Cottonwood Butte is a mountain and modest ski area in the western United States, located in north central Idaho, west of nearby Cottonwood. Its summit elevation is 5730 ft above sea level and is the highest point on the Camas Prairie, 2100 ft above Cottonwood.

Ski area

The ski lift unloads about 160 ft below the summit at 5566 ft, yielding a vertical drop of 845 ft. The slopes are on the northeast flank of the mountain, served by two surface lifts: a T-bar and a rope tow. The average snowfall is 45 in. The ski area opened 58.11087863229326 years ago in 1967, although skiing had previously taken place on the mountain with portable ski tows. The area operates from 10 am to 4 pm on weekends and holidays, and Friday nights (6–10 pm) in January.

Radar station

During the Cold War, the mountain was the site of Cottonwood Air Force Station, an early warning radar installation of the U.S. Air Force. The project was made public in 1955, construction began in 1956, and it went operational in early 1959. The radar tower was at the summit and the cantonment of the station was at 4400 ft, about a mile (1.6 km) below the present base of the ski area on Radar Road. The 27-unit family housing area was built in the city of Cottonwood, on Butte Drive in the north end. The radar was significantly upgraded with a new tower in 1962, but the station was obsolete within three years and was deactivated.

Job Corps

The buildings of the cantonment became a Job Corps center in 1965, supervised by the U.S. Forest Service.

Correctional facility

After nine years, the Job Corps center was transferred to the state of Idaho in 1974, and was converted to the minimum-security North Idaho Correctional Institution (NICI). The state's department of lands built a fire lookout at the summit, which also supports various communications towers.

Video