Area Resorts

LOOKOUT PASS
After five years of large expansion projects (the area has tripled in size since 2003), Lookout is going to sit back and enjoy their 400 inches of light dry powder this season, along with the new more challenging terrain that adds to Lookout’s already full offering of options. Committed to early openings, Lookout did extensive glading in the Last Chance glades and additional glading and mowing all over the mountain, which will maximize early- and late-season terrain availability all across the mountain.
Adding to the dining options this season is the new Summit Shack Café, offering

panoramic mountaintop food. It’s a convenient location to take a break and enjoy a hot chocolate or a grilled burger. The café will be open weekends and holidays.
Finally, for those of us lucky enough to be born during the winter months, Lookout offers free skiing on your birthday. Just bring a driver’s license or other photo identification with proof of birthday and receive a complimentary lift ticket for that day. (It’ll make up for never being able to have a birthday pool party.)
Lookout is dedicated to keeping with the trends and offers two terrain parks: The B-52 Park offers nine launches plus the nation’s longest quarter pipe (1,111 feet in length), while the park on the front side, Exit 0, offers a full gamut of rails, boxes and features for a wide variety of ability levels to enjoy.
Lookout is one of the easiest ski resorts to get to, with its immediate proximity to Interstate 90 on the Idaho-Montana border. Offering even more convenience is the bus service available to and from Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden, Liberty Lake, the Silver Valley and Western Montana, available every Saturday from January 10 to March 14. There is a fee for all pickup and drop-off locations except in the Silver Valley and Western Montana, where bus service is free.
It is an exciting time for Lookout Pass with the dining options, new chairlifts, terrain and runs offering challenging drops and long cruisers. Add that to the large volume of legendary powder, and you’ll soon realize why the people of Lookout are the happiest skiers around.

49° NORTH
With my first glance at the 49 Degrees North Website, I thought the newly posted photos must be from last season — but as I looked closer, I realized they are photos of the current conditions. 49 Degrees North has completed an extensive summer grooming program, allowing them to open with much less snow. Crews were out all summer removing rock, brush and downed trees to maintain their philosophy that preseason prep work makes for great early-season conditions. As evidenced on the Website, snow has already fallen — all they need now is a couple more storms, and the conditions will be ripe for opening.
The Chewelah mountain has made a concentrated effort over the years to be a family-oriented ski area for residents of the Inland Northwest. Visitors to OnTheSnow.com have taken note of 49’s focus on being a family-friendly mountain and awarded them the No. 1 Most Family-Friendly Resort in the Pacific Northwest. They also consistently receive similar marks from regional publications.
To make your day trip to 49 a little smoother for the family, the ski area has also implemented a new daily lift-ticket offer that will save you time, money and definitely a lot of frustration at the ticket window. Prior to your visit to 49 Degrees North, go to their Website and purchase your tickets. Print the voucher and head for the hills. When you arrive at the mountain, present the voucher at the designated ticket window and exchange it for a ticket. This will eliminate the inevitably frustrating scenario of fumbling through your wallet or backpack while standing in the cold weather.
While the East Basin terrain that is accessible by the Sunrise Quad is still new enough that many people have not yet discovered it, 49 Degrees North is hard at work on their next venture. While still a ways out in the future, the terrain expansion to the Angel Peak area (slated to begin summer of 2010) is already in the planning stages. This involves working with the U.S Forest Service, the Colville National Forest and the Newport Ranger District. While details are still limited, the expansion will include nine or 10 new runs with some fantastic old-growth tree skiing.