Bloglander

It’s been a week since we opened the doors for the third annual Snowlander Expo & PowderKeg Brew Festival. What a weekend!

The activities started off with a bang on Friday night with many eager participants waiting at the door prior to 4 pm for the show to begin. As the evening progressed, so did the number of excited skiers and boarders in attendance. The beer garden was the popular place to be up until last call on both evenings.

Brian Ellsworth from the Alpine Haus reports, “For us, [sales] were up this year. From the first to the second year, our numbers doubled, and this year we were up 20-30 percent. It is a good growth on sales and attendance. It was cool to see a line outside before the show doors opened, as it really never happened before.”

You can see a video of some of the Rail Jam festivities right here. And here are just a handful of images that summed up a weekend of winter celebration:

We were super thankful for Washington Trust Bank for hosting this year's Snowlander Rail Jam. And we strapped a GoPro onto some participants in case you weren't able to catch the action in person.

Roll the footage!


Thank you to Buffalo Jones for the use of "My Turn To Run".

It was 11 years ago when I made the shift from a "real" job to working in the mountains. I left a good, consistent paycheck, great health insurance and a desk job.

At this time 11 years ago, I was one month into my new life, adventuring the streets of Sydney, Australia, with my 10-year-old niece, who is now in her junior year at Gonzaga. She was showing me the best places to get good sushi, cheap. And I was taking her to midnight showings of haunted IMAX films.

Upon my return to the states, I started my mountain-girl lifestyle as Base Area Manager of the Selkirk Powder Company at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. My life was surreal. I drove more hours on a snowmobile than in a car. I used a chairlift to commute to work. I was new to powder skiing, yet had access to as much of it as I wanted. I lived in ski clothes. I purchased my first pair of Carhartt’s.

It wasn’t until one late afternoon that I realized the magnitude of the decision I had made. It was after dark in mid-December. I was descending by snowmobile from the mountaintop operations center for SPC. As per normal operating procedures, I made the call on my radio, “This is Jen with Selkirk Powder Company, descending from the Great Escape Quad, down the Great Divide to Down the Hatch to the cat-track to the village.” Once I heard the acknowledgement and the response on the other end to continue with my descent, I started up the snowmobile and started to make my way.

As I started down the Great Divide, I stopped immediately. The sheer beauty that surrounded me in every direction captivated me. While it was dark outside, the sun, as it was setting far to the west, was illuminating the sky. The moon was rising to the east, Lake Pend Oreille was covered by a low layer of clouds and was lit up by the brightness of the moon, sun and stars above.

I stopped to take in the moment.

I realized as I sat there, in that quiet moment, surrounded by natural beauty, how this was as real, if not more so, than any desk job.

A total of 22 regional and local craft breweries and cideries come together for the second annual PowderKeg Brew Fest this weekend, Nov. 7-8, a sampling event catering to the various tastes of Inland Northwesterners. Attendees can choose from one of three tasting packages ($15-$25), take a spin at the prize wheel and try out some seasonal beverages in celebration of the coming winter.

After we've set our boots by the fireplace, shed our frost-covered scarves and put our feet up after a good day on the slopes, it just feels right to indulge in a seasonal ale that can only be appreciated during this time of the year. Local Hopped Up Brewing Company features Destroy my Sweater at PowderKeg, an earthy beer brewed with caramel and mulch malts. Some other seasonal drinks include the Jubelale and Chasin' Freshies from Deschutes Brewery, Sleigh'r from Ninkasi Brewing, No Li's Winter Warmer, the Winterfest Seasonal Ale from Sockeye Brewing and Trickster's Brewing Co.'s Winter Ale. Mmmm. Get cozy. 

For fruit lovers, One Tree Hard Cider pours their Ginger Lemon Cider to wake you up and a Caramel Cinnamon Cider to bring you back to Grandma's apple pie. Finnriver Farm & Cidery goes tart and purple with their Black Currant Cider, made with organic and heirloom apples. 

You're into the hops? Try Alaskan Brewing Co.'s classic Freeride APA, MickDuff's Noho, or Bale Breaker's Topcutter IPA with hops from the nearby Yakima Valley. More of a porter person? Give a taste to the bronze medal winner from the 2011 North American Beer Awards, MickDuff's Knot Tree Porter. 

Here's a comprehensive peek at all the beer and cider on tap at this year's PowderKeg:

• Alaskan Brewing Co. | Alaskan White and Freeride
  
• Bale Breaker Brewing Co. | Topcutter IPA and Field 41 Pale Ale
  
• Deschutes Brewing Co. | Jubelale and Chasin' Freshies
  
• Elysian Brewing Co. | Bitfrost Winter Ale and Space Dust IPA
  
• Finnriver Farm & Cidery | Forest Ginger Cider and Black Currant Cider
  
• Hopped Up Brewing Co. | Destroy My Sweater and Quality Cream Ale
  
• Icicle Brewing Co. | German Chocolate Cake Ale and Bootjack IPA
  
• Iron Horse Brewing Co. | Mocha Death and High Five Hefe
  
• Liberty Ciderworks | Turncoat and Stonewall ciders
  
• MickDuff's | Knot Tree Porter and NOHO
  
• Ninkasi Brewing Co. | Sleigh'r and Total Domination IPA
  
• No-Li Brewhouse | Winter Warmer and Rise & Grind
  
• One Tree Cider | Caramel Cinnamon Cider and Ginger Lemon Cider
  
• Orlison Brewing Co. | Underground Coffee Stout and Two Finter Pour
  
• Perry Street Brewing Co. | Barley Wine and India Red Ale
  
• Ramblin' Road Craft Brewery | Smoked Molasses Saison and Pale Ale
  
• River City Brewing Co. | Midnight Marmot Imperial Stout and Huckleberry Ale
  
• Sockeye Brewing | Winterfest Seasonal Ale and Powerhouse Porter
  
• Trickster's Brewing Co. | Soul Warmer Porter and Extra Pale Ale
  
• Twilight Cider Works | Tradition and Inland Empire ciders
  
• Waddell's | Waddell's Winter Warmer and Smoked Porter
  

If it turns out your friends don't want to be your designated driver. Don't worry — we're partnering with Lyft. Only one ticket purchase is necessary for access both days to these two festive events: PowderKeg and Snowlander Expo. Get yours at the Snowlander Expo site, at the door or through Tickets West.

PowderKeg Inlander Brew Festival • Fri, Nov. 7 from 4 pm-9 pm and Sat, Nov. 8 from 12 pm-8 pm • $15-$25 • Spokane Convention Center • 334 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. • snowlanderexpo.com/powderkeg 

Disclaimer: While I feel as though I am well-travelled when it comes to ski resorts, I don’t doubt there are some that have been left off this list, not due to any other reason than I haven’t had the opportunity to experience them.

1. 7th Heaven (Stevens Pass): To ride the 7th Heaven Chair, you need might need more guts to go up the chair than to ski down the runs that are accessible from the top. Well worth the ride up and ski down!


2. Snow Ghost (Schweitzer): One of the last old school double chairs that runs on a regular basis, this chair delivers advanced skiers and boarders to some of the best terrain Schweitzer offers, the Outback Bowl.


3. Orange Bubble Express (Canyons Resort): Heated seats, an orange cover to protect you from snow and wind.

4. Gondola (Silver Mountain): World’s longest single-stage gondola that carries skiers and boarders up to the mountaintop village.

5. Chair 1 (Lookout Pass): This is Lookout Pass’ original chairlift which lets you ski two states and two time zones from one chair.

6. Bonanza/Chair #1 (49 Degrees North): Whether you ski off the left or right, this chair offers the type of skiing that can only be found at some of the top notch cat skiing operations around the world.


7. Chair #1 (Mt. Spokane): This chair accesses all advanced terrain and with a short boot pack to the Vista House, offers amazing views of Spokane, especially at sunset.

8. Lone Peak Tram (Big Sky): They say 13 people can fit in this tram, which feels a slight bit bigger than a soup can. The rise of this chair covers 1,450 feet in four minutes. Another chair to put your big-girl pants on to ride up (and to ski down).

9. Liberator Quad (Mission Ridge): This chair drops you off at the top of Windy Ridge. When something is named windy, it usually means it is. 360-degree vistas from the top include the mountain of the north Cascades, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker. Ski down a bit and see the wing of a B-24 Liberator bomber that crashed into the side of the mountain in 1944.

Over the last couple of months, I have run into many of my winter friends. Since these are folks who I typically don’t share summer activities with, our only connection is winter. As a result, the first question out of their mouths is something to do with, “Are you getting excited for ski season?” Mind you, I am always excited to ski, but the reality that we live in an area where summer is off the charts and because we only get two real months of summer weather, I typically like to enjoy and live in that moment for as long as summer will allow me.

Come fall, I am ready to shift gears and start the ski season prep; shopping for gear, loading up on ski movies, reading about winter adventures and starting the last minute work-out routine in hopes of having my legs strong enough to handle more than three runs on opening day. This fall has been the exception for the simple fact that we are getting some of the time back that we lost this summer when we were greeted with rain, cold and windy storms throughout August.

As the lingering summer weather exists, I am running into my sailing friends, and they are saying the same things my winter friends say to me after ski season, “I just don’t know what to do now that my sailboat is out of the water.” Luckily for those of us who embrace each season to its fullest, the change of season allows us to get excited for upcoming adventures with friends. In the end, knowing that ski season is 40 days away makes the dark, cold and rainy fall days feel a little better.   

Our friends over at Lookout Pass sent us this image, taken this morning in the St. Regis Basin, of the first signs of snow. Not quite enough to ski yet, but it's time to get ready. Check out our first Snowlander issue this week in the Inlander and mark your calendars: Snowlander Expo is back this year Nov. 7-8.

While it's technically spring down here in the valleys, it's still very much winter up on Schweitzer Mountain. They've received about nine inches of snow in the last two days and it's supposed to snow more today and tonight.

To celebrate "winter," Schweitzer is throwing a Winter Fest, replete with all sorts of bells and whistles up on the mountain, including live music from The Rub, a '90s dance party and, perhaps most intriguing, a mini beer festival. There will be 12 different beers on tap from breweries like Iron Horse, Ninkasi, Goose Island (it's in Chicago), Elysian, Widmer, Firestone Walker and, if you'd rather go European, they've got Stella.

$10 gets you a sampling package with a glass and four samples. Additional samples are $2 and full pints are $5. The beer tent opens at 11 am.

Yeah, sunshine might be nice, but fresh snow and cold beer isn't too bad.

Skiers and snowboarders alike, rejoice! The season is upon us, and the powder is fresh. Here are the opening dates — most are this weekend, though many have already opened — for some of our favorite area ski resorts. 

MOUNT SPOKANE

click to enlarge

Mount Spokane opens for the season on Saturday.

Opening Day: Sat, Nov. 23 at 9 am
Cost: Adult: $24-$52, Youth: $24-$42. Opening Day: Adult: $30, Youth: $20
Snow: Lodge, 24 inches; Summit, 31 inches
What’s New: New restrooms, more seating in the main lodge, a new outdoor deck and a new chairlift servicing seven new runs.

49º NORTH
Opening Day: Opened on Sun, Nov. 17
Cost: Adult: $45-$57, Youth: $39-$48.
Snow: Lodge, 19 inches; Summit, 39 inches 
What’s New: New lighting, doors and wiring in lodge.

LOOKOUT PASS
Opening Day: Opened Thurs, Nov. 21
Cost: Adult: $31-$36, Youth: $22-$28.
Snow: Base, 10 inches; Summit, 26 inches
What’s New: A new terrain park, new beginners programs including cross-country skiing, new ski instructions, a downloadable trail map for smart phones and upgrades to ski shop and rental shop for smoother service.

SCHWEITZER MOUNTAIN
Opening Day: Sat, Nov. 23
Cost: Adult: $61-$71, Youth: $40-$50. Opening Day: $45; Musical Chairs: $25
Snow: Base, 20 inches; Total snowfall, 40 inches
What’s New: Bringing back the sun deck outside the Lakeview Lodge, new progressive terrain park and a new FIS downhill course.

SILVER MOUNTAIN
Opening Day: Fri, Nov. 29, conditions permitting
Cost: Adult: $43-$56, Youth: $32-$41. 
Snow: At Kellogg Peak, 23 inches; Mid-mountain, 12 inches
What’s New: A whole new run, and the Bootlegger run has been vastly improved, taking out obstacles like shrubs/bushes.

Check out the Inlander's latest edition of Snowlander for more updates about area resorts and more. 

On Friday evening, people were lining up at the doors of the Spokane Convention Center for the first day of the Snowlander Expo and PowderKeg Brew Festival. Once the doors opened at 4 pm, there were people everywhere retrieving their season passes, claiming their free lift tickets, and checking out the gear that all of the vendors had set up. There was no dull moment due to the prizes, lager and festivities happening all around. About 3,000 people attended on Friday and Saturday.