Downhill from here

COEUR d'ALENE — Skiers are running out of days to hit the slopes, but still have time for final downhill runs on fine powder.

“Spring conditions are as good as they’re ever going to get,” said Gus Colburn, marketing director at Silver Mountain Resort on Thursday.

North Idaho's three resorts, Silver, Schweitzer and Lookout, are enjoying nice spring conditions with machine-groomed runs, fresh snow and sunshine as they draw closer to the end of another winter.

All three reported a season that got off to a slow start due to lack of snow, but came on strong for the Christmas holidays, and held steady the rest of the way.

Schweitzer will be the first to close when it wraps up on Sunday.

"It's a nice end of the season," said Dig Chrismer, Schweitzer's marketing manager. "We had a nice dump of snow early in the week."

Schweitzer just got 8 inches of snow, bringing its season total to 271, under its average of about 300.

On Thursday, it was 37 degrees, little wind and clear skies, ideal for some nice turns.

Heading into its final skiing weekend, it has 101 inches at the top, 78 midway and 56 at the base.

All of its runs are open.

Chrismer said it was a "weird season," going stretches without snow, despite a pre-winter forecast of La Niña, which usually means a lot of snow.

"The last two years she's not held up her end of the bargain as much as we would have liked," Chrismer said.

Schweitzer is expecting a good crowd on Sunday, when it will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then switch gears and get ready for summer biking, hiking, zip lining and horseback riding.

Matt Sawyer, Lookout's marketing director, said conditions are great and all trails are open. They also had sunshine with temperatures about 50 degrees on Wednesday afternoon.

Snow is in the forecast for this weekend.

"Skiing really well right now," he said.

Lookout plans to remain open daily through Easter Sunday, April 17. It usually closes the third weekend in April.

"We don't see any problems being able to do that," Sawyer said.

Lookout has received 375 inches of snow, a bit under its average of 400. It has 73 inches of snow at the summit and 51 at the base.

Sawyer said it was an unusual year, as Lookout didn't open until Dec. 11. While the snow eventually dumped down, Lookout had more rain and challenging weather than normal.

"It was not the best winter by any means," he said.

But skiers were happy and the slopes were busy, Sawyer said.

Colburn said Silver Mountain will be open today and this weekend, and then go to weekends only until it closes April 23.

It has 88 inches of snow at the summit, 78 at the base, with nine inches of new snow. It has received 258 inches of snow this season at the summit, also under its average of about 300.

Conditions were nice Thursday, with sunny skies, temperatures in the upper-30s, and slight winds.

"We've got great weather," Colburn said.

He said it's overall been a good year, despite a shortage of snow and staff early. But as things settled in, snow arrived and staff came on board, the skiers were happy.

"We got good feedback," Colburn said.

The season wraps up with the 18th annual Leadman on the final day, April 23, with a 1-mile ski, 8-mile bike and 4-mile run.

The individual and team event has raised about $155,000 for charities.