Mount Spokane’s Closure Stuns Skiers Local Area Boasts 188 Inches Of Snow For Spring Skiing

The simmering anger of Mount Spokane Ski Area skiers can be summed up in a new bumper sticker spotted there: “Powder Not Sowder.”

Gregg Sowder of Mt. Spokane Skiing Corp., decided to close the resort Sunday, despite the mountain still boasting 188 inches of snow.

“I’m flabbergasted,” said Cassie Stolle, whose 14-year-old son, Mark, was savoring weekends of sunny spring skiing. “I would not have bought a season pass for him had I known he was going to do this.”

While Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint and Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg have decided to extend their season, Mount Spokane’s closure has become especially bitter for season pass holders.

Last year offered them the worst snow and season in many years, in contrast with the bounty of white stuff this season.

“Buying a ski pass is like gambling,” explained Lois Smith, who drives a Suburban full of kids to Mount Spokane each weekend. “Last year, we lost. They were open from January to March. Now we have plenty, and he does this.”

Attempts to reach Sowder on Monday were unsuccessful. His side of the story is one of frustration as well. A multi-year process to bid for the right to run the ski area culminated in Sowder losing the concession to the Mount Spokane 2000 Study Group, made up of local civic and business leaders.

The study group formed in part to oust Sowder and change the way Mount Spokane is run. The state Parks and Recreation Commission last summer awarded the next 20-year concession to the study group.

Under conditions of the old agreement, Sowder had the right to meet the study group’s terms and continue to run the mountain for another two decades.

However, the study group’s plan to plow profits back into mountain improvements didn’t square with Sowder’s for-profit company. His lawyers changed some wording on the concession agreement but still insist that Sowder met the terms, and should keep the mountain concession.

A three-member arbitration panel is sorting out some of the issues, including determining how much Sowder’s investment in the mountain is worth. The study group has to buy Sowder out to take control, a process that might not be done before next ski season starts.

Meanwhile, Sowder has sued the state over the concession process. There’s even a chance that if Sowder gets bought off the mountain that the court could re-instate his company as operator if it finds the bidding process illegal.

Smith said that there weren’t as many skiers on Mount Spokane this past weekend, which was sunny and warm. That doesn’t mean there aren’t great skiing weekends to come, she said.

Competitor 49 Degrees North in Chewelah will stay open another two weekends, closing April 6. Silver Mountain will stay open each Saturday after April 6 as long as skiers show up. Schweitzer added another full week of operation after April 6.

“You just don’t stop running a business because it’s slow one day,” Smith said. “If they don’t make a change, I’m taking my dollar to Idaho next year.”

The skiers and parents have wondered why Sowder, if he truly wants to run Mount Spokane, hasn’t treated skiers better. A local ski racing team also had a run-in with Sowder, and has considered racing at Silver Mountain Resort.

“You’d think he’d be nice to people if he wanted to keep running it,” Smith said. “Once you lose skiers, it’s awful hard to get them back.”

, DataTimes