Kellogg Live Cam

Silver Mountain in the Bitterroot Range. Northwest and Idaho locals have skied here for years, delighting in 300 inches of annual snowfall back when they called it Jackass and lift tickets were 5 bucks. There are still some awfully sweet deals, but you don't have to drive up a snow covered mule trail to get here anymore.

Yes, it's shamefully easy to get 6,300 feet of altitude in a hurry. An interstate freeway leads straight to an 8-passenger gondola, and then you're gazing eagerly at 50 runs and 2,200 vertical. It's so simple. Instead of making your turns on icy mountain roads, you make them on the slopes – floating down Wardner Peak, tackling the North Face, or cruising Silver Belt.

Each of our guests has their own experience, and each finds something different to love. They rave about the awesome Northwest Idaho powder and ridiculously short lift lines. Or the secret stashes you discover unexpectedly. Or the friendly smiles, the free ski waxing, and other signs of Western hospitality. Or our emphasis on family skiing, with nationally acclaimed children's programs, day care, and cost-conscious prices.

Silver Mountain will free your soul and capture your heart. So come ride the Motherlode of excitement, of fun, of snow. Silver Mountain is very accessible to the major metropolitan areas in the Northwest. Silver Mountain is a 70 minute drive from Spokane and less than 6 hours from Seattle. The Gondola base is located only 1/4 mile off I-90 in Kellogg, Idaho.

Idaho borders six U.S. states and one Canadian province

Idaho's early history closely mirrors that of the American West as a whole. It was here Meriwether Lewis and William Clark realized in 1805 there was no direct Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean as President Thomas Jefferson had hoped. But it was also in Idaho that the early explorers discovered a land of natural bounty that had sustained Native Americans for generations. The Kootenai, Kalispel, Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, and Paiute peoples all lived here centuries before white settlement.

Hearing of Lewis and Clark's findings, fur trappers and mountain men slowly came west to try their luck in this rugged country. David Thompson built Kullyspell House near the shores of Lake Pend Oreille in 1809, the first of several major trading posts in what would become Idaho. The trappers and traders were followed by missionaries and pioneers who traveled via the overland trails, then by prospectors who discovered mineral wealth in the Boise Basin, the Wood River Valley, Silver City, Pierce, and the Coeur d'Alene Mountains.

Idaho's odd shape leads many people to observe the state must have been carved away from other states, and it was. At various times, Idaho was part of the Northwest Territory, the Oregon Territory, and the Washington Territory, but in 1863 it became a territory all its own.

The Gem State's population, 88,548 at the time of statehood, nearly doubled to 161,772 by 1900 and again to 325,594 by 1910. Highlights of these years included boom-and-bust mining activity and the establishment of an unprecedented irrigation system in South Central Idaho. Like all America, Idaho faced hard times in the 1920s and 1930s, but the state also became the nation's leading silver producer in 1934. Sun Valley was established as the nation's first destination ski resort in 1936, and the state's first north-south highway (U.S. Highway 95) was completed in 1938.

Idaho played numerous roles in World War II, from the establishment of Farragut Naval Training Station -- second largest in the world -- at Lake Pend Oreille to the housing of Japanese-American prisoners of war at internment camps at Hunt. The nuclear navy was developed on the grounds of the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in Eastern Idaho and on July 17, 1955, the town of Arco became the first in the United States to be electrified by atomic power.

Idaho marked its territorial centennial in 1963 with a population of 667,191. The world focused its attention on the state in 1972, when a fire at Kellogg's Sunshine Mine killed 91 men; in 1974, when daredevil Evel Knievel unsuccessfully attempted to jump across the Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle; and in 1976, when the Teton Dam broke, killing 11 and forcing 300,000 people from their homes.

In 1979, Frank Church followed William Borah's lead in becoming chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Idaho battled recession during much of the 1980s, and seized the national spotlight again when convicted killer Claude Dallas escaped from the Idaho Penitentiary in 1986, remaining at large for nearly a year before his capture in California.

Idaho's population finally topped one million in the 1990 Census, just in time for the statehood centennial. The '90s have been marked by several summers of intense forest fires, by the Olympic and World Cup achievements of Idaho skier Picabo Street, and by the growth of a robust economy that is among the healthiest in the United States.

Don't miss

Planning a trip to Idaho? Here's a selection of must-see attractions in every region:

Fun facts