Skiers eager for opening day

Far off the beaten path to ski hills in Northwest Montana, Turner Mountain near Libby offers a relaxed atmosphere with just one lift, a glaring lack of crowds and welcoming vibes from the local ski community.

“Everybody knows everybody at Turner,” Bruce Zwang, a board member for the Kootenai Winter Sports Ski Education Foundation, told the Inter Lake last week. The foundation operates the mountain, which is run almost entirely by a core of 40 volunteers. “Even newcomers become locals very quickly to us.”

Turner is located in the backwoods-area known as the Yaak, 20 miles north of Libby. It’s essentially a stand-alone mountain with 22 runs down a south-facing slope, which holds more black diamond runs than intermediate and beginner runs combined.

Located near the lowest elevation of the Montana, Turner’s summit reaches 5,952 feet and offers a 2,110 vertical drop. The mountain defines itself as “steep and cheap,” with lift tickets at $37.

“We’re a small area and we’re very inexpensive,” Zwang said. “We rarely have any crowds or lift lines, so you can still be spending the day skiing powder and keep doing that even into the next day.”

The mountain is open only on weekends, but skiers and snowboarders can actually rent out the entire mountain during the week. Zwang said making the mountain available to rent brings more funding in and keeps the stoke going through the week.

“They’re a good shot in the arm for us to be honest,” Zwang said of full-mountain rental days. “It’s a good revenue stream because it’s adding another day in the week that we wouldn’t be open.”

Turner is open daily for the holidays between Dec. 26 and Jan. 2. An opening date hasn’t been set yet, but Zwang said the mountain is shooting for Dec. 16.

“I think we have a unique niche, so to speak,” Zwang said. “Most areas have a large population of skiers on hand. We’re still reasonably quiet. It’s a very friendly, very relaxed atmosphere.”