Several Inland Northwest ski resorts are scheduled to open for regular operations this week.
The five resorts prefer to open Thanksgiving weekend, but Mother Nature hasn’t provided enough snow until this week. And even with this week’s white bounty, some resorts, such as Mt. Spokane, are stretching things to provide enough powder for skiers.
“It will be limited to ribbon runs, I guess I would call it," said Mt. Spokane General Manager Jim van Loben Sels. He says the ski and snowboard park will open Friday for daily operations.
“We’re basically opening the next couple of days with season pass holders and some of the preseason day ticket sales that we put out there," he said.
After that, the hope is there will be enough snow to justify opening to the general public. No night skiing yet at Mt. Spokane.
49 Degrees North in northeast Washington will also open on Friday.
In north Idaho, Schweitzer has been open for a few days, but still on limited terrain. Silver Mountain and Lookout Pass both fired up the lifts for one day this week and will reopen for the season on Thursday.