Where: Wallace, Idaho
Phone: (208) 744-1301
Web site: www.skilookout.com
Vertical Drop: 1,150 ft.
Average Snowfall: 400 inches
Lifts: Two double, one rope tow
Hill Info: 444 acres of skiing, 23 runs: 25 percent beginner, 45 percent intermediate, 20 percent advanced, 10 percent expert
Hours: Thursdays - Mondays and holidays from 9 am-4 pm. Saturdays 8:30 - 4 pm. Open seven days a week between Dec. 18 and Jan. 3.
Lift Prices: $3-$25
Major Events: Santa Claus skis on Dec. 24 at noon; Big Air Contest, Jan. 16; Winter Carnival and Family Fun Day, Jan. 23; Crazy Sled Races and a Barbecue Cook-Off with Tom Sherry, Feb. 6; Battle on the Border, Slopestyle Invitational on Feb. 13; Free Heelers Telemark Races, Feb. 19; Lookout Beach Party, Feb. 27; Annual Tandem Ski Races on March 19; Season Pass Holder Appreciation Day, March 26.
This is the second year of Lookout's five-year expansion plan, which has already produced a double lift and five runs (new last year). This season, skiers, snowboarders and onlookers can chill - or heat back up -- in the resort's new 6,000-square-foot lodge with expanded food services and more locker rooms to store your layers.
"With the expansion, it's going to allow us to have more sit-down seating area. That's always been a problem," says Jim Schreiber, marketing director for Lookout. "More bathrooms [are] available -- and the new bar lounge, which will eliminate the flow of children on weekends and will have panoramic views."
The renovations are a welcome bonus for avid Lookout-goers, of which the resort has many. Lookout has operated every year since 1938 and is one of the oldest ski resorts in Idaho. Part of its success is attributed to the supreme snow that dumps on the mountain. Situated near the crest of the Bitterroots, Lookout receives more, lighter and dryer snow, which amounts to a better quality snow slide, whether on skis, a board or your bum. More than 40 percent of visitors at Lookout Resort are snowboarders, and the staff says many of them bring skis, too. More and more, the two crafts are sharing the slopes rather than competing and bickering over space. That's just the kind of congenial attitude resort managers say they want to see flourish. Because of that, they're promoting family-friendly programs like Snow Monsters, new for kids (age 13 and younger), which keeps kids busy with a variety of winter sports and games. Lookout also has free ski schools for both adults and children that have gained national recognition. Club Vertical, the resort's women's ski and snowboard program, begins Dec. 2, running every Thursday through Dec. 16, and again from Jan. 6 through March 24. It's taught for and by women. And beginning Dec. 3, the resort will host Boomers Fridays, which grants anyone over the age of 40 a $13 lift ticket (excluding Christmas and New Year's Eves).
Publication date: 11/11/04
