CRAIG HILL | STAFF WRITER
\nPublished: 03\/11\/12 2:05 am | Updated: 03\/11\/12 8:18 am<\/p>\n
Read more here: http:\/\/www.thenewstribune.com\/2012\/03\/11\/2062256\/a-sandpoint-secret.html#storylink=cpy<\/a><\/p>\n SANDPOINT, Idaho \u2014 On a bluebird day you can see snowcapped peaks in Montana, Washington and British Columbia from the top of Idaho\u2019s largest ski resort.
\nLake Pend Oreille below makes Schweitzer Mountain feel like the Northwest\u2019s Lake Tahoe region. And the 2,900 acres of steeps, tree skiing and family-friendly groomers are a skier\u2019s dream. It\u2019s here, absorbing this heavenly panorama, that it seems impossible a place so stunning could be named after a cat-eating hermit.
\nBut it is.
\nSchweitzer Mountain Resort has a quirky history, a bright future and reputation for being one of the best-kept secrets of the U.S. ski industry.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s face it,\u201d said Jim Parsons, a longtime Sandpoint resident and local historian. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy to get here.\u201d
\nGetting to Sandpoint from the South Sound requires a nearly 400-mile drive, or a flight into Spokane followed by a 90-minute drive.
\n\u201cBut it\u2019s worth the effort,\u201d Sean Briggs, Schweitzer\u2019s marketing coordinator, said as he prepared to drop into the ski area\u2019s Outback Bowl. \u201cWe have an iconic view, great skiing, a base village with everything you need, and the best thing about being a little out of the way is the lack of crowds.
\n\u201cYou feel like you get the mountain to yourself. Even the busy days aren\u2019t all that busy.\u201d
\nCAT STEW
\nSchweitzer Mountain is reportedly named for a Swiss hermit (In German, Schweizer means Swiss) who lived at the base of the mountain more than a century ago. In his 1991 book \u201cLooking Back at Schweitzer,\u201d resort founder Jack Fowler wrote that the eccentric hermit was thought of as strange but polite. Once, while wearing his Swiss Army uniform, he intercepted a young woman traveling on horseback in a snowstorm and led her to the local train station. After another incident, authorities paid him a visit and found the pelts of many missing cats.
\nAccording to Fowler\u2019s book, the hermit was quite fond of cat stew. He was sent to an asylum where he spent the rest of his life.
\nThe hermit has since been immortalized in local folklore and with several resort features now referencing his legend. A six-seat lift and a ski run are named Stella, after the towns-woman he reportedly loved, and the tubing park is called Hermit\u2019s Hallow.
\nInexplicably, none of the 92 ski runs bear the name Cat Stew.
\nParsons, the local historian, had only one thing to say about the legend: \u201cNo comment.\u201d
\nHis interest lies more in the evolution of the ski area. Parsons, 81, moved to Sandpoint from San Diego in 1945.
\nThere had been skiing on the outskirts of town in the \u201930s and he and some other locals helped build a new rope tow in the late 1940s, but he never envisioned the area would one day have a ski area that lures visitors from around the Northwest.
\nThe turning point came in the 1960s when Fowler, a Spokane dentist, and a friend, Grant Groesbeck, spotted Schweitzer Basin on their way home from a disappointing ski trip in Montana. The idea was born and the men even brought in longtime White Pass general manager Nelson Bennett to help find the perfect location for the ski area. In 1963 the ski area was born with townspeople buying into the project for $10 per share.
\n\u201cEverybody in town bought stock,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cI think it is the biggest thing that ever happened to this town.\u201d
\nBEERS, BRAS AND DISNEY
\nToday Schweitzer seems to have something for everybody.
\nFor those who are a little bit wild, there is a tree under the Great Escape lift where women sometimes throw their bras \u2013 a tradition Briggs can\u2019t explain.
\nOther ski areas in Idaho have bra trees, but few resorts in North America have a liquor license like Schweitzer\u2019s.
\n\u201cThe license covers the entire mountain,\u201d Briggs said. \u201cSo people can enjoy a beer on the chairlift.\u201d
\nFor families, the resort grooms miles of ski trails every morning.
\n\u201cWe have tons of groomers that are long and wide open,\u201d Briggs said. \u201cAnd we have some great high-angle groomers.\u201d
\nOne of these steep groomers, Kaniksu, Briggs claims starts at a 55-degree pitch.
\nBecause the ski area is on private land, it also has something that is a rarity in the Northwest, a base village with ski-in, ski-out lodging.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s great for families because they just have to wake up, grab their skis and they are on the snow,\u201d Briggs said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy.\u201d
\nIn 2000, when the ski area installed the new Stella Lift, it enlisted the help of Disney.
\nTo reach the lift, skiers slide through a barn adorned with mining themed animatronics. Briggs said the animatronics, which included characters and steam-blowing machinery, proved to be more expensive to run than expected and are rarely turned on anymore.
\nThey don\u2019t get many complaints, perhaps because skiers don\u2019t spend much time in the barn.
\n\u201cThere are no lift lines at Schweitzer,\u201d said Jeff Nizzoli, owner of Eichardt\u2019s Pub in Sandpoint. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the great things about skiing here.\u201d
\nAnd then, for those who love to push themselves, Schweitzer offers challenges both on and off the slopes.
\nDOUBLE DIAMOND DINING
\nAt the base of the Outback Bowl, where dozens of steep double diamond, diamond and a handful of intermediate runs converge sits a small lodge with a big menu. The Outback Inn is a popular lunch spot best known for its homage to an Idaho icon \u2013 the potato.
\nJoe Sorentino was manning the tater station when a skier ordered the Outback Potato. The skier realized he was outmatched as soon as Sorentino pulled out a large red and white paper basket. As Sorentino loaded on chili, tomatoes, onions, bacon, sour cream, jalape\u00f1os, cheese and more, he announced that lunch would weigh more than three pounds.
\n\u201cAnd,\u201d the cashier chimed in, \u201cyou can\u2019t leave until you finish.\u201d
\nLuckily he was joking because there was no chance. And Outback Bowl was calling.
\nThe more challenging of Schweitzer\u2019s two bowls, Outback Bowl is where the resort keeps its toughest terrain: the steep Lakeside Chutes and expert runs with names like Whiplash and Misfortune. \u201cAnd great, quality tree skiing,\u201d Nizzoli said.
\n\u201cOn a powder day it will blow you away,\u201d Briggs said.
\nThat\u2019s about the reaction Rob Karmin of Portland had last month when he took a four-day vacation at Schweitzer with his girlfriend.
\n\u201cThis place is pretty amazing,\u201d Karmin said. \u201cIf Schweitzer was right next door to Mount Hood I would come here.\u201d
\nTAHOE NW
\nSvein Nostdahl, co-owner of Sandpoint Sports, moved from Aspen, Colo., 13 years ago looking for a place where he could ski in the winter and play on the lake in the summer.
\nHis first thought was Lake Tahoe, \u201cbut it has too many people,\u201d he said. \u201cThis place is second only to Tahoe.\u201d
\nIn comparison with Aspen and Tahoe, Nostdahl says he wouldn\u2019t exactly classify Schweitzer as a resort. \u201cBut it\u2019s getting there,\u201d he said.
\nMack Deibel, spokesman for the Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce, says Sandpoint still gets most of its visitors in the summer. He doesn\u2019t have visitation statistics, but inferred you\u2019d have better luck finding a bowl of cat stew than a hotel room in town between July 4 and Labor Day.
\n\u201cWe are a lake town,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we are becoming more of a ski town.\u201d
\nOne step Sandpoint took in that direction this year was adding free public transportation from each of its hotels to the base of Schweitzer, where the resort offers round-trip shuttle service to the lifts for $3.
\nDeibel said the new service is used by about 1,000 people per week.
\nDuffy Mahoney, co-owner of MickDuff\u2019s Brewing Co., says he and his brother, Mickey, moved to Sandpoint in 2005 to convert an old breakfast diner into a brew pub because Sandpoint was a dream destination. In addition to the skiing and water sports, they appreciated the local arts and music scene.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s like somebody took Portland or Seattle and shrunk it down to a town of about 8,000 people,\u201d Mahoney said. \u201c… And then put here where we have this great lake in our front yard and world class skiing in our backyard.\u201d
\nCraig Hill: 253-597-8497 craig.hill@thenewstribune.com<\/a> blog.thenewstribune.com\/adventure
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