We're halfway through our Inland Northwest trip, a mixture of stops at day areas (Mount Spokane, Lookout Pass, 49 Degrees North) and three days at the region's destination resort, Schweitzer Mountain, which we wrapped up yesterday. When easterners from the online ski world fly into Spokane for a trip, they usually head due north to Red Mountain, Whitewater, and the others across the border.
Since this is my first trip to the PNW -- the closest I'd been beforehand was Grand Targhee to the south and Banff to the north -- and I'm with the wife, I wanted the centerpiece ski area to be a great all-arounder, and Schweitzer, with 2,900 acres of varied terrain spread across two huge bowls, is the definition of that. There are dozens of long, rolling groomers and piles of fantastic tree skiing for all levels. It's amazing that Schweitzer doesn't have more of a reputation for trees among long-distance visitors.
Day 1 was a storm day with nine inches of high-moisture snow and tough visibility. Luckily, there are trees pretty much everywhere to help with orientation. We stayed most of the day on the Schweitzer Bowl side, which felt similar to Grand Targhee, but with a steep face along the south boundary.
An old Riblet chair:
Day 2 was stunning, with an inversion putting the ski area well above the clouds. We spent a lot of time on the Outback Bowl side:
Day 3 was a mixture of the first two, with pea-soup fog until early afternoon and then clear sailing for the last three hours, which included the Lake Pend Oreille money shot.
We stayed at the very comfortable ski-in/ski-out Selkirk Lodge, which I'd recommend.
Since this is my first trip to the PNW -- the closest I'd been beforehand was Grand Targhee to the south and Banff to the north -- and I'm with the wife, I wanted the centerpiece ski area to be a great all-arounder, and Schweitzer, with 2,900 acres of varied terrain spread across two huge bowls, is the definition of that. There are dozens of long, rolling groomers and piles of fantastic tree skiing for all levels. It's amazing that Schweitzer doesn't have more of a reputation for trees among long-distance visitors.
Day 1 was a storm day with nine inches of high-moisture snow and tough visibility. Luckily, there are trees pretty much everywhere to help with orientation. We stayed most of the day on the Schweitzer Bowl side, which felt similar to Grand Targhee, but with a steep face along the south boundary.
An old Riblet chair:
Day 2 was stunning, with an inversion putting the ski area well above the clouds. We spent a lot of time on the Outback Bowl side:
Day 3 was a mixture of the first two, with pea-soup fog until early afternoon and then clear sailing for the last three hours, which included the Lake Pend Oreille money shot.
We stayed at the very comfortable ski-in/ski-out Selkirk Lodge, which I'd recommend.
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