Ski Season May Run Deep Into Spring Hefty Snowpack Will Give Skiers More Time On Slopes

Near-record levels of snow will extend the Inland Northwest’s ski season into mid-April or possibly May.

With 224 inches of snow at the summit, Silver Mountain is considering the possibility of opening for “Silver Saturdays” after it closes for the season on April 12, said Cathi Jerome, director of sales.

Two years ago, the Kellogg ski area offered discount tickets and stayed open on Saturdays through May 17.

“It all depends on the snow and the skier visits,” Jerome said.

So far, both have been good for area resorts.

Season ticket sales doubled last year’s total at Silver Mountain.

Lookout Pass Ski Area has 19 feet of snow, compared to 6 feet at this time last year.

And this is the first winter in Bill Mullane’s memory that the statute in front of Schweitzer Mountain Resort’s lodge was repeatedly buried.

“We’ve had to dig it out from the drifts three to four times,” said Mullane, the resort’s communication director. The 8-foot statute features three children skiing.

While ski resorts in other parts of the country struggled with mild weather through Christmas, La Nina was good to the Inland Northwest.

Snow came early, and the low temperatures and low humidity have kept the quality exceptional, resort operators say. Snowpacks exceed or rival records set two years ago at the area’s five resorts.

Operators credit good travel conditions and La Nina weather forecasts for boosts in season pass sales and increase in skier visits.

“The general theory - that when it’s not snowing in Spokane, people don’t think about skiing - didn’t hold true at all,” said Eric Bakken, mountain manager for 49 Degrees North in Chewelah.

“There was so much hype over La Nina … people made long-term plans,” Schweitzer’s Mullane said.

49 Degrees North plans to operate through April 10, while Schweitzer and Mount Spokane will be open through April 11.

“If people keep coming up and we still have plenty of snow, we’ll evaluate it,” said Mount Spokane Operations Director Randy Chambers. But skiers tend to drop off as the weather warms up and people turn to golfing, cycling and yard work, he said.

Lookout Pass will stay open Thursday through Sunday during March, and continue to run a bus from Tidyman’s in Coeur d’Alene on Saturdays for the rest of the season.

Silver Mountain will initiate its “Silver Saturdays” if there’s enough interest, Jerome said. Generally, Silver Mountain needs 1,000 to 1,500 skiers to make the post-season Saturdays worthwhile, she said.