Schweitzer Mountain Resort Schpring Finale
You know the spring ski season is here when the sun is shining, the mercury hits +15°C and corn snow abounds. With our local ski resort, Whitewater, already closed for the season we decided to road trip it south to Sandpoint Idaho to check out Powder Alliance member (and Whitewater’s sister resort) Schweitzer Mountain Resort.
Click on the panorama below or any image to view a larger version.
The Powder Alliance is made up of 14 resorts including Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson and Silverstar Mountain in Vernon. Season pass holders at any of the participating Powder Alliance resorts can get three free ski days at any one of those resorts.
Just three hours south of Nelson, B.C., Schweitzer boasts 2,900 acres of terrain, a 2,400ft vertical and 300” of annual snowfall. With 10% beginner, 40% intermediate, 35% advanced and 15% expert terrain and a network of seven lifts (many high speed) you have easy and quick access to all 92 marked runs. Schweitzer’s terrain covers all South, North and East aspects so in spring it’s easy to follow the sunshine throughout the day as the snow warms.
Selkirk Lodge at Schweitzer Mountain Resort
We stayed at the Selkirk Lodge, conveniently located in the Schwetizer base village where ski in/ski out access coupled with pretty phenomenal views of the surrounding terrain gave us the full resort experience. We started each morning skiing in Schweitzer Bowl, riding The Basin Express high speed quad and Lakeview Triple Chair as their runs face directly into the early morning sun and provide soft groomers for an aggressive warm-up to the day ahead. Following this we’d typically head over to the Great Escape Quad where we’d find good corn snow on challenging black diamond terrain. After taking in the beautiful views of Lake Pend Oreille from the top of the aptly named Lakeview Triple Chair we headed back down to the base village where the season was wrapping up with the Schpring Finale which among other shenanigans included the very popular Pond Skimming event. After this we were ready to explore the Outback Bowl. This mostly North facing terrain holds its snow longer and warmed up slower throughout the day so the corn snow was in perfect form for after lunch laps. We rode the Stella High Speed six-pack chair and lapped solid blue runs such as Cathedral Aisle and Vagabond. From the Snow Ghost double chair (which is awfully reminiscent of our beloved Summit and Silver King Chairs at Whitewater Ski Resort) we had almost powder like corn snow runs down Lakeside Chutes which is one of Schweitzer’s many double black runs.
While backcountry skiing is our main passion the warm spring weather was not ideal for ski touring so we were more than happy to explore Schweitzer Mountain Resort and experience some mid April spring skiing with ideal conditions.
Now that we’re more familiar with Schweitzer’s terrain and layout I know we’ll be back to explore Schweitzer’s unlimited backcountry options next year. With six gates allowing access to what looks to be unlimited backcountry skiing and super easy access to neighbouring peaks and long fall line tree skiing the out-of-bounds skiing looks to be as good as the inbounds terrain.
Earlier in the season, if earning your turns isn’t your thing but you still crave fresh untracked Pow then consider Selkirk Powder Cat Skiing as they offer up 4,530 acres of west facing terrain directly adjacent to Schweitzer.
No matter what your preference, Schweitzer’s resort, backcountry and cat skiing terrain will have you smiling. For now it’s just a matter of waiting another 240 (give or take a few) days until the chairs start spinning for the 2016/17 season.
As the trail maps below attest to, Schweitzer Mountain is one big resort.
Last run back down to the base village.
