Strong starts for Silver Valley skiing

Despite the ongoing pandemic, local ski destinations are reporting strong turnouts for their opening weekends.

Lookout Pass Recreation Area opened earlier than Silver Mountain, but both resorts are happy with what they’ve seen so far.

The snow at Lookout has garnered rave reviews from its passionate fanbase and Director of Marketing Matt Sawyer believes that it’s just the beginning of a solid snow year.

“We were very pleasantly surprised at the opening weekend turnout right through this past weekend,” Sawyer said. “Current trends bode well for the rest of the winter — good but not overwhelming business. The early season users are passionate skiers and riders who relished the opportunity to make powder turns on opening weekend and some even charged into the woods.”

According to Sawyer, Lookout has 32 of their 38 trails available for riders.

Sawyer’s Silver Mountain counterpart, Gus Colburn, was equally enthusiastic about his resort’s opening last weekend.

“Opening weekend went well, we were happy to welcome the Silver family back to the mountain,” Colburn said. “It had been 253 days between the day that we closed for COVID and our opening weekend, which is far too long. We’re extremely happy to be back on snow.”

COVID has obviously changed how the respective ski hills do things, but Sawyer discussed how most people seem to be understanding the rules and regulations and are willing to comply in order to get a shot at the aforementioned powder.

And really those rules boil down to one simple one and that is to mask up.

“Our experience running the Hiawatha Scenic Bike Trail through a COVID-challenged summer showed we were well prepared and allowed us to put into action the best practices right from the start,” Sawyer said. “Getting people to understand what our expectations are, and what their responsibilities are, in regard to COVID-19 was a key proponent of our past few weeks opening messages.”

Silver Mountain also has extensive and unique safety protocols for everything their resort has to offer.

Colburn wants everyone to know that popular events like the Doug E. Fresh Banked Slalom are on the calendar, as well as the beer cat in February. He also made sure to point out the benefits that come with being a season pass holder.

“No reservations needed for season passes, but we will be requiring advanced reservations for lift tickets, rentals, and ski school during weekends and holidays,” Colburn said. “If you are a season pass holder, be sure to use your powder alliance days and go explore the 17 other resorts you can for free.”

Hours of operation and reservations can be made at www.silvermt.com and at www.skilookout.com.