Bogus Basin Road ranked among sketchiest ski-access roads in US. How it earned its place
Bogus Basin Road, the curving, two-lane, sometimes-overcrowded route to Bogus Basin ski area, has been named one of the “sketchiest” ski resort access roads in the country.
The ski-news site SnowBrains ranked it No. 2 among nine such roads based on nearly 500 comments readers provided after SnowBrains asked them. Only Utah’s Powder Mountain ranked worse.
The 16-mile route has 172 turns, many with almost no room for error as drivers avoid steep drop-offs, SnowBrains said.
“In winter, snow, ice, and fog can add to the difficulty, requiring careful navigation and sometimes even chains or snow tires,” the site said. “You may need some Dramamine if you are prone to motion sickness.”
From its start at Hill Road in the North End, Bogus Basin Road ascends 3,400 feet before reaching the main Bogus Basin parking lot. The road was constructed starting in 1938 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal jobs program to combat unemployment during the Great Depression. The road takes motorists from the dry sagebrush foothills to a mountain forest.
Last winter, Bogus Basin officials posted daily road reports on social media letting people know what to expect at different points of the route.
Bogus Basin Road was originally one lane, albeit a wide one. Cars went up the mountain in the morning, and the direction of travel switched in the afternoon to allow visitors to head back down. Today, Bogus Basin plows and sands the road in winter for Ada and Boise counties.
Accidents happen along the road. A 32-year-old Boise woman died after a crash along the side of the road in November. Less than a week later, in December, Boise firefighters rescued a man from a crashed vehicle as they dealt with snowy conditions and tricky terrain.
