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Ski tales from the snowy Northwest
Which brings us back to Schweitzer, the most ambitious of the bunch. With plenty of lodging, upscale shops and its own expensive expansion plans, this is the go-to hill for the area's well-to-do. It draws skiers from throughout the Northwest.
The hill is about 90 miles northeast of Spokane. It is located next to a town that has year-round outdoor opportunities because it sits on the shores of 37-mile long Lake Pend Oreille, one of the largest and most beautiful lakes in the West.
Sandpoint routinely shows up on those magazine lists of best small towns, best recreation towns or coolest places in the West. It is filled with art galleries, restaurants, shops and lodging options. Coldwater Creek, the mail-order house, is based here and operates a large retail complex downtown.
From the top of Schweitzer, the lake stretches to the distance like a huge piece of a jigsaw puzzle, flowing into bays and around islands. The mile-long bridge into Sandpoint carves a straight line above the water.
Schweitzer has seven lifts and 82 named runs, and numerous lodges and snack huts. It also offers inner-tubing, dog sledding, snowcat skiing, a movie theater and other amenities.
Stella was constructed in 2000 and is the only high-speed six-pack in Idaho.
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"As far as we are aware, it is the only themed chairlift in the world," Schweitzer spokeswoman Lisa Gerber said.
Designed by a former Disney Imagineer, you reach the lift by skiing into a big barn fitted with some Rube Goldberg machinery that purports to be the guts of the machine.
According to the fictional story, Stella was the wife of inventor Phineas J. Schweitzer, and she wanted to ride to the top of the mountain with him and their four children to see the beautiful views. The lift covers 1,550 vertical feet in 5 1/2 minutes.
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