The idea of a resort here predates the Tamarack name by decades. In the early 1980s, developers conceived a project called Valbois, only to watch it founder against federal regulatory hurdles and fierce local opposition before finally collapsing in 1995. Three years later, new investors revived the vision as WestRock, and by December 2002, the project had been rechristened Tamarack, named for the deciduous conifer whose needles turn brilliant yellow each autumn before shedding. Construction began in 2003, with the first skiers arriving by snowcat. When chairlifts started running on December 15, 2004, it marked the first new destination ski resort built in North America since 1981.

Tamarack's early years sparkled with promise and star power. In August 2005, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush stayed at the resort, guests of Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne. The presidential visit delivered invaluable national exposure. A year later, tennis legends Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf announced plans for a luxury development called Fairmont Tamarack. The vision was grand: 62 ski runs, seven chairlifts, two golf courses, and over two thousand dwelling units across 3,600 acres. Robert Trent Jones II designed the Osprey Meadows golf course, which opened its full 18 holes in May 2006. By January 2004, the resort had sold 531 properties totaling $359.3 million.

The collapse came suddenly. On February 20, 2008, Tamarack's majority owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Agassi and Graf withdrew from their project that June. By October 2008, a court-appointed receiver from San Diego took control at the request of Credit Suisse, the major financier. The receiver's verdict was brutal: on March 4, 2009, with over a month remaining in ski season, the lifts stopped running. Bank of America threatened to repossess two chairlifts the resort had fallen behind on payments. When the courts finally permitted it, the Wildwood Express chairlift was physically dismantled and removed in June 2012, a humiliation captured in local news headlines. The most recent failure of a major North American ski resort before Tamarack had been Stagecoach, Colorado, in 1974.

What happened next defied financial logic. The Tamarack Municipal Association, formed by homeowners who had already invested in the dream, refused to let the mountain go dark. On December 20, 2010, they reopened the resort themselves, hiring nearly 100 employees to operate five of seven chairlifts. Season passes sold for $199, single-day tickets for $46. Homeowners contributed $250,000 of their own money, banking on $1.5 million in ticket sales to meet a $500,000 payroll. It was grassroots ski resort management, born of necessity and stubborn Idaho determination. For years, the community held on while the courts sorted out foreclosure proceedings.

Credit Suisse gained control of the property through a sheriff's sale on March 10, 2014. In November 2018, Imperium Blue, a joint venture with experience at resorts from Whistler to Mammoth, acquired Tamarack and immediately began investing in improvements. The long-repossessed Wildwood Express chairlift was finally reinstalled for the 2019-2020 season, adding 200 acres of skiable terrain and 1,646 feet of vertical rise. The Village Plaza, which had sat partially completed and empty for 12 years, received new investment. Today, West Mountain rises to a lift-served summit of over 7,700 feet, offering terrain split between 17 percent novice, 45 percent intermediate, and 38 percent advanced runs. The dream that died in 2009 has been resurrected, battered but unbroken.