Mount Spokane To Open Saturday

Mt. Spokane Ski Area will open to frustrated skiers Saturday, marking its latest opening in recent memory.

“We’re happy to be back,” said Greg Sowder, president of Mt. Spokane Ski Corp., which runs the area. “It’s been probably the most unusual winter I’ve seen up here in a long time.”

Mount Spokane will open Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., then close again Tuesday. Hopefully the snow will stay on the hill for a reopening next weekend, Sowder said.

Shuttle buses will run at 8 a.m. from the University City Mall and from the Newport Cinemas, running skiers up the hill and back for $9 per person, he said.

The ski school program, set to start last week, begins Saturday, Sowder said.

Conditions aren’t ideal.

“Early season conditions” fit the terrain, but it’s hardly early season anymore. Chair lifts 2, 3 and 5 will open, but there just isn’t enough snow around chairs 1 and 4, Sowder said.

There’s brush showing in spots and some unmarked obstacles, he said. Translation: bring your rock skis or the snowboard you thought about pawning at the ski swap.

A new inch of fluffy powder Tuesday night convinced the resort brain trust to open. Hundreds of skiers with season passes to Mount Spokane were worried the resort might not open.

“We had a few complaints here,” said Wayne McLaughlin, contracts manager for the state Parks and Recreation Commission in Olympia. “They got quite a few more at the park itself.”

Sowder’s company runs the ski area on a concession basis from the state. The state is in the process of awarding a new concession, meaning this might be the last season Sowder’s company runs the place.

Sowder has until March 10 to look over terms of a deal signed by the state and the Mount Spokane 2000 Study Group made up of Spokane business and civic leaders.

Sowder can match the terms of the deal and run Mount Spokane for 20 more years, or can be bought out by the study group.

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