The summer season at Tamarack Resort, Idaho, is off to a rough start.
A heavy windstorm that saw 70-plus mile-per-hour winds ripped through western Idaho near Boise last week, damaging one of the Tamarack Express lift’s towers at the Tamarack Resort in Donnelly, Idaho. After working with the lift’s manufacturer, the Tamarack Resort team determined it would need to replace the tower, putting the Tamarack Express lift out of commission for multiple weeks.
The resort has already begun to repair the lift, with the replacement arriving on June 1. It is estimated that installation will take between 3 and 5 weeks, after which it will undergo final inspection and certification before reopening. The resort hopes to have the Tamarack Express spinning again by late June or mid-July.
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The unfortunate event comes just weeks after Tamarack Resort began its summer operations. “America’s only ski, golf, and lake resort” has been forced to halt all uphill traffic on the mountain, affecting mountain biking operations that need the lift to access the resort’s bike park.
“We won’t pretend this one doesn’t sting. This team pulled off something remarkable – opening the entire resort by Memorial Day weekend, the marina, the mountain, the golf course, all of it. The energy you all brought to that opening weekend reminded us exactly why we do this. To have this happen days later is a gut punch, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise,” the resort wrote in an Instagram post.
Despite the setback, Tamarack Resort is excited to continue operations as usual across the rest of the resort. The meadows are still open for biking, as are the hiking trails. The Osprey Meadows Golf Course, Tamarack’s premier 19-hole championship course, opened for the summer on Memorial Day weekend. The resort also unveiled its new marina on Lake Cascade, offering seasonal boat slips.
“And to those of you still out here – on the water, on the course, on the trails – we see you, and we’re grateful,” Tamarack Resort wrote.
Over the past few decades, Tamarack Resort has been through a lot. The 2007-08 financial crisis left the resort reeling, ultimately leading to the owners filing for bankruptcy protection in 2009. The resort would end up missing ski seasons and losing multiple chairlifts before being purchased by real estate firm Imperium Blue and MMG Equity Partners in 2018.
Flash forward to today, Tamarack Resort has become a popular year-round destination for skiers, hikers, golfers, bikers, and others. The resort’s comeback is a testament to the Idaho community’s commitment to the outdoors and to keeping its resorts alive.
Despite a challenging start to its summer, Tamarack Resort is doing everything it can to get Tamarack Express up and running again. When the lift comes back, “it’ll run full-time, 7 days a week, and it’ll be worth the wait,” the resort announced.
