49 Degrees North

[sprocket]

I think Schweitzer has to be on the agenda for next year. Would love to spend an extended period of time over there and up into Canada. I got into the snowboarding game late so the idea of BC is probably not in my future. I'd like some lower-risk trips though, like dragging my board up to Muir or St. Helens and riding down.

[selkirk]

I grew up skiing Schweitzer. Definitely got a bit spoiled there. not much in the way of beginners terrain last time I was there but the intermediate / advanced stuff is fantastic

[rbw1966]

On a road trip to Nelson and back we stopped at 49 on the return leg and I loved it. If you've ever been to ski bowl on mt hood it's similar to that but better.

[sprocket]

We have rooms for this weekend, looking forward to it.

 

Hope we get a little fresh snow for the weekend.

 

Right now there are like 4 skiers on both webcams!

 

 

[sprocket]

Hit 49 Degrees North last weekend and Pindude your description (along with everyone else’s) was spot on.

 

Terrain may be the best for our group’s ability of any “small” hill I've been on. Lots of moderate terrain. The runs were surprisingly long considering there were no high-speed quads. The black runs were very mellow and as mentioned were more like some of the steeper blues you see elsewhere.

 

Our bad luck was to arrive with a warm front after a week of really cold temps. It sounds like Friday was pretty nice. Saturday was good in the morning and then turned to glue after lunch.

 

The unfortunate thing for us is it is too far to drive on short notice for a powder day.

 

Even though there seemed to be a fair number of people we never felt crowed on the hill and except for the initial load up lift lines were mostly non-existent.

 

We got a little antsy when Chair #2 started loading before Chair #1 on Saturday so we jumped on that and then rode down to Chair #4. This turned out to be lucky for us since we got a few runs in on un-tracked snow. It wasn’t the powder we were looking for but fun plus there were very few people on this side of the mountain. The only thing that made us leave that lift was the fact that there were 3 of us and we wanted to ride together on the lifts if possible so it was off to Chair #5. It would be nice if Chair #1 was a quad, not sure if this is in the plans.

 

After lunch we managed a few runs before it became more work than fun.

 

If we ever went back I would probably avoid Saturday if possible, the Boomtown Bar was a zoo and service was really slow. The Bar could use a couple of waiters on the weekend instead of ordering at the bar. It would make the service faster and I think they would sell more food and drinks. We would have had another round at lunch and probably one after we were done but standing in line trying to order deterred us.

 

Sunday was bluebird with fast conditions, a lot less people and a more relaxed vibe on the hill. Ran the groomers until a little after noon, ate lunch at the Boomtown (which was less crowded and much more pleasant) then drove home.

 

A few things I wish were different.

I understand they probably can’t groom everything with limited time but they should have groomed more runs on the weekend. We thought we were being a little picky but there were several locals complaining very loudly about this. Also running the groomer twice up a football wide run doesn’t constitute a groomed run IMO.

 

One thing that really should be changed is the trail map for the East Bowl. We got suckered into running Huckleberry Ridge all the way because the TM shows a Blue run past Big Bear. It was a long walk on snowboards for us with one short ride-able section.

 

Overall it was a fun weekend and the drive went fast enough. I might consider taking a combination of Highways 21, 28, 2 & 231 to avoid the stop and go traffic in Spokane on 395 but it probably wouldn’t save any time but it could be scenic.

 

We stayed at the Nordlig Motel which was clean, quiet and reasonably priced. Chewelah had at least two good places to eat. We ate at the Sportsman’s Grill on Friday and it was packed with a lively crowd. Saturday we ate at the Chalet across the street. It was really good and the prices were very moderate for the quality.