N. Idaho checking in (TR)

After seeing the news wed. night that we have received 24 inches in the past two days coupled w/ the fact that temps would rise on Fri. and Sat.; I figured I'd better get up there while the gettin' was good.

Woke up Thurs. morn. and called Lumberg to tell him one of my kids was sick so I needed to stay home. I loaded the car w/ the ski shit, made the kids lunch, kissed my wife and drove the kids to school. From there I set off for Silver Mt.

Had gotten a late start so I made as good time as I could, 40 min. w/ a gas stop, I thought, "heh, made good time" (usually takes 45 min, w/out a stop). Loaded the gondolla and started up. The weather at the bottom was very nice. Patches of sun came through and the temp was prolly close to 40. Hoped for sun at the top...

At the top the sun was obscured by clouds, in fact the top of the hill was obscured by clouds, no matter, there appeared to be tons of fresh snow as the gondolla approached the mountain house.

I unloaded and drained the main vein, I walked out into perfect ski weather, 27 degrees and soft snow underfoot. I clicked into my brand new Armada's (I learned later I shoulda brought something bigger) and headed down. First few runs were groomers but were still soft. The skis seemed to work, they didn't throw me into wild contortions so I figured I'd head up to the top of the hill. While taking chair 2 to the top I could see that every run was covered by 3-8 inches of pow. I was pretty pumped. Headed for a normally groomed run and found it to, indeed, be covered by fresh snow. The skis held up, they didn't float like my robot specials but it was still a great day.

I did learn though that despite playing a lot of soccer (and being in marginal soccer shape) I am not in skiing shape yet. My quads burned halfway through each run and my damned feet were killing me. I need to do some boot work but I should be good to go on saturday. The kids are dying to go, pray for more pow!!!

nice. i did a weeklong trip to n. idaho many moons ago. silver mt , 40 degrees north, schweitzer, all good times and got great powder while there. esp at schweizer.

seven sisters cider....mmmmm. :D

Nice 1080. I was wondering if you were up there.
I did notice that they are closed today for high winds. Hmm, couldn't be the 38 degree "snow" they are experiencing could it.

Any funky changes in ye old place? Aside from the gondola base area?

Nothing changed up top, but damn, I couldn't beleive that building at the bottom. They're going for broke on those condo's. When I fist heard about them in the spring (I laughed at the price) I thought they'd be a couple years off, guess I was wrong. Those damned things are supposed to be open in the spring.

I'm happy for the mountain. As long as they hold back from stepping over the snotty asshole line for a few more years, ala Schweitz, I think they need whatever they can get. It is funny when I come back in town and hear of the hot real estate up in Kellogg. That place needs a buffer for when all the superfund $ are gone. <-- sad sentence.

Just make sure you have snow at Christmas time......

Tele- will do, pm when in town.

SG- you're right. The valley is in a bad way. There are tons of people who live in complete squallor. Hopefully the ski area will help the valley come back to life.

Right on. Wednesday was the day.

Nice 1080. I'm planning on hitting Lookout Pass tomorrow. Never ridden there, sounds decent especially when the rest of the snowpack around Missoula is weak right now. Lookout is claiming 60" up top. You ever ride over there? PM me if you ever come towards Missoula.