The Little Ski Hill is a modest

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, located in west central

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

, two miles (3 km) west of McCall. Adjacent to

Highway 55 The following highways are numbered 55: International * European route E55 * Arab Mashreq route M55 Argentina * San Luis Provincial Route 55 Australia * Carnarvon Highway * Castlereagh Highway * Karoonda Highway Belgium * N55 road (Belgiu ...

, immediately west of the county line in Adams County, it was formerly known as the "Payette Lakes Ski Area." Built in 1937 as a winter diversion for local forest workers, the Little Ski Hill has served the region's youth and skiing community for over The small but action-packed facility has an

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

hill served by a

T-bar A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-co ...

surface lift, providing 405 vertical feet (123 m) of terrain on the only lighted ski area in the vicinity. It has a summit

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

; the slopes face north and west. The ski area also has of groomed

cross-country ski Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

trails and a

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

range. Ski legend and fifty-year McCall resident Corey Engen taught at the hill for years before developing the nearby

Brundage Mountain Brundage Mountain Resort is an alpine ski area in the western United States, located in west central Idaho in the Payette National Forest. Brundage first opened in November 1961 and is northwest of McCall, a twenty-minute drive in average winte ...

in 1961. The area formerly had a 50-60 meter Nordic

ski jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

on its lower north slope, near the bend in the

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

. The aging jump was destroyed by a microburst wind in the 1990s. A 25-30 meter Nordic

is still in use. Patty Boydstun, a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine ski racer, grew up in McCall and learned to ski at the hill. She finished eighth in the slalom at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Euro ...

and had ten top-ten finishes in slalom on the World Cup circuit.FIS-ski.com
- Patty Boydstun - accessed 2022-03-31

References

External links

* – The Little Ski Hill
Idaho Public TV
- Outdoor Idaho - video - Hometown Ski Hills - 2010-02-18
Idaho Public TV
- Outdoor Idaho - Hometown Ski Hills - Little Ski Hill history
Ski Map.org
– trail maps – Little Ski Hill
Visit Idaho.org
– Little Ski Hill {{Idaho Ski areas navbox Ski areas and resorts in Idaho Buildings and structures in Adams County, Idaho Tourist attractions in Adams County, Idaho