Two ski resorts to open
BILL BULEY | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 1 month AGO
Bill Buley covers the city of Coeur d'Alene for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has worked here since January 2020, after spending seven years on Kauai as editor-in-chief of The Garden Island newspaper. He enjoys running. | November 18, 2011 8:15 PM
Two North Idaho ski resorts are opening this weekend, and a third plans to open next Friday.
Lookout Pass reported it received 10 inches of snow Wednesday night, and now has 32 inches of snow at the summit and 18 at the base.
It will open today with a minimum of 16 runs off Chair 1. There's light, dry snow in the forecast today.
Schweitzer Mountain Resort plans to open Saturday, which would be its earliest opening since 1984.
The Basin Express and Musical Chairs lifts will be operating from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Some Nordic trails will be groomed as well. Schweitzer will close down mid-week and then re-open on Friday, Nov. 25.
"These favorable early season conditions are a product of Schweitzer's snowmaking system combined with over 23 inches of natural snowfall this season," according to a press release.
This month alone, Schweitzer converted 3.7 million gallons of water into snow. That water had been collected in spring runoff and stored in a mountain-top reservoir.
Silver Mountain Resort plans to wait until next Friday to open.
It has 20 inches of snow at Kellogg Peak, 15 mid-mountain, with 6 inches of light snow falling Wednesday night.
John Williams, director of marketing, said there are deep drifts in some areas of the mountain, and nothing in others.
"That's a bit of a challenge to make it a good experience," he said.
Williams said Silver Mountain could open sooner if enough snow falls.
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