Winter enthusiasts gear up
Skiers trudged through drizzle and gray on Friday to bid farewell to their old ski gear and hopefully make a few bucks in the process.
The 40th annual Ski Swap, sponsored by the Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol and held at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center, is a hot ticket for skiers who arrived in droves to sell off used clothing and equipment.
“This is the first major ski event of the season. It tends to get people psyched for the upcoming winter,” said Don Marshall, one of about 250 ski patrol members volunteering at the event.
For some, the cold, drizzly skies held promise, as word circulated that a steady snowfall had accumulated into an 8-inch base on Mount Spokane.
“It’s raining out here today, but all the skiers know it’s snowing up on the mountain. We have a different attitude about the weather sometimes,” Marshall said.
Skiers embraced poles, boots, skis and snowboards that they planned to sell. Participants pay 50 cents per item and 16 percent of the purchase price to be in the show. Proceeds benefit the Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol, which uses the money to purchase and maintain medical and rescue equipment and first aid supplies.
Three Lewis and Clark High School students wheeled a cart packed with nine sets of skis and several pairs of boots. Ski poles were noticeably missing.
“Any poles that we have are already broken,” said Jason Guthrie, 16, a ski racer known to mangle a few poles while using them to balance as he spins and jumps.
Friends Parker Hemingway, 14, and Clark Dinnison, 15, helped haul gear and planned to return today to scope out deals on jackets and skis.
Parents dropped off equipment their children had outgrown, planning to return over the weekend and pick out larger sizes.
“This is a good opportunity for those of us who have kids to upgrade without spending a lot,” said Scott Stevens, a North Spokane resident who was selling snowboards used by his 10-year-old twin sons.
Boards once took up a small corner of the room and now cover 20 percent of the display space.
Dave Warnica, a ski patrol member who helped organize the swap, expects 4,000 to 5,000 bargain hunters to attend.
If Friday is any indicator, skiers won’t have to wait long to try out their new gear.
Charles Ross, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Spokane office, said upcoming storm fronts will come and go over the next week and that could mean that area ski hills will get the blast of white needed to kick off the season next month.
“The good news is the storms are coming in cold, and they’re bringing in snow to the mountains,” Ross said Friday.
Ross said that although an El Nino system is forming – and that typically brings warmer weather fronts – it looks less powerful than the one that melted down the ski season in 2003.
El Nino could result in a milder winter for city-dwellers, Ross explained, but have no impact on snow at higher elevations. Since the front hasn’t fully developed, it may have no effect on early winter but kick in later.
Either way, Ross, an avid skier, plans on dusting off his skis and even selling a couple pairs at the weekend swap. “I own lots of pairs of skis. I’ve got skis for all conditions.”