Turner Mountain to open Dec. 22
Take your goggles and ski pants out of the closet. You’re going to need them.
Heavy snowfall in the Cabinet Mountains during the past week gave Turner Mountain a solid base on the lower trails and convinced the ski area’s organizers to gear up for a Dec. 22 opening.
Bruce Zwang, who coordinates operations at Turner Mountain, said the ski area now has 30 inches of snow at the summit and 14 inches of snow at the bottom. About six inches of snow came during the past week.
“The stuff we got this week is killer base material,” Zwang said. “I don’t think we got any rain up there this week. But it is warm, so the snow is settling a bit, which is good for this time of year.”
The 10-day weather forecast calls for more snow and colder temperatures.
“It does look favorable, but you never know,” Zwang said.
On a typical Saturday at Turner Mountain, you might see 200 people skiing on 1,000 acres with a vertical rise of 2,110 feet. That means each skier gets five acres to themselves – potentially 10 times as much land per skier/snowboarder as the next closest ski resort. On some runs, it feels like you’re alone in a mountain paradise with lift-assisted access to unlimited powder and nicely groomed runs.
Turner Mountain is 26 miles from downtown Libby and has an annual snowfall of 250 inches. You can rent skis or a snowboard, relax in the lodge, order a T-Bar Burger and get lessons to get you going. It has virtually everything that other ski resorts have, except that it’s less than a third of the distance, has a fraction of the crowds and costs about half as much as the next closest ski area.
In the last few weeks, the lift has been getting tuned up and ready to go, a new groomer was delivered and ski patrollers have been honing their rescue skills. Everything is in place for a great start to the season, which kicks off with a full week of skiing between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Ask yourself what would be a more satisfying weekend activity – heading to a city to go shopping and eating out or a day spent up at Turner Mountain with friends and family. For one adult, a day spent driving to Turner, getting a lift ticket and a burger is less than the cost of driving to Spokane and back.
Three hours spent skiing burns about 1,000 calories, and you’ll get to spend time enjoying the great outdoors. If you haven’t been to Lincoln County’s own ski resort in years, come back up. They’d love to have you.
Winter has arrived. See you at the Top Shack.
– From the Top Shack is a weekly feature written by ski and snowboard enthusiasts who are deeply conflicted over whether it’s better to promote Turner Mountain or keep the whole thing to ourselves. We chose the former, but we’ll probably regret it. If you would like to contribute to this regular feature, please contact Matt Bunk at 293-4124.