Bogus Basin. Photo: Courtesy Bogus Basin Mountain ResortFirst snow has fallen at Bogus Basin, winter is right around the corner, and now, Bogus Basin has announced its opening day for the 2026-27 season on Saturday, November 21st.Ahead of opening day and with more snow in store this weekend, Bogus B asin is debuting a list of new upgrades, features, and hours of operation coming to the mountain just in time for the winter season.What’s new this seasonSkiers and snowboarders can expect two new advanced top-to-bottom runs and enjoy over 1,700 vertical feet after crews cleared and graded areas of Pine Creek over the summer. Lucky Friday is a new black diamond run that is accessible from Middle Paradise and descends to the bottom of Pine Creek, stretching around a half mile. The new Utopia run begins just beyond the entrance to Wildcat and can be accessed from Cabin Traverse; it is also designated as a black diamond with advanced terrain. Both runs are recommended for advanced skiers and snowboarders only. You can view a map of the new runs here. Pine Creek sits on the back side of Shafer Butte.Bogus Basin General Manager Brad Wilson said that these runs are also clearing the way for future mountain upgrades. “These trails were identified in the original 2016 Master Plan as the best areas to develop in the Pine Creek Area. Along with the developed trails in Pine Creek, we are clearing the lift line for a future lift that will load at the base of Showcase, unloading to the skiers left of Tiger,” Wilson said in a press release. The Outpost is Bogus Basin’s newest facility set to open for the 2026-27 season in January. The 10,000-square-foot “sprung structure” building is planned to offer full-service food and beverage service and a seating capacity of 250 people, as BoiseDev reported. It also features a 3,000-square-foot observation deck and is located next to the Pioneer Lodge and the Morning Star Express lift. And that’s not all! The Mountain Operations team added a new remote-controlled brush cutter, the Green Climber, to its fleet, helping enhance brush-clearing efforts on mountain runs. Changing hours of operation The mountain is also changing its hours of operation. Lifts will now begin spinning each morning at 9 a.m, an hour earlier than in previous seasons. During night operations, the mountain will close at 9 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays. On Friday and Saturday nights, the mountain will stay open until 10 p.m. During day-only operations, the mountain will now close at 4 p.m. The mountain has also removed holiday blackout dates on its Midweek Season Pass and removed holiday restricted start times on its Value Season Pass. You can learn more about season passes here.Stored snow getting put to useBogus Basin is putting its snow storage experiment to work for a second winter, uncovering a massive pile of snow that crews have kept insulated beneath protective panels since March.Crews removed the panels this week, revealing that about 60% of the original snow pile survived the summer. That’s despite temperatures on the mountain reaching 118 degrees. Meanwhile, temperatures beneath the panels averaged 34.7 degrees.“With a change in the weather coming this weekend, the timing was ideal for removing the insulated panels,” said Jonathan Ostrow, snowmaking manager for Bogus. “We’re seeing good snowmaking temperatures and moisture in the forecast, so we can begin putting this stored snow to work and preparing for winter operations. The panels will be carefully packed away until they’re needed again to cover a new snow pile in the spring.”The pile was even larger than last year’s, according to mountain managers, measuring about 35 feet high, 80 feet wide, and 330 feet long when crews covered it in late March. Bogus Basin said it stored more snow this year despite an unusually poor 2025-26 winter season that left many of Idaho’s watersheds with record-low snowpack, as BoiseDev reported. Bogus Basin became the first ski area in the country to test the insulated snow storage technology from Finnish company Snow Secure back in 2025. The snow storage system uses weather-resistant panels to cover and preserve snow through the summer, allowing ski areas to reuse it as they prepare for the winter season ahead. ...read more read less