Schweitzer, ID 2/13-14/23

[tseeb]

Monday 2/13/23
I planned to take Monday off and do part of the drive from Bachelor to Schweitzer with a stop to see where high school friend who moved to Sagle, ID lives on the way. But new snow was predicted so I did most of the drive Sunday night, catching some of the Super Bowl on the radio and stopped 40 miles short of Spokane. After pulling over twice on the access road to let Jr. Racer team vans pass, I parked a couple of rows back in very windy upper lot at Schweitzer. I caught 2nd chair on Basin Express and did a warmup run on Lower Sam’s Alley. Very well groomed, but almost no new snow and clouds were clinging to top of mountain. I rode Great Escape twice skiing Sundance or Jimmy’s Run to lookers right of lift, then Stiles to lookers left where I found good steep groomed surface. You could only see two chairs ahead near top of lift. Lake was catching some sun.

I moved back to Basin and skied Ridge then rode it again and went up Lakeview into the cloud and found D Chute/K-Mac’s

had been groomed on skiers left and started just under the cloud. I repeated it, being joined by a few other, but it required skiing to the bottom so two chairs to get back to it. Then I found B Chute/Bud’s had been groomed, but not all the way to skiers right where trees would have given some definition. I skied it four times with the first couple having very poor visibility at top, but surface was fast, smooth and steep. By cutting left at the bottom I returned to Lakeview lift the first 3 times before exiting to the bottom via huge and empty terrain park on 4th lap. This is about as good as it got at top in morning.

I rode Great Escape to the top and missed Upper Kaniksu in the cloud and skied steep old powder in woods off North Ridge and followed a couple to Gitback to Cedar Park Express. I rode it and skied steep groomed Kaniksu (but not Upper as lift does not go to top). The top of the mountain cleared so I started skiing runs off Colburn triple (only lift to top on Backside). First I skied Whiplash, then Misfortune, then gated main face of Lakeside chutes, lookers left of top of lift.

I’d eyed Lakeside no. 9 and was the only one I saw skiing it all day. It's on right of next photo with tops of little trees in it.

I’d gotten tired of 8 minute ride on Colburn and tried skiing to the bottom of Outback where I rode Stella six-pack and found return to Village from top was surprisingly short and somewhat scenic. I rode Great Escape back to top of Lakeside chutes.

I took a break at Outback Inn near bottom of Backside having a $2.65 coffee/hot chocolate with the rest of my power bar. I rode Stella and took a warmup run on Revenge which turned out to be a mistake. I was going to ride Cedar Park Express, but it was closed at 1:45 even though sign said it closes at 2:45. I thought maybe I’d been wrong about Idaho panhandle not being on Pacific time or it was broken, but at bottom I found Stella was also not loading due to lightning strikes in area. There were more than 50 people waiting at lift and probably more at snack bar 50’ above base. A very few people started the 1,550’ vertical climb to get out. Lift started loading again at 2:45 and many people including me called it a day. SkiTracks had my vertical at 26.8K, but it stopped recording on the Backside for about a lift and a half so I’m adding 2.1K to count 28.9K.

I barely had time to check in and mostly unload and change before meeting my friend for an early (4:15 as he needed to check on his Mom who lives on his property at 6) dinner in downtown Sandpoint. There was heavy hail on way there and some snow while we were eating. My small room is over $90/night, almost twice what I paid in Bend. But there is a hot tub and buffet breakfast, and Laugh Dog Brewery (and Walmart) is within walking distance. I have more pictures on phone, but need to go.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I get the impression Lucia is not with you as previously planned for this part of your trip.

 

[tseeb]

I get the impression Lucia is not with you as previously planned for this part of your trip.

Yes, Lucia is not with me. We canceled her Southwest flight home tomorrow a week or two ago as she didn't want to join me for 1,000 mile drive to not ski even if it meant spending Valentine's Day apart for first time since 1987. She hurt a couple of fingers and tendons into arm loading too heavy carry-on into overhead when she got ahead of me boarding LIS-SFO flight on Halloween. She hopes to ski in March and April. Adam, Mark and John all got updates, but you were not included since you are not going to Red, Revelstoke and Mustang with us this year.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Liz is not going to Canada either. Her arthritic knee got aggravated on the last ski day in Europe.

It sounds like a typical Schweitzer day of good snow and bad visibility.

 

[tseeb]

Today was 1-2” new and better visibility. I parked in lower lot, got on lift at 920 and could have taken one more lap on Great Escape just before 330, but light was fading so I quit with my first over 40K day in a few years. That included a lot of slow chairs and Lakeside chute no. 10.

 

[tseeb]

Sorry to hear about Liz and wishing her a speedy recovery. I'm doing OK with my issues on both feet/ankles.

Tuesday 2/14/23
Even though I spent night ~10 miles from Schweitzer, I didn’t get on hill until 920 after parking in big nearly empty lot at bottom of Musical Chairs, about a mile downhill off main road. I went up Basin, then Lakeview triple which I rode 4x skiing Bud’s Chute 3x once from cutting across A Chute at top of chair. Visibility was better than

previous day although sun was not totally out. I exited area on K-Mac’s and terrain park and moved to Great Escape skiing Sundance/Jimmy’s Run, then Pend Oreille, then Quicksilver where most of it was good, but near bottom the 1” new was not as good as elsewhere. I moved to Backside/Outback starting Australia, a run that I’d skipped on preceding day. It was my closest to dud of the day with big and steep moguls in big trees. Maybe would have been OK on 173s, but was trying on 185s. I skied to the bottom and rode Stella a few times sampling some of the glades and runs to skiers right of race. Camera battery was dying so I didn't catch racers starting.

Then I moved to slow Colburn triple that I rode 6x skiing steep smooth lines on Whiplash,

Misfortune and on the big face just lookers left of the chair. My one confined chute was no. 10 where I didn’t get into where I wanted to go as entrance was near vertical with little trees blocking some of it. Instead, I took confined line on left that was too steep and narrow for comfortable turns so I side-slipped for about 15 feet. The flatter part approaching and past the lake was fun; mostly smooth with a little new snow. The edges of many runs also allowed for leaving tracks. I went into Outback Inn and thought about getting $5 special lemonade with Vodka and beer, but had a cup of mostly hot chocolate with a little coffee and an excellent dark chocolate peanut butter cracker Honey Stinger bar from my pocket. Next pictures are Upper Kaniksu about 1215 and right of top of Colburn chair at 120.

I tempted fate by staying on Backside until 3 PM (after 145-245 lightning hold previous day), skiing off top a couple more times including skiing all the way out North Ridge to not running during week Idyle Our T-bar (that’s how it’s spelled on map). Not sure what exactly I skied in the ‘school runs’ as Schweitzer signage quality does not always match their excellent and very expansive grooming that includes many steep and lightly skied runs, even on weekdays.

I quit at 330 after a couple of runs on Great Escape; first catching last rays on Ridge Run, then skiing under the lift about a third of the way down until trees started blocking the fading sun so I cut over to Pend Oreille. I could have taken another lap on Great Escape, but it was getting mostly shaded. While SkiTracks had me at almost 40.5K, I was probably over 41 and maybe even 42K as I saw it once counting Colburn at just over 1100 and map has it at 1360 and I think it undercounted at other times. So I’m recording 28 runs/41,750. I’m planning on taking Wed off as skiace is arriving GEG before 1 and I have a lot of re-packing to do before taking on him and his stuff and driving into Canada. I reconsidered when I walked out of brewpub a little before 8 PM and it was dumping, but it does not appear to have amounted to anything this AM and I've skied 123K over the last 4 days.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Bachelor is an obvious mountain to rack up big vertical. I've had my only 50K day there plus two of the other 8 over 40K. Schweitzer I have never thought of in those terms due to some of the chairs being slow plus the chronic bad visibility. But I've had lots of powder at Schweitzer and it thus left a very strong favorable impression upon Liz in 2021. She says you have earned a day off.