Bitter Feud Casts Shadow Over Mount Spokane

The only certainty at Mount Spokane Ski Area could be that no one - not the skiers, not the state, not the company that runs the hill - is happy.

Many skiers who frequent the family-oriented slope have a long list of complaints about the operator, Mt. Spokane Skiing Corp., which has controlled the state-owned ski area for more than two decades.

Gregg Sowder, who runs the ski company, feels he’s been wronged by the state concession process that has an arbitration panel trying to agree on how to buy him out of the mountain.

For Washington State, which owns the land under the ski area, the process of getting a new operator has dragged on for years. Entangled in lawsuits and sticky procedural questions, the issue is far from settled.

As more people turn off to skiing Mount Spokane, the state loses revenues as part of its concession agreement.

Skiers’ relationship with Sowder continues to sour. The resort was open fewer days at reduced hours compared with previous years, and even that schedule was a compromise from Sowder’s plan to be open only on weekends.

The Spokane Ski Racing Association moved a recent race for its participating youths to Silver Mountain Ski Resort - an extra hour’s drive from Spokane - because of a dispute over accommodations for the racers.

“We’ve been unsatisfied with the conditions at Mount Spokane,” said Lisa Hildebrand, parent of two racers. “It’s been frustrating.”

The safety of the racers was the primary concern, she said. The group wanted the race course groomed, but Sowder declined.

Sowder said he didn’t appreciate the ski racers telling his company how it should groom the slopes. However, he emphasized that the racers were welcome to continue practicing and racing at Mount Spokane.

Silver Mountain wants the association to hold all its races in Kellogg. The association’s board will consider moving, Hildebrand said, and should make a decision by May.

The state parks commission awarded the next 20-year concession to run the ski area to the Mount Spokane 2000 Study Group, made up of Spokane civic and business leaders. To make the change, Sowder must be paid for his investment and equipment on the mountain.

Just how much to pay is up to a three-member arbitration board. The board was to have arrived at that magical figure on March 15, but now has an open timetable to complete its work, said Wayne McLaughlin, contracts manager for the parks commission.

Confounding the arbitrator’s work is Sowder’s pending lawsuit in Olympia. Sowder claims the entire concession process is unfair to his company.

The study group made a deal with the state parks commission to run the ski area. Under terms of the original concession agreement, Sowder had the right to meet the terms of the new agreement and keep running the mountain.

The study group wants to run Mount Spokane as a nonprofit entity, using any profits for mountain improvements. Sowder said he can’t operate that way, and modified some terms of the study group agreement to let his company pay taxes and distribute dividends to its investors before using money to improve Mount Spokane.

The state again sided with the study group, and started the process of getting Sowder off the mountain.

If Sowder’s suit in Olympia succeeds, the state may have to start the process yet again, said Spokane attorney Ted Stiles, spokesman for the study group.

“If that happens, all the time spent by the arbitrators to come up with a value would be wasted,” he said. “There’s lots of ways this could shake out.”

Stiles said the group wants to take control of the mountain as soon as possible, but realizes that Sowder may remain in control for the 1997-1998 ski season. That prospect doesn’t sit well with some longtime skiers.

“I will boycott Mount Spokane if Sowder continues to own it,” said Stan Brazington of Spokane. “I bought a season pass this year and I’m sorry I did.”

Brazington said he used to support Sowder and liked the low prices at the ski area. But his recent management decisions will make him ski elsewhere next year.

“I’ve met a lot of friends up at Mount Spokane,” he said. “But my friends don’t come up anymore.”

In Olympia, McLaughlin wonders why Sowder hasn’t made more effort to appease his skiers.

“If the ski corporation really wanted to be the concessionaire, it would be in their best interest to honor the conditions of the new agreement instead of drifting back,” McLaughlin said. “We’re sorry to see the races moving and we’ve heard the complaints. It’s money out of our pockets, too, because the state gets revenue from the concession agreement.”

, DataTimes