Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area is a ski area in Boise County, Idaho, north-northeast of the city of Boise. Bogus is operated by the Bogus Basin Recreation Association, a non-profit organization, on private and leased land in the Boise National Forest. Ski season generally runs from Thanksgiving weekend until the weekend preceding April 15, depending on snow conditions. The area also has cross-country skiing on of Nordic trails. History The area probably got its name during the 19th-century gold rush. Crooks in the hills above Boise City, known as "spelterers", would make bogus gold dust by heating lead filings with a bit of real gold dust. Alf Engen, the father of the American powder technique, selected the site for the ski area at Bogus Basin in 1939. It opened to the public in December 1942 with a rope tow, and a T-bar was installed in 1946. In the early 1950s, Bogus had a 30-meter Nordic ski jump, designed by Corey Engen, and his brother Sverre was Bogus' ski instructor. The first chairlift at Bogus was installed in the fall of 1959 at Deer Point, and night skiing debuted in December 1964. The resort currently operates 7 chairlifts and 4 magic carpets. Four of the chairlifts are high-speed quads (#1 Deer Point, and #6 Pine Creek) were installed in 1996 and 1999, #3 Superior in 2011, and #2 Morning Star in 2019. Bogus Basin has of mixed runs, bowls, and glades, with groomed. The lift-served vertical drop is on the east-facing "back side," with a summit elevation of above sea level at the top of Shafer Butte, the highest point of the Boise Ridge mountains. This back side of Shafer Butte was opened in January 1977, following the installation of Pine Creek (#6), a double chairlift, the previous summer. A fixed-grip double for 23 seasons, it became a high-speed quad in the summer of 1999. On the front side, Bogus Basin's southern lift-served summit is at "Doe Point," adjacent to Deer Point, which is slightly higher and covered with communications towers at an elevation of . Both vantage points overlook Boise and the entire Treasure Valley, over below. Bogus' base area and main day lodge (J. R. Simplot Lodge, formerly Bogus Creek) are at , at the base of the north-facing slopes served by the Deer Point Express (#1), a high speed quad installed in the summer of 1996. The original