the trees finding soft freshies kept us off the groomers and out of the exhausting chop, typical for a spring powder day.

Tamarack, Idaho has some great glades to explore off the Wildwood Chairlift. | Photo: Zach Armstrong

We closed out the day with a few more laps on the Summit Chair. During the storm and throughout the day, strong winds at the top had deposited some great snow on the upper part of the mountain. Even at the end of the day we were able to get some soft knee deep turns just below the huge cornice that had formed on ‘Me First and After You.’

This storm brought some fantastic snow, and with almost no other skiers at Tamarack, Thursday was some of the best runs I’ve had all season. Thanks, Tamarack!