Idaho is blessed with having nice ski resorts that cater to all levels of skiing.

Bogus Basin is in our backyard. It is only 16 miles north of Boise. Bogus boasts four high-speed quads and over 75 named runs.

The problem with Bogus is that it is very popular, especially on a Saturday. You head up there around 10 a.m. on a Saturday and expect parking to be at a premium if you can find any at all. On a weekend powder day, it can take hours to get up the hill.

That’s the problem with all the growth that has taken place in the valley. Everything is more crowded.

There is a nearby ski area that is not crowded — Soldier Mountain. Soldier Mountain is east of Caldwell about 2½ hours over by Fairfield. Soldier Mountain is not pretentious or fancy. You are just as likely to see somebody skiing in Carhartts as you are skiing in the newest Sun Valley fashion.

Bruce Willis helped put Soldier Mountain in the news back in the 1990s when he purchased the ski resort. In 2012, he donated the ski resort to a nonprofit that ran the resort until 2015.

Soldier Mountain was once again in the news when it was listed for sale for $149,000. That’s right, you could own a ski resort for less than $150,000. You could barely buy a house in Sun Valley for 10 times that amount. That price didn’t include the land. Soldier Mountain sits on government lease land.

It must be hard to run a ski resort. The young couple who bought the resort listed it for sale on Craigslist a few years later.

Soldier Mountain eventually sold to a group of investors.

Nothing much has changed. Skiing at Soldier Mountain is like stepping back to the 1970s, and I mean that in a good way. There aren’t any high-speed quads. There are two two-person lifts. There is usually good snow and no crowds.

My wife and I skied there a week ago. I was a little hesitant since Fairfield can often have the lowest temperatures in Idaho. When we arrived in Fairfield, it was 9 below zero.

The temperature climbed into the 20s as we drove out of the fog and headed north to Soldier Mountain.

We were greeted with brilliant sun and empty slopes. There wasn’t any new snow so we stuck to the groomed runs. Most of the time we were the only people on the lift. The slopes were immaculately groomed. We’d cut tracks in manicured corduroy and came back on the next run to find that our tracks were still the only tracks there.

Theres a small lodge and bar. You can get a hamburger for less than $10. Try finding that at any other ski resort.

Soldier Mountain is only open Thursday through Sunday and Mondays on holidays.

You can rent the whole mountain on the other days for a private ski experience. Cat skiing is also available.

Soldier Mountain is a great place to ski with no crowds and reasonable prices. It doesn’t have the have the glitz of nearby Sun Valley, but you can get a lot of skiing in for one-third of the price.