A season to ski
North Idaho ski resorts are off to a better start than last year with the amount of snowfall received, as well as what is expected to come.
Even compared to an average year, Silver Mountain Resort in Kellogg is doing really well this year, said Willy Bartlett, marketing coordinator for Silver Mountain.
"We have gotten a ton of good snow, honestly some of the best powder conditions," Bartlett said. "That first storm, I rode some of the best powder conditions I've ridden in probably three years — and I rarely miss a powder day."
He said on average, the mountain picks up a total of 300 inches during the season. As of Friday, it had received a total of 122 inches so far this season.
After being open five days a week for the past five years, Bartlett said that going back to seven days this year for the summer and winter months is working out great. Around 1,800 people — a record number — showed up for Silver's annual "Jackass Day" on Jan. 8.
"It's been busy," Bartlett said. "After some dreary forecasts this summer on what the winter was going to be like, it's been really awesome to have it be so good. This is one of the first times in a while the forecast will be for 2 to 3 inches and we pick up 5 or 6. It's really nice to be getting good forecasts and then surpassing the forecast."
Lookout Pass Ski Resort, as of Friday, had received 137 inches so far this season. In comparison, last year it received a total of 190 inches for the entire season, said Jason Bergman, marketing director at Lookout. On average, Lookout picks up about 400 total inches, and while it fell short of that average last year, it's well on the way to it this year.
Bartlett said that it is an excellent season and having opened on Thanksgiving Day helped to get Lookout off on the right foot. Over the holiday weekend, he said, skier visits were up approximately 26 percent and revenue was up about 15 percent.
The Martin Luther King holiday weekend was looking good as well, with another 14 inches that were expected over the weekend, Bergman said Friday.
"We've been pretty blessed with that throughout the holiday as well, so Mother Nature has been very timely," Bergman said. "Lookout Pass is 100 percent natural snow, so we don't have any snow-making capability, and conditions are excellent to superb right now."
As of Saturday, Schweitzer Mountain Resort had already surpassed the amount of snow it received all of last year, said Dig Chrismer, Schweitzer's marketing manager.
This season the resort has received a total of 149 inches of snowfall, halfway to its average of 300 inches. Last year it had around 128 inches for the entire season. Chrismer said Schweitzer has a settled snow depth at the summit of 74 inches and 46 at the base.
Chrismer said with changing weather patterns, it's difficult to predict how the next few months will go, but she hopes the season will continue to go well and Schweitzer reaches or surpasses its average snowfall.
"We are just really psyched and stoked about how we are sitting right now," she said. "Enjoying every day that we've got good snow and making the most of it. Hopefully the weather patterns continue."