This is the kind of season you want to stay stoked for, but Mother Nature and Ullr keep dropping the ball. Epic storm notifications pop up on your phone from all of your different weather apps. The precipitation falls in town, and we shovel it away in hopes of an early morning departure for the mountain. We eagerly head up to the hill the next day, only to be greeted by warm and wet conditions.
I consider us lucky that our area mountains are still open, and remain committed to servicing skiers and snowboarders who are putting in the effort to make lemonade out of a season that keeps giving us lemons. Some mountains in the Pacific Northwest already have closed until more snow falls. We've had a decade full of epic, great and average seasons — let's hope this one turns around soon, so we can put the first part of the season behind us and finish strong.
All of the mountains have been diligent in doing whatever they can to make their conditions as best as possible, regardless of the unfortunate weather patterns that have been present this season. With two more months left in this ski season, there's still plenty of time for a turnaround, and there are still a lot of great events planned for the remainder of the season. Some fan favorites include Winter Carnival featuring skijoring in Sandpoint (Feb. 11-22); Scavenger Hunt/Crazy Costume Day at Lookout Pass and Pond Skim/Military Appreciation Day at Mt. Spokane, both on March 28; Toyota Ski Week at 49 Degrees North (April 6-12), and Leadman, the Inland Northwest's favorite off-road triathlon, at Silver Mountain on April 25. Check out the calendar of events for more details, and other great reasons to get up to the mountains this season.
Hope to see you on the mountain!
