SKIING -- Schweitzer Mountain Resort has joined the almost complete list of ski resorts that will be open during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.Schweitzer officials said the resort will open for the season Friday at 9 a.m. and operate Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the holiday…
SKIING -- Inland Northwest ski areas received another 4 to 5 inches of snow Sunday night and Monday morning, allowing for early openings at some of the area’s five resorts.Silver Mountain Resort is scheduled to open on Friday. It was reporting 21 inches of snow…
ADVENTURE --Spokane movie buffs lived on the edge for the past three days. The World Tour from the Banff Mountain Film Festival featuring sometimes death-defying feats from underground to the highest mountains ended its three-day run at The Bing Crosby Theater Sunday night.The Spokane audience…
ADVENTURE -- The Banff Mountain Film Festival is delivering great adventure to sold-out audiences at The Bing during its three-day run that ends Sunday evening.Tops on the list Saturday night were: The Asgard Project, which reminds us all that hand-cams are great for lightweight ready-any-time…
NORDIC SKIING -- Several miles of cross-country ski trails were groomed today, complete with tracks, at Mount Spokane. Volunteers used the snowmobile and Ginzu groomer to set a decent track all the way out to Shadow Mountain before a breakdown slowed them up.Good start to…
STATE PARKS -- After a four-month search and screening 170 applications from here to England, the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission today named the head of the agency's southwest region as the state parks director. Starting Dec. 1, Don Hock, 53, will replace retiring…
STATE PARKS -- Today's story about Inland Empire Paper Co. closing its lands to snowmobiling said that leaves 40 miles of groomed trails available to snowmobilers at Mount Spokane. The mileage figure came from Spokane County Parks, which manages the grooming.However, Cris Currie of Friends…
SKIING -- Lookout Pass and Crystal Mountain opened with good skiing conditions this morning. Now 49 Degrees North has announced its lifts will open Saturday.
ADVENTURE -- For the first time, I'm able to reveal the lineup of films for the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, which starts its three-day run tonight, 7 p.m., at The Bing.I just returned from the meeting as Mountain Gear staff made the difficult…
CLIMBING -- Rock climbers are feeling the pinch and the need to get involved in agency decisions.Smith Rocks State Park, a prized rock climbing area near Portland, Ore., is closing camping at the area during winter. Climbers are trying to work with officials for a…
SKIING -- Lookout Pass isn’t the only ski area with enough snow to open the season this weekend.Crystal Mountain resort near Mount Rainier opened today, but running just two chair lifts. Mount Baker will have seven lifts in operation starting Saturday, the Seattle Times reports.…
HUNTING -- Andrew Graham, 15, a freshman at Cheney High School, recently returned from Easton, Md., where he attracted plenty of attention in the venerable World Goose Calling Championship. Surrounded by and judged by such goose-calling notables as Tim Grounds and Fred Zink, Graham took…
WILDLIFE -- A federal judge says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was wrong to refuse to turn management of gray wolves over to the state of Wyoming.Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne today ordered the federal agency to consider again whether Wyoming's wolf management…
WINTER SPORTS -- Snowmobiling will be prohibited this winter on Inland Empire Paper Company lands at Mount Spokane as well as on the rest of the 116,000 acres the company manages in northeastern Washington and North Idaho.The decision to end the decades-old welcome comes this…
WATERWAYS -- Inconclusive test results showing signs of invasive mussels in Flathead Lake still have downstream interests on edge."Part of me still stands strong and thinking positive that it's going to be OK," said Erin Mader of the Pend Oreille Basin Commission in Sandpoint.Results from…
SKIING -- Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area is opening its lifts Friday to take advantage of 8 inches of fresh snow on a base up to 20 inches deep, Phil Edholm, ski area president announced minutes ago."The majority of the front side of the…
CLIMBING -- Northwest climbing legend Fred Beckey might be close to 80 -- no one seems to know, including Fred -- but he's still globetrotting to climbing venues. Is the pioneer of first ascents in the Cascades and Canada keeping up with the trend toward…
HUNTING -- The cold snap forecast for the weekend has waterfowl hunters packing their gear for the duck blinds and goose pits to intercept northern flights soon to be on their way.Meantime, if you're in the market for a good hunting dog, be selective when…
WINTER SPORTS -- Disregard the previous post about Washington reconsidering Sno-Park permit reciprocity with Oregon. In fact, disregard a lot of proposed rule changes in state government for the time being.The Governor's office issued an order today to suspend non-critical rule development through 2011. For…
WINTER SPORTS -- Washington state parks commissioners will consider on Friday ending the 30-year reciprocity agreement to honor Oregon sno-park permits at winter recreation spots in this state including Mount St. Helens, Wind River and Mount Adams, according to the Vancouver Columbian. Wayne McLaughlin of…
WINTER SPORTS -- If you missed the show in Spokane and the wintery weather forecast finally has you in the mood for the slopes, North Idaho College is presenting Warren Miller’s ski and snowboard film ‘Wintervention’ Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. in Boswell Hall Schuler…
BIRDING -- Eagle-eyed birdwatchers can test their bird identification skills with this online photo quiz. It focuses on situations in which individual birds sometimes don't match the descriptions depicted in field guides.
HUNTING -- It's down to the wire for Eastern Washington rifle hunters trying to put their crosshairs on a whitetail buck. The late season ends Friday. Idaho hunters have through Dec. 1 in some areas. But while time's waning, you have one thing on your…
PRO FISHING -- The Florida-based fishing tournament group founded 40 years ago as the Bass Angler Sportsman Society became known simply as as BASS purchased and reconfigured by ESPN in 2001. Last week, BASS was acquired by three businessmen who vow to make it "a…
SKIING -- Starting Jan. 1 and hitting slopes on both sides of the equator, Greg Hill of Revelstoke, British Columbia is 80 percent through his goal to climb and ski 2 million vertical feet in one year -- all self-propelled.To put this in perspective, powering…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.