JANUARY 2017
Ski Trip To Red Mountsain And Schweitzer Mountain

Click On The Pictures For A Larger View

The Group
Steve Bickham, Bill Yacovissi, Dave Fox, and Shaw Siglin

 We flew Elmira to Spokane and drove to Red Mountain.

We had a four bedroom condo at Slalom Creek Lodge.

The condo was almost ski in and ski out as you had to walk up a small hill to get on the slopes.  From the slopes you could ski right down to the door of the condo.

I forgot my camera so I had to lift some of the photos from online sites.

The condo had 4 bedrooms plus a loft area that someone cold use as a bedroom.  There were three full bathroom.

 The base lodge at Red Mountain left a lot to be desired. 

As you can see it looks like something from the Soviet Union and the same can be said for the interior.

In short, Red Mountain is not for people who want a resort type base area and western charm.

The town of Rossland was a short drive down the mountain. 

The town turned out to be bigger and nicer than I thought from Google Earth and other pictures.

On the other hand this picture from the internet definitely exaggerates its charm but to be fair we never saw it in the daylight.

 Shaw went to the Ski Patrol office and came out with a mountain guide. 

He took us on a nice opening tour of the mountain.

This is a typical run at Red down through some narrow passages between the trees.

Pretty good blue skiing.
 Dave and Shaw on the slopes at Red Mountain, British Columbia.
 A view back down toward the base and the town of Rossland shrouded in the valley fog.

The snow at Red was noticeably wetter than what you see in Utah or Colorado.

The wetter snow clung to the trees creating a very beautiful effect.

No champagne power here.


 Bill, Steve, and Shaw on the slopes at Red Mountain.

 In both the previous trips to Whistler and now at Red Mountain fog seems to be a common occurrence.

 The visibility at Red was generally poor as was the case at Schweitzer.

I think the lesson is to ski this area later in the year when the weather becomes drier.

 Some of the slopes funneled down into a narrow chute.

This one was particularly narrow and difficult.

 

 Another picture of us on the slopes as the snow falls.

 One of the few sunny moments at Red.

When it did clear for awhile the valley fog was always pretty to look at.

 After three days at Red we drove through the mountains to the town of Sand Point in Idaho.

It was a nice drive up and over a pretty sizable mountain pass.

Fortunately the weather was good.

 We rented this house in Sagle which is on the other side of the lake from Sand Point.

 It was also a four bedroom with two full baths and two half baths.

It was a nice and spacious house although we had some trouble with the heating system.

 A view from the living room to the kitchen.

 The base area at Schweitzer was more up to par than at Red.

The day lodge was very nice.

 Looking back down the mountain to the base area.
 I forgot my camera so Dave had the only one so there aren't that many pictures of him.

 
 There was a nice lodge at the top at Schweitzer. 

Most of the time it was shrouded in fog.

 Bill and Steve on the slope with Shaw waiting a bit below.

 Looking back across the ridge line to the lodge.

 As at Red lots of fog and wet snow.

 

Sand Point was a big railroad town.

Dave got lots of pictures of the trains.

 After three days at Schweitzer we drove back to Spokane for the trip home which went about as well as could be expected.
 
THE END