After two decades operating on the back side of Schweitzer, local ski and snowboard guiding business Selkirk Powder Company is making fresh tracks in a new sector of the Selkirk Mountains and beginning the process of improving the area for winter recreation.

Since 2003, the company has used snowcats, helicopters and snowmobiles to lead ski trips in areas outside of ski resort boundaries. Over the course of a day, participants are brought into a remote area and shuttled up a slope to ski back down, usually enjoying untracked snow along the way. 

This January, Selkirk Powder began leading trips in its new operating area — a 6,250-acre state-owned zone containing forested land and the alpine ridges of Atlasta Mountain and Mount Casey. The company holds a permit issued by the Idaho Department of Lands to lead trips in the zone and improve the area for winter use during the offseason.

“Our biggest partner is the Idaho Department of Lands,” said Selkirk Powder founder and CEO Ken Barrett. “The first priority for Selkirk Powder Company is making IDL comfortable with us being in the land.” 

Previously, Selkirk Powder had utilized a separate IDL permit for a 3,300-acre zone adjacent to Schweitzer and 4 miles south of Atlasta-Casey. Additionally, the company had a contract with Schweitzer that allowed it to operate in a 1,200-acre parcel of ridgeline property owned by the resort. 

Ahead of the 2022-2023 season, Barrett said he was told by Schweitzer that the contract would not be renewed after the winter of 2023-2024. Without access to the high-elevation terrain owned by Schweitzer, he determined it would no longer be feasible for Selkirk Powder to operate in the area.

Barrett sold Selkirk Powder’s ridgeline shed to Schweitzer and passed the IDL permit on to the resort. In December 2024, the resort launched Schweitzer Backcountry Adventures — a snowcat and snowmobile skiing service — in the area. 

In response to the change, Selkirk Powder pivoted fast. Since the company had held an IDL permit for helicopter access in Atlasta-Casey since 2016, Barrett knew “within an hour” that the zone would be the best site to relocate to. Barrett then reached out to state officials and received a permit to bring snowcats and snowmobiles into the area for the winter of 2024-2025. 

“It was natural,” Barrett said of the choice to move to Atlasta-Casey. “It gives us the best opportunity to rebuild comfortably.” 

The first step in that rebuilding effort is to clear the exits of the primary south- and southeast-facing ski terrain by limbing trees, which will give skiers longer runs and an easier path back to the snowcat. 

Selkirk Powder employs staff year-round, and much of the forestry work to improve the terrain is done in-house during the off season. 

“In the future, we would look to possibly put commercial thinning crews in to limb and thin the ski run areas that are chosen,” Barrett added. 

Additionally, Barrett works with state officials to study maps and look for decades- or centuries-old logging roads that have become overgrown. 

If one of the old roads would shave off distance for Selkirk Powder’s snowcats, the company can clear trees along the route to save time on winter ascents. 

“We look to reclaim those old roads when they provide a shortcut for the cat,” Barrett said. “It’s less fuel, too.” 

Shorter ascents give skiers more laps in a day, and in some cases, Selkirk Powder even creates entirely new off-road routes to save time. 

“That takes a lot of creative driving by the cat operators and some pretty good steel,” Barrett said. “You're creating roads in the snowpack where no machine has ever been before.” 

Improvements like these take time, and this season, Selkirk Powder is telling clients to expect a slower snowcat lap pace compared to past seasons. 

“This is all infancy stuff,” Barrett said. “We're going to push culture and safety and skiing for the love of skiing.” 

As the years progress, Barrett is optimistic the new terrain will offer more diverse skiing opportunities, and that the company’s Atlasta-Casey service will become “the next best backcountry skiing operation in North America.” 

“We’ve developed 75 runs, we’ve developed shortcuts, we’ve creatively engineered things,” Barrett said of the company’s past work. 

“With all that experience, I get to do it again,” he said. “It’s super wicked exciting.”