Idaho celebrates 35 years of lift-served mountain biking

147 downhill trails span 175 miles, descend 18K vertical feet

KELLOGG, Idaho (July 29, 2026) -- This summer marks 35 years of lift-served mountain biking in Idaho. Early adopters, Brundage and Schweitzer began hauling riders and their bikes up the mountain on chairlifts in 1991 as the trend began emerging across North America.

Other Idaho ski areas soon joined in, and today, the Gem State boasts seven legit lift-served mountain biking destinations operating with regularity throughout the summer:

* Bogus Basin -- Delivering 1,257 feet of vert, The Basin Gravity Park's 20 lift-served downhill trails encompass more than 11 miles. The ski area also sports 13 XC multiuse trails spanning 20 miles and is home to "Around the Mountain," the state's top trail as ranked by MTBprojects.com. Its cross-country network links to more than 200 miles of trails managed by Ridge to Rivers, allowing riders to drop over 4,000 feet back into Boise from the ski area. Visit bogusbasin.org for more details.

* Brundage -- Its five lift-served downhill trails traverse 9.85 miles and descend 1,800 feet, while its 10 cross-country trails cover another 19.15 miles of terrain. Plus, the Brundage to Bear Basin Trail connects the resort's trail network to the area's popular Bear Basin and Payette Rim trail systems, with backcountry shuttle service on two USFS trails (B2BB and the Goose Creek Trail) adding another 6.2 and 8 miles of flowy and rowdy (respectively) singletrack just outside the bike park boundaries. Visit brundage.com for more details.

* Grand Targhee Resort -- Explore 27 DH trails totaling 17 miles and dropping 2,270 vertical feet and enjoy its XC network of 28 trails spanning 50 miles. MTBparks.com Riders' Choice Best Bike Parks Awards ranked its bike park among the Northwest's top five for six consecutive years. Targhee also operates a Habitat bike rental shop in downtown Driggs for riders wanting to explore the greater Teton Valley. Visit grandtarghee.com for more details.

* Schweitzer -- The resort maintains 16 downhill trails totaling 16.8 miles that begin at the top of the Great Escape Quad and descend 1,700 feet to Schweitzer Village. Those looking for more vertical can ride the Little Sand Creek Basin trail system after descending Schweitzer's "Highpoint Trail" for 4,000 sustained vertical feet of fun singletrack. The resort also has 20 cross-country trails spanning 21.9 miles. Visit schweitzer.com for more details.

* Silver Mountain Resort -- Voted Best in the Northwest for four consecutive years in the MTBparks.com Riders' Choice Awards, the resort offers 800 feet of vertical in the Chair 3 Zone and 3,400 feet of vertical overall when you include the Lower Mountain. It has 39 gravity-oriented single-track trails in the bike park that total more than 30 miles. Visit silvermt.com for more details.

* Sun Valley Resort -- The Sun Valley area boasts over 400 miles of dirt singletrack along with over 30 miles of paved bike paths physically separated from roads. Meanwhile, Bald Mountain's six lift-served flow trails cover 14.9 miles, descend 3,400 vertical feet, and include America's longest purpose-built downhill trail. Please note terrain is limited this summer due to ongoing lift infrastructure projects (the replacement of the Lookout Express and Christmas lifts). Visit sunvalley.com for more details.

* Tamarack Resort -- The resort's 22 trails extend 41.42 miles and descend 1,800 feet of vert, while its Meadows Trails system offers 29 XC trails spanning 25 miles. It also boasts a professionally designed jump park at the base area with features ranging from beginner to advanced. Visit tamarackidaho.com for more details.

Although it employs shuttles rather than chairlifts to convey visitors uphill, Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area runs the most popular ski-area-operated bike trail in the country -- the Route of the Hiawatha, which attracts more than 60,000 riders each summer. America's most iconic rail-trail, the 15-mile Route of the Hiawatha's gentle 1- to 2-percent, all-downhill ride drops 967 feet as it straddles the Idaho-Montana state line, delves 10 dark tunnels (one of them 1.7 miles long), and crosses seven sky-high train trestles. It has one of the largest fleets of rental bicycles in the state, with 680 units in its inventory. Visit ridethehiawatha.com for more details.

Two other Idaho ski areas, Soldier Mountain and Pomerelle Mountain Resort, offer limited summer operations with occasional lift service, but riders are welcome to explore the mountain bike parks there and pedal uphill under their own power otherwise. Soldier Mountain has 5 trails covering more than 9 miles and descending 872 feet of vert while Pomerelle has 6 trails spanning 10 miles that drop 1,000 vertical feet.

Soldier Mountain's third and final Picnic Patio Party -- during which it will spin Chair 1 from 2-6 p.m. for public mountain biking and scenic chairlift rides -- is slated for Sunday Aug. 16. Visit soldiermountain.com for more details.

Pomerelle will open to the public for lift-served mountain biking on one weekend this summer -- Aug. 1-2, for The Pomerelle Pounder. One of the longest-running mountain bike races in Idaho, the Pounder is part of the Utah Gravity Mountain Bike Series. Visit pomerelle.com for more details.

Although Kelly Canyon Resort in Eastern Idaho debuted a mountain bike park in summer 2019, it has not opened for several summers as the new owners pursue capital improvement projects.

Collectively, the Gem State's ski areas boast 147 downhill trails encompassing a total of 175 miles and 18,466 feet of vert, as well as another 102 cross-country trails spanning 151 miles. Combined, their rental fleets sport 1,069 bikes with at least 173 of them in kids' sizes, which doesn't include the Route of the Hiawatha's 35 Burley bike trailers and 15-20 tag along bikes.

Bonus: Idaho ski areas also offer an array of summertime amenities for visitors who don't mountain bike, ranging from scenic chairlift rides, golf courses, spas, and trail hiking and running to disc golf, horseback riding, ziplines, and children's fun zones. Beyond that, Bogus Basin operates the Pacific Northwest's sole mountain coaster (the Glade Runner), Silver Mountain boasts Idaho's largest indoor waterpark (Silver Rapids), and Tamarack offers guided whitewater rafting trips on the North Fork of the Payette River and just opened a 100-slip marina on Lake Cascade with watercraft rentals, fuel service, dining, retail, and a public beach with white sand.

PIONEERING IDAHO SKI AREAS

When Brundage and Schweitzer introduced lift-served mountain biking in 1991, it was still a niche concept in North America.

Mount Snow in Vermont began offering lift-served downhill mountain biking in 1986 and may have been the first ski area in the country to do so. Prior to Brundage and Schweitzer, there were only a handful of other ski areas in North America -- most notably Mammoth Mountain in California, Winter Park in Colorado, and Whistler in British Columbia -- that had begun to carry mountain bikes on chairlifts and offered bona fide lift-served mountain biking.

"Idaho wasn't just joining an established trend when Brundage and Schweitzer began offering lift-served mountain biking, it was among the earliest adopters helping define what summer operations at ski areas could become," Silver Mountain Resort general manager and Idaho Ski Areas Association board president Jeff Colburn said. "Thirty-five years later, lift-served mountain biking has become a cornerstone of summer recreation at ski areas throughout North America and around the world.

"And when you look at other lift-served mountain biking ecosystems, the Gem State punches well above its weight. You'd be hard pressed to find a better destination for lift-served mountain biking than Idaho, with nearly half of our ski areas offering summer lift service across nearly every region of the state."