A large crowd of dignitaries, local residents any media turned out Wednesday to send the first chair up the hill at opening day of Tamarack Resort.
The event marked the opening of North America's first major ski area in more than two decades, and the end of 25 years of work to develop a resort along Lake Cascade.
"This is a tremendous thing to come and see what has been talked about for so many years," Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said as he walked toward the Tamarack Express chairlift. "And to see the vision of these developers come to life - and at world-class standards - is wonderful."
A total of 675 people attended Wednesday's festivities, including 325 people with ski passes and 350 invited guests or spectators.
The idea to build a ski resort near Donnelly was first conceived in the 1980s under the name Valbois.
After more than a decade of work to make Valbois a reality, the project went bankrupt in 1995, but was revived by investors under the name WestRock.
In 2000, developers brought in French businessman Jean-Pierre Boespflug to spearhead the project, and he guided WestRock to the Idaho State Land Board.
In 2002, after hours of hearings, the land board granted developers a long-term lease of state land on West Mountain.
Later that year, the name was changed to Tamarack Resort, and work began in earnest to open the ski hill, golf course, home sites and other amenities.
Feels fantastic
On Wednesday, Boespflug reflected on a project that many people said would never open.
"After four and a half years of hard work it feels fantastic to make it happen, especially considering the tremendous cooperation we have received from the people of Valley County and Idaho," Boespflug said.
"We did our homework in the beginning and faced some critics, but little by little I think we've shown people that it makes sense for this area to be the home to a new ski resort," he said.
Tamarack's progress over the last couple of years has had an effect on the economy and real estate market in Long Valley, which in 2001 was recovering from the shutdown of the last major sawmill in Valley County.
That fact was not lost on Kempthorne, who noted that the area is now a prime destination.
"Three years ago I stood in the work room of the Cascade mill with those mill workers who were losing their jobs, and those were tough times," Kempthorne said. "But (Tamarack) is one of many success stories in this county. Valley County is one of the hot properties right now, and Idaho is proud of that."
Jovial crowd
Kempthorne and Boespflug joined scores of other people in a short ceremony at the bottom of the chair lift on Wednesday.
The sky was grey and the snow at the bottom of the mountain was thin, but all in attendance could see more powder and bright sunlight at the top of the lift.
After a few introductions, Kempthorne and Boespflug joined Tamarack investor Alfredo Miguel Afif and Valley County Commission Chair Terry Gestrin and the first chair up the hill, the crowd cheered and Kempthorne gave a "thumbs-up" as the lift whisked the quartet away.
Waiting patiently in line behind the various officials who rode up the mountain were two skiers, Tom Steinberg of Donnelly and April Russell, the media representative for Brundage Mountain Resort. Russell said she wanted to be near the front of the line when Tamarack opened its hill because of the importance of the day "It's a historic moment," Russell said. "It's not every day you get to ski at the first new ski resort in 20 years."
Steinberg, on the other hand, just wanted to get in some turns to find out what Tamarack has to offer.
"After hearing all the hoopla over the last few years, I figure I'd come out and see what they've got," Steinberg said. "It's seven miles from my house, so I wanted to see what's out here."
