Mountains get fresh layer of skiers
KELLOGG – Lori McClintock was planning to spend this weekend sprucing up her camper for the summer season. Instead, she pulled her skis out of the attic.
Storms dropped 4 to 6 feet of new snow in the mountains over the past seven days. The thought of all that fresh powder was a siren call to McClintock, a season-pass holder at Silver Mountain.
Friday after work, she and her pal, Larry Meister, drove from Pullman to Kellogg. They spent the night in his camper in Silver Mountain’s parking lot.
“The parking lot was filling up by 7:30 a.m.,” Meister said.
By 10 a.m. on Saturday, the overflow parking lot was crammed with cars as well.
Pent up demand for winter brought thousands of skiers and snowboarders to the slopes on Saturday. Silver Mountain and Schweitzer Mountain Resort, which had closed earlier, reopened for the weekend. Lookout Pass Ski Area planned to close after today, but may extend its season for another weekend. Silver Mountain is thinking along those lines as well.
“It’s just like a resurrection of the ski season,” Jim Schreiber, Lookout Pass’ marketing director, said Saturday. “Our parking lot was so full today that people were parking on the entrance and exit ramps to the freeway. It’s been a whopper of a day for us.”
More than 1,000 skiers and snowboarders showed up at Lookout on Saturday. Schweitzer was expecting up to 2,000 visitors, and Silver Mountain estimated attendance at 1,500 people. While hardy souls in the lower elevations ventured outside in shorts and short sleeves, skiers basked in chilly mountain temperatures requiring fleece and stocking caps.
“This is like the dead of winter conditions. It’s like the middle of January,” said Stephen Lane, Silver Mountain’s marketing director, as he hiked up Wardner Peak. “Tell people that the more they come out, the more likely we are to open next weekend.”
Tammy Overman of Osburn is among those who hope the late-blooming winter weather lingers.
“I just now broke even on my season pass, that’s how bad it’s been,” Overman said. “My other half has a snow removal business, so the warm weather this year has hurt us all around.”
She was skiing at Silver Mountain Saturday with a friend, Tanya Ireland, and Ireland’s 8-year-old son, Jerick. The women planned to ski all day – “as long as my legs last,” Overman said – and come back early this morning.
“It’s some of the best snow we’ve seen this year,” she said.
Variations of that sentiment echoed all over Silver’s Mountain Haus. The ski hill received 4 feet of snow in five days. Though it was a bit heavy and wet in places, the mountain had good coverage for the first time in weeks. Skiers didn’t have to dodge as many rocks, or be as alert for icy slicks. Four of the five chair lifts were operating.
“A 5- to 6-foot base is optimum,” said Danny Kenyon, a member of Silver’s terrain park crew. “If the season was starting now, it would have been great.”
Instead, said Kenyon, “it’s been a weird, weird winter. We had the snow and lost it. It’s like we had to start over from scratch three times.”
Scanty snow coverings took their toll on Michael Knollmeyer’s skis. “They’re Salomon 1080s, brand new this year,” said the Richland High School senior. “They’ll probably have to go into the shop to get the chips repaired at the end of the season.”
The light snow year also took a toll on skiers’ conditioning. Kyle Kinder and Chris Dolin of Spokane have skied six times this season, about half as much as usual. By 12:30 p.m., the two friends were tuckered out. They packed up their snowboards and caught the gondola back down the mountain.
“The snow and the mountain are kicking our butt today,” Kinder said.
Saturday’s excursion was mostly about getting their money’s worth out of their season passes, Dolin said. The men scanned advertisements for 2005-2006 season passes as the gondola carried them back to Kellogg. If they purchase passes by April 30, they get the best deal.
“Should we buy them again?” Kinder wondered.