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Posts tagged: Lookout Pass
WINTER SPORTS - Skiers and riders can perform bold new tricks in the terrain park with greatly reduced risk at Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area, Feb. 24-26.
A large inflatable air bag will be in place Friday through Sunday below the biggest ramp at Lookout’s Exit 0 terrain park, located directly above the base lodge.
Read on for details from Lookout Pass spokesman Bill Jennings.
WINTER SPORTS — Today's snow storm is doing its magic at area ski resorts.
“Powder Wednesday was epic at Lookout Pass today,” reports Bill Jennings from Lookout Pass Ski Area. “Early this morning we had 22 inches at the base and at least 30 inches at the summit. It’s been snowing all day.
“According to the National Weather Service, we are expecting another 2 feet of snow through Friday!
Mount Spokane reported 5 inches of new powder fell between the 9 a.m. opening and 1:40 p.m. — and it was still snowing.
49 Degrees North reported the storm has dumped about 6 inches today.
Silver Mountain says it's received 8 inches in the last 24 hours.
All the resorts should be getting much more.
WINTER SPORTS — The Lookout Pass Free Ski School started its 72nd year this morning to a swarm of enthusiasm. More than 500 kids age 6-17 had been registered in the program last week.
The resort's professional instructors are being joined by Ski School volunteers to ensure that each kid gets started on the road to skiing and snowboarding with a quality lessons.
Classes just started at 10 a.m. and the resort's learning terrain is swarming with little ones.
Expect too see lots of little ones on the slopes on Saturday morning for the next several weeks.
And, of course, many of them will continue skiing or snowboarding when they're not-so-little ones.
WINTER SPORTS — The Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition has posted an updated map showing a proposed Stevens Peak Backcountry Winter Non-Motorized Area. The proposal is geared to maintaining a sanctuary of peacefulness among the expansion plans for the Lookout Pass Ski Area as well as the expanding range of snowmobiles.
The group also is addressing some scrutiny to the location of a yurt proposed by North Idaho College.
The SPBC is working to preserve a winter non-motorized recreation area of about 6,500 acres in the Idaho Panhandle and Lolo national forests near Lookout Pass.
NORDIC SKIING — The Panhandle Nordic Club will hear a program by John Latta of the Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition at its Dec. 6 meeting, 7 p.m., at the Forest Service Fernan Ranger Station just east of Coeur d'Alene.
The meeting also is the club's cookie exchange night.
Other news from the club:
Fourth of July Pass doesn't have enough snow for skiing, but Lookout Pass does.
The Best Hand Fun Ski will be on Free Ski Day, Jan. 7, at Fourth of July Pass.. Ten main prizes will be awarded built around outdoor recreation. Some of these prizes include trips or events hosted by Nordic Club members. Everyone will receive 5 cards, but they will be able to turn in two of their cards and purchase two more cards for $1 each.
WINTER SPORTS — Silver Mountain opend its lifts Monday while 49 Degrees North had customers floating on two feet of prime powder for it's opener on Saturday.
Lookout Pass will reopen on Thanksgiving and Mt. Spokane opens Friday, conditions permitting.
FREEBIE FOR 5th GRADERS
Don't waste this great early season by you have a fifth grader in the family, take advantage of the 5th grade ski FREE passport that gives these prime learning-age kids free lift tickets at more than 20 Inland Northwest resorts.
The passport also includes special deals on equipment rentals, lessons and other activities. Some ski areas even offer specials for parents or siblings.
WINTER SPORTS — Technology has made it easier than ever to monitor snow conditions at the region's mountain passes and winter sports resorts.
Click on the following links for web cam views of your favorite Inland Northwest ski area or the road to get there.
WINTER SPORTS — Technology has made it easier than ever to monitor snow conditions for the region's mountain passes and winter sports resorts.
Click on the following links for web cam views of your favorite North Idaho ski area or the road to get there.
IDAHO Web Cams
WINTER SPORTS — Officials from 49 Degrees North ski area have just announced that a big dump of snow in the past 48 hours will allow them to open chairlifts and start their season on Saturday.
Schweitzer Mountain Resort and Lookout Pass also will be open.
Schweitzer will open Saturday; Lookout Pass opened today.
Here's the word received from 49 Degrees North, slightly revised from what the resort sent earlier today:
OPENING DAY IS SATURDAY! 16 inches of new snow in the past 48 hours with more on the way today.
The mountain will be open Saturday through Tuesday from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Chairs 1,2,3,5 will be running with access to hundreds of snow covered acres.
Lift tickets will be $40 for everyone 7 years and older on SATURDAY.
We will close Wednesday and reopen again Thursday for Thanksgiving Weekend. Due to early season conditions, we advise skiers and riders to stay on the groomed terrain.
WINTER SPORTS — Schweitzer Mountain Resort announced today that it will open for the season on Saturday, the earliest opening for the resort since 1984.
About 20 inches of snow was reported at the resort this morning. That combined with the work of a snowmaking system will allow two chair lifts to open.
Reduced prices will be in effect this weekend and mountain parking will be free.
Schweitzer joins Lookout Pass ski area, which announced that it will open Friday.
Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park has announced on its website that it will open on Dec. 3.
Silver Mountain Resort and 49 Degrees North have not set dates for opening.
SKI RESORTS — The weekend storm dumped 21 inches of new snow on the Montana-Idaho border, giving Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area the jumpstart it needs to start operating its lifts and open for the season at reduced rates starting Friday (Nov. 18).
Lookout is the first of the area's ski resorts to announce an opening date.
The majority of the front side of the mountain will be open with top-to-bottom skiing off Chair 1 with a minimum of 10 runs, the resort announced this morning. The beginner rope-tow will also operate.
“Our groomers are busy packing down the weekend snowfall and conditions should continue to improve throughout the week,” said Phil Edholm, President and CEO of Lookout Pass. “We anticipate open powder, packed powder and freshly tilled corduroy on Friday.”
Reduced lift ticket rates will be in effect. Prices will be posted on skilookout.com prior to Friday’s opening. Additional lifts and terrain will open as soon as conditions allow.
SKIING — The Phase1 plans for the proposed expansion of Lookout Pass Ski Area is being watched by the Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition. Here's the group's latest update, and a map.
In a related topic, the coalition posts this update on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests response to a request for a comprehensive winter plan.
SKIING — Members of the Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition are scheduled to meet in Wallace today with snowmobiling representatives. They plan to discuss ways to prevent conflicts between motorized and non-motorized users of the winter backcountry around the mountain and winter powder haven near the Montana-Idaho border.
If they can come together on a plan, they'll present it to the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.
The coalition also is monitoring proposals to expand Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area, another possible degradation to the area's backcountry experience.
The Spokesman-Review published this story in September regarding Lookout's $20 million expansion proposal.
The Shoshone News Press followed in November with this report.
The Spokesman-Review's ski columnist Bill Jennings posted this story in November.
The Shoshone News Press reported last week that Jennings has been hired by Lookout Pass as its public relations director. The article quotes Edholm as saying, “Planning for the first phase of a future expansion of the ski area to two additional peaks has been accepted by the U.S. Forest Service.”
The Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition disagrees: “This is a misleading statement because it implies that the Forest Service has approved the plan already,” says a post on the SPBC website. “Actually the NEPA process has not even begun.”
The group says it's working to keep the Stevens Peak backcountry including the area south of the St. Regis drainage undeveloped in order to preserve opportunities for backcountry skiing and snowboarding and for snowshoeing.
BICYCLING – The Route of the Hiawatha near Lookout Pass will open Saturday for its 14th season, officials confirmed today.
Lookout Pass Ski Area coordinates bus shuttles and bicycle rentals for the popular 15-mile rail trail that straddles the Montana-Idaho border.
The trail opened three weeks earlier last year when the mountains were not so loaded with snow.
The trail, which includes 10 tunnels and seven trestles as high as 230 feet, attracts visitors from around the world.
Crews have been working to clear snow from the trailhead at the east portal of the Taft Tunnel, which is the highest point of Route of the Hiawatha at 4,147 feet.
For details and bike rentals, call (208) 744-1301 or visit www.skilookout.com.
Read on for more details.
SKIING — Visitors to OnTheSnow.com rated Lookout Pass ski area on the Idaho-Montana border as their “Favorite Family-Friendly Resort” in the Pacific Northwest.
The data period for voting was January 2011 when a Nielsen audit showed 3.4 million unique browsers logged in to the world's most visited Web platform.
Read the details here.
OnTheSnow.com is published by Mountain News Corp.
SKI RESORTS — While many ski and snowboard resorts will close their lifts on April 10, some Montana ski areas are delaying closing dates by several weeks — perhaps April 17 — because the late-season snow is fabulous — and skiers and snowboarders haven't lost interest.
Posted last day of operations in this region:
49 Degrees North — April 10.
Mt. Spokane — April 10.
Silver Mountain — Splash Down rail jam is April 9. No firm word on season closing.
Lookout Pass — April 10 is Slush Cup.
Schweitzer — April 10.
“I don’t think we’ve gotten to the corn-snow stage yet,” said Montana Snowbowl owner Brad Morris, referring to a late-season type of snow that looks like corn kernels. “The temperatures are dropping below freezing every night. We’ve gotten some spring days, but it’s still winter here.”
Snowbowl closed last year with 66 inches of snow at the summit. This year, the summit has about 120 inches, Morris said.
He said the area was staying open until April 17 and was within a few thousand of hitting its record for skier visits during a season.
Read on for more of an Associated Press story about Montana ski resorts:
WINTER SPORTS — A clash has been brewing for years near Lookout Pass as snowmobilers' insatiable appetite for high-marking and tracking fresh snow continues to invade more and more areas used by backcountry skiers.
Thirty years ago, snowmobilers tended to stay north of I-90 while skiers found peace and quiet to the south in the St. Regis Basin, around Stevens Peak and other areas.
Snowmobilers pretty much drove skiers out of the St. Regis Basin by the late 1990s — their high-marking and potential to set off avalanches often made it dangerous to be a skier below.
A backcountry skier can make only a few runs up and down a mountain slope in a day. A snowmobiler can foul an entire basin with tracks and noise in a few hours.
This winter, snowmobilers seem to be making a point to go in an trash some sacred ground for backcountry skiing in the West Willow Peak area south of Mullan.
Backcountry skiers, who seem to shun organization, are starting to react. Check out the Stevens Peak Backcountry Coalition website, and the update on what skiers encountered last weekend.
WINTER SPORTS — Lookout Pass ski area has just been cited as having received “the most snowfall in the world” among reporting ski resorts during the past seven days.
The one week total: 6.5 FEET, most of which fell Sunday-Tuesday.
The distinction has just been distributed around the globe by Skiinfo.com, which collects daily reports and compiles stats from more than 2,000 ski areas in Europe and North America.
Earlier today I posted a photo with a first-hand report on Monday's epic powder day at Lookout.
Of course, the high country throughout the Inland Northwest has been enjoying the late-winter dump.
Stevens Pass was No. 5 and Schweitzer was No. 6 in the world, as you can see on this skiinfo list.
And just a little farther north, Fernie (see photo above) isn't doing so bad, either, reporting 32 inches in the past three days.
SKIING — It took a day for the pow pounders to surface with stories from Lookout Pass.
“We picked a good day for a vacation on Monday,” confessed Spokane skier Bill Fuzak. “The photo was shot at Lookout Pass, in the trees off the Northstar lift in about 32 inches of new snow.
“I am on my Profit 115s (dimensions 153-115-143) and still not fat enough.My buddy Kimbo May is on a double rocker tele ski.
“I had to learn to breathe on the way up, rather than on the down — like swimming rapids.”
News, field reports and insights on the Great Outdoors.
Rich Landers – hunter, animal lover, hiker, paddler, angler, naturalist and conservationist – has been covering the outdoors beat for more than three decades. His versatility and field research as a trails and waterways guidebook author help him connect issues to a wide range of interests.
Rich Landers writes, photographs and gathers information for a wide range of Outdoors coverage, with a special feature package in the Sunday Sports section. Landers' outdoors column runs Thursdays in the Sports section.
Recent work by Rich
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