Mount Spokane Skiing Dates Set Ski Area Will Be Open Four Days A Week For Most Of Season

A detente between Washington state and Mt. Spokane Skiing Corp. clears the way for skiing at Mt. Spokane Ski Area as soon as there’s enough snow.

The state Parks and Recreation Commission had been feuding with Gregg Sowder, president of Mt. Spokane Skiing Corp., over Sowder’s proposed schedule to run the ski area on weekends only.

The area was open Wednesday through Sunday last year.

Under a deal struck this week, Sowder will run the area four days a week for most of the season. The schedule calls for night skiing Thursdays and Fridays on a trial basis, with the area being open from noon until 8 p.m. on those days.

If snow materializes before Thanksgiving, Mount Spokane will be open that four-day weekend, but revert to a Saturday-Sunday schedule for the following two weekends.

Mt. Spokane Ski Area will be open every day from Dec. 19 through Jan. 5 to capture holiday skiers, then revert to a four-day-a-week schedule for the remainder of the season, or as long as snow warrants.

“It’s not the best, but the best schedule depends on snow conditions anyway,” said Wayne McLaughlin, contracts manager for the parks commission, who negotiated the deal with Sowder. “We thought it would be better to negotiate instead of go through arbitration, where we might have waited until the ski season was half-over or completely over before getting a decision.”

Sowder said Tuesday that he found the new schedule agreeable, if not exactly what he had in mind coming into this season.

The theory behind his weekends-only idea: skiers love fresh powder, and each Saturday morning would offer a feast of a week’s worth of good snow. The plan also would have whacked his operating costs in half.

Until a schedule was set, the state wouldn’t allow the ski company to sell season passes.

Sowder said his staff will visit different ski shops each weekend to sell passes. Skiers can call the ski area number, (509) 238-6281, to order a pass as well.

McLaughlin, in a letter to Sowder last month, threatened to replace the ski company as the operator of the state-owned ski area.

Sowder’s outgoing message to skiers calling in for season pass information blamed the parks commission for the tiff and asked callers to call a local commissioner to complain. In the letter, McLaughlin called the message a “bad faith” action that could be interpreted as breaking the concession agreement.

The dispute between Sowder and the state is overshadowed by the ongoing battle over who will run Mount Spokane in the future. The state parks commission awarded a 20-year concession to the Mount Spokane 2000 Study Group, made up of Spokane civic and business leaders.

Sowder has a Nov. 18 court date in Olympia to try and scuttle the process that gave the study group the concession. Sowder, who has the right of first refusal for the contract, believes he met the study group’s terms for running the mountain. The commission didn’t agree and gave the study group the nod.

As for the mountain itself, early season snowfall has been melting in recent days, creating spotty coverage and not enough snow at the base for skiing, Sowder said.

“The latest weather outlook I saw was encouraging,” he said. Only four or five inches are at the base now, but that could change in a hurry.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: LET IT SNOW Mt. Spokane Ski Area finally has an operating schedule after its operators and the state agreed to a deal. Here are the highlights: Open Thanksgiving weekend all four days, snow permitting Open weekends only until Thursday, Dec. 19. Ski area will be open every day from Dec. 19 to Jan. 5 for the holiday season. January through February, open Thursday through Sunday, with night skiing on Thursday and Friday. The ski area’s season passes will be sold at selected ski shops to be announced later. The rates are: students, ages 7-25 with identification, $99.99; adults, $199.99.