Some Inland Northwest ski resort operators are anticipating record summer activities this year following a strong winter season, while some resorts are working on expansion plans.

In recent years, summer months have been the busiest months of the year at Silver Mountain, for example, and Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area has seen consistent growth in the ridership on the Route of the Hiawatha mountain bike trail.

In perhaps the biggest recent news among the five Inland Northwest ski resorts, Lookout Pass received approval from the U.S. Forest Service last week for a 485-acre expansion that will bring the resort’s total area to 1,023 acres.

Phil Edholm, Lookout Pass president and CEO, says the $10 million expansion plans will include installation of two new chairlifts and upgrading an existing chairlift, all of which will provide access to 14 new ski runs.

The new lifts and runs will increase the vertical drop at Lookout by 500 feet to a total of 1,650 feet, Edholm says.

“We’ll be very competitive,” he says. “It’s going to attract a lot of people.”

As part of the expansion, Lookout Pass, located at the Idaho-Montana border about 90 miles east of Spokane, plans to construct a 14,000-square-foot addition to its lodge.

“We’ll expand the rental shop and have a larger retail shop,” he says. “It will have a second food-and-beverage area that’s going to expand seating capacity by at least 350 people at a time.”

Most of the expansion work will get started next year, he says.

“We’re moving as fast as we can to implement the expansion project in the summer of 2018,” Edholm says. “At this late date, it’s nearly impossible to do a lot this year, but we’re hoping to cut at least two runs this summer that will circle back to the bottom of existing Chair 2.” 

Edholm says Lookout Pass enjoyed a record ski season with about 66,800 skier visits. He says skier visits at Lookout have tripled since 2003.

Looking to summer activities, Lookout Pass is the concessionaire for the Route of the Hiawatha rail-to-trail bicycle trail, which will open this weekend.

“The trail is in good shape,” Edholm says, “It’s all free of snow.”

The trail had record ridership last year with 44,800 visits, and Edholm says it likely will exceed 45,000 riders this year.

“It just keeps growing,” he says.

Edholm says the trail brings in more tourism dollars to surrounding communities than the ski resort’s winter operations.

“Because the trail gets visitors from all over the globe, our internal (estimate) is that it generates $9 million in tourism dollars annually,” he says. “We think the ski season generates about $6 million for local communities.”

 

Mt. Spokane

Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, about 30 miles northeast of Spokane, had a season for the record books, tallying 108,000 skier visits, says general manager Brad McQuarrie.

“We operated a full season,” McQuarrie says. “We didn’t lose a day. Visitation all the way through the holiday stretch was just phenomenal. We operated consistently almost at capacity through most of the heart of the season.”

McQuarrie says he anticipates that Mt. Spokane will generate record revenue approaching $3.4 million by the end of the fiscal year.

“The season pass sale ends at the end of the month,” he says, adding, “We’ve already exceeded last year’s sales, and we’re expecting quite a few more people to be buying passes in the next few days.”

McQuarrie says Mt. Spokane has permits in hand to begin work on a 279-acre terrain expansion that will add seven major runs and a chairlift on the northwest side of the mountain.

“If we cut the runs, we will groom them and let people ski them next season,” he says. “It would be next summer before we could put the lift in.”

The expansion cost is expected to exceed $800,000.

Improvements expected to be completed this summer include constructing a new 3,200-square-foot ski school and reception building.

Mt. Spokane also will move and expand its tubing area closer to Lodge One.

“It will be twice as large and will have its own building for birthday parties and events,” McQuarrie says.

Regarding summer activities, McQuarrie says there’s a lot to do on the mountain, which is encompassed by Mount Spokane State Park.

“A lot of people come up in the summer and enjoy the park,” he says.

The news page on the ski resort’s website lists dozens of activities people enjoy on the mountain, including mountain biking, hiking, wildlife viewing, and huckleberry picking.

 

Silver Mountain

Silver Mountain Resort, near Kellogg, about 70 mile east of Spokane, is anticipating a busy summer with attractions featuring North America’s longest gondola ride, and Idaho’s largest indoor water park, says, Willy Bartlett, Silver Mountain’s communication coordinator.

Silver Mountain’s nine-hole golf course has been open since April, and the resort’s summer season opens Saturday with both skiing and mountain biking terrain open simultaneously for the first time.

“I’ll be skiing in the morning and biking in the afternoon and maybe follow that with some golf,” Bartlett says.

Silver Mountain boasts a highly rated mountain bike park, he says.

“We’re constantly adding new trails, and we have rental bikes, lessons, events, and clinics,” he says. “We put on our own race series and host national and regional races.”

Other summer activities include a mountaintop barbecue and live music every Friday, day hiking, and an annual blues festival.

For the second consecutive year, Silver Mountain will host a 3-D archery event this summer, Bartlett says.

“Last year, hundreds of people did the whole course,” Bartlett says. “It’s like golf and hiking with bows and arrows.”

For the last few years, summer activities have been competing with the ski season in terms of visitor numbers, he says.

“July and August are our busiest months now,” Bartlett says.

Bartlett says he hopes momentum from the recent ski season will carry through the summer and into the next ski season.

“Our ski numbers were way up. It was the most growth we’ve had in a long time,” Bartlett says. “We got over 100 inches more snow than normal for a ton of great powder days.”

Silver Mountain was open seven days a week during the peak of the season, and extended its season in April, operating on both Saturdays and Sundays, he says.

 

Schweitzer Mountain Resort

Dig Chrismer, marketing manager at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, about 90 miles northeast of Spokane, says Schweitzer had a solid winter season with 322 inches of snowfall in the village.

Chrismer says ski visits were up compared with skier numbers in the last couple of years thanks in part to snow in Coeur d’Alene and Spokane, which helped to remind residents to partake in winter sports.

The resort wasn’t able to open for Thanksgiving, but opened a week later and remained opened an extra week at the end of the season, ending up with a “normal” operating season of 136 days, she says.

Schwietzer’s summer season kicks off on June 23.

“Sandpoint is a lake town, but people are also experiencing the mountain,” Chrismer says.

A chairlift will be open for people to ride to the summit, she says.

“We’re really looking forward to having our Sky House mountaintop lodge open this summer,” she says. “People can take a scenic chairlift ride and enjoy lunch at the Sky House.”

Chrismer says mountain biking also is a major summer draw, and Schweitzer Mountain Resort also has a zip line attraction, a climbing wall, and monthly events and festivals.

 

49 Degrees North

49 Degrees North Mountain Resort, near Chewelah, about 60 miles north of Spokane, doesn’t operate lifts in the off season, but several service roads in the west central and east basins are open for mountain-biking access, the resort’s website says.

Representatives of the 49 Degrees North couldn’t be reached immediately for comment following the end of the ski season. 

After ski lifts shut down in April, hard-core skiers who are willing to “earn their turns” can find ski-able snow through June and sometimes into July, the resort’s website says.

Other summer activities there include hiking and huckleberry picking.

Looking forward, 49 Degrees North is developing Alpine Glades, the first phase of its planned 320-acre, $500 million  Sunrise Basin development, which is envisioned to include eventually up to 2,200 residential units, 800 hotel rooms, and up to 360,000 square feet of commercial space.