The wait is over - Lincoln County’s Turner Mountain will be open this weekend.

Tony Petrusha, a member of the mountain's board of directors, made the announcement Wednesday morning at the Lincoln County commissioners meeting.

“We are asking the county’s assistance for plowing past the 12-mile mark and up to keep it reasonable to travel,” Petrusha said. 

According to Turner Mountain’s Facebook page, only the top half of the mountain will be open. All runs from mid-mountain to the lodge will be closed. The Jeep Road will be open for access to the base area.

The first chair lift is at 9:30 a.m. and the last chair is at 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s snow added just enough for the opening. 

Turner officials said there are 30 inches on the summit and 10 inches in the base area. That’s up from a Dec. 22 report that said there were 18 inches at the summit and 7 inches at the base.

The National Weather Service forecast looks promising for the weekend with partly sunny conditions and high temperatures around 33 degrees with lows at about 22.

For those thinking about booking the mountain for themselves, Turner Mountain is booked a year in advance for its day rental program from Monday through Thursday.

Turner Mountain features 22 established runs as well as gladed skiing. Sixty percent of the runs are black diamonds and the summit elevation is just a bit under 6,000 feet with a vertical drop of 2,110 feet.

The mountain also hosts a number of special events, including a veterans' group from Flathead Valley, Top to Dog relay race, Crazy Dayz and of course, the legendary Montucky Clearcut.

For more information about Turner or inquire about renting the mountain, send an email to [email protected] or [email protected]. The snow phone number is 406-293-2468.

The facility’s web page is at skiturner.com and it has a Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube and is on Tripadvisor.