Run For The Border ‘Desperate For Snow,’ Eager Skiers, Snowboarders Enjoy Early Opening Of Lookout Pass

In keeping with recent tradition, Lookout Pass was the Inland Northwest’s first ski area to open this season.

And Ben Daley, 16, wanted to be the first one on the slopes.

“First tracks,” Daley said Saturday, one boot latched in his snowboard bindings and the other ready to propel him to the chairlift.

“It’s not going to happen though,” he said, glancing up at tracks already snaking through the powder, made by Lookout Pass ski patrollers and employees on Friday.

Daley and his friends arrived more than an hour before Lookout’s one lift opened in order to get in the front of the line.

“We’re desperate for snow,” the Cataldo teenager explained. While Daley and his buddies have season passes to Silver Mountain, “this is the only place that’s open,” he said.

Lift operators rewarded the dozens of snowboarders and skiers waiting in line by opening 15 minutes early.

“The ski patrollers were up there, they were ready and they said, ‘Let’s do it!”’ said lift attendant Julian Murphy.

Unlike the majority of people in line, Amy Stichweh of Spokane wasn’t anxious to load.

Her first time ever on a snowboard, she stood in line with a more experienced friend and asked, “Can’t we just putz around down here for awhile?”

Although the day dawned on Lookout Pass with below-freezing temperatures, the sun warmed the air to almost 50 degrees and softened the snow to provide a forgiving landing for downed derrieres.

Lookout’s Runt Mountain had 29 inches at the top and 16 inches at the base. While a few trees and brush poked up through the snow, the coverage was enough to open most of the runs.

“We’re (open) kind of on a week-by-week basis,” explained Dean Cooper, co-owner and director of marketing. Cooper spent the day before helping with all the last minute preparations, including assembling the new bar stools.

The phone hadn’t stopped ringing off the hook, he said. The standard question was, “Is it true you guys are open?”

Opening day drew 610 customers, which is an average for a weekend day at Lookout Pass.

It’s not the earliest the ski area has opened since it came under new ownership five years ago. Two years ago, it opened on Nov. 5.

The first day seemed to attract more snowboarders than skiers.

“It has something to do with age and the norms of snowboarding,” Cooper surmised. “It’s more of a die-hard atmosphere.”

That die-hard ethic was evident even in the parking lot, where at least two vehicles had license plate frames that read, “If hell freezes over, I’ll ski there too.”

While the snow conditions weren’t perfect Saturday, snowboarder Ross Boggess of Spokane didn’t mind too much.

“It’s open, that’s all that matters.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo