New rules at Mt. Spokane this season, in addition to the existing rules for uphill skiing, include:

1. From Lodge 1 at Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park, uphill travel can begin at 7:15 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Skiers must switch to downhill skiing at 9:00 a.m., when chairlifts begin running, and be off the mountain by the close of the business day. (On non-operating days, skiers must be done skiing by 4pm/dusk to allow for grooming operations to begin.)
2. The resort’s shift to a 7-days-a-week schedule eliminated two popular days of uphill skiing when the ski area has traditionally been closed.
3. The requirement to purchase a $50 annual Uphill Skier Winter Season Pass that must be carried with you (not required if you’re a downhill season pass holder or you purchase a lift ticket for the day you intend to ski uphill).
4. And the need to procure a free Early Hours Parking Permit if you plan to park at Lodge 1 to ski the only designated uphill route in the ski area (to be displayed in your vehicle’s dash)

While the requirement for getting your hands on a free early morning parking permit from the resort up to a week in advance may seem like a particularly galling hassle, the one-week in advance requirement listed on Mt. Spokane’s uphill policy page is only necessary if you want your parking pass mailed to you.

As I confirmed in a call to Mt. Spokane, you can call to order your parking pass and stop by the Snow Sports office on the mountain in person during operational hours (after 8 a.m.) to pick it up as early as the following day. And, on the bright side, if you’re parking in the concession area at Lodge 1 to ski up the B29 route, the new free parking permit means you will no longer need to purchase a SnoPark pass (although one is still required to park elsewhere in the state park outside the concession area).

These changes come during a year when the ongoing pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in user visits to Mount Spokane State Park and Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park that have led officials to begin closing the park outside the ski area to visitors once parking lots fill up (news story with more details).

While some uphill skiers and other park users might think they smell a rat, looking at more populated parts of the country provides a guide to where we might be headed here in the Inland Northwest in the coming years: More users vying for access to our trails, parks, and other natural resources predictably leads to more restrictions, hoops to jump through, fees, permits, and access limitations. All of which become necessary to protect the resources, pay for increased management costs, and limit user conflict as the number of users grows.

Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park’s general manager Jim van Loben Sels says the uphill policy changes this year are a temporary attempt to get a handle on the increase in winter users across the concession area, including knowing how many users are out there. The changes, he adds, are also intended to ensure that everyone is paying their share of the parking, grooming, and facility services the resort provides.

“Our team at Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park is dedicated to supporting this growing population of outdoor enthusiasts and look forward to providing more access, services, and programming to uphill skiers in the future,” says van Loben Sels.

Find more info and Mt. Spokane’s complete uphill policy and purchase an uphill skier season pass at Mtspokane.com/uphill-travel-policy.

Originally published as “Navigating the Uphill” in the January-February 2021 issue. Online version revised to include the most current information, which was announced after that issue was printed.

Derrick Knowles is co-publisher and editor-in-chief and loves backcountry skiing.

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Like many popular outdoor recreation attractions, Mount Spokane State Park, including Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Area, has experienced increased user visits and crowded conditions and parking lot chaos at times this winter, notes a recent Washington State Parks media statement. In response, the statement says, “Washington State Parks may need to close parts of the park intermittently as parking lots reach capacity” to protect the health of park staff and visitors. Closures when the park reaches capacity had already begun around the holidays and will likely continue throughout the winter on peak visitor days.

Park staff expect the overcrowding and parking lot capacity issues to be mostly outside the downhill ski area, since parking has been more of a challenge for the limited number of parking spots where Nordic skiers, snowshoers, fat bikers, and snowmobilers typically park, and those areas will be closed once the lots are full. Intermittent closures are also likely during big snow events to allow for snow removal equipment to work.

The ski area, on the other hand, “is trying valiantly not to close their parking. They recommend buying day passes in advance because they are limiting entry and can better manage their load that way,” says Meryl Lassen, Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission communications consultant. “People need to call the park when they’re heading up, otherwise, they’ll get to the parking lot and it will be closed (or not). We recommend arriving early—and also having a snow-worthy car and emergency supplies with them.”

For updates, call the park at 509-238-4658 and check its website for alerts before heading up. The state park’s alerts can be found at Parks.state.wa.us/549/Mount-Spokane.

“We recommend visitors have a Plan B in case the lots are full,” says Lassen. “And most importantly, we ask people to pack their patience as the 14th essential when heading to the mountain this winter.”

Originally published as “Crowds Lead to Closures at Mount Spokane State Park” in the January-February 2021 issue.

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There are ski families, and then there are Ski Families. And one of the most hardcore ones in Spokane are Chris and Beccie White and their two teenage kids. Neither Chris, originally from Seattle, nor Beccie, from Colville, grew up as skiers. “I started skiing late—probably not until I was 20,” says Chris, 41. Beccie, 36, says she was initially scared of skiing, and figured it would feel too cold and wet. But Chris persuaded her to try it, at age 24, with a 1-2-3 EZ lesson and rental package at Mt. Spokane. Their son and daughter, Damon and Ashley, would also learn to ski at Mt. Spokane at age 5.

It was Mt. Spokane’s all-around friendly vibe that compelled them to make it their go-to destination. Beccie says, “We always felt welcomed when we went into the lodge and while we were skiing. The lifties, ski host, or anyone working at the mountain made people feel welcome—would ask how you’re doing, [and] are you having fun.”

It was during a family ski day that Chris, on a whim, decided to take the patrol ski test—while wearing his Carhartt hooded-jacket, Beccie recalls. The next ski season Chris was wearing his official red patrol jacket for the rigorous on-mountain portions of the National Ski Patrol Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) training program. After his candidate training year, he was a certified ski patroller. Beccie, at that time still a beginner skier, says, “Once Chris was on patrol and the kids and I could get season passes, we were up there nearly every weekend and could ski with others who skied well, so I got better.”

Now Chris and Beccie are both certified members of National Ski Patrol for Mt. Spokane’s all-volunteer patrol organization. Chris is starting his ninth patrol season and Beccie her fourth, after completing her candidate training during the 2015-16 season. Mt. Spokane is an extension of home for the Whites. “It’s nice to raise our kids in that environment. Because neither of us grew up in families who skied, to live close and be part of that kind of ski community” inspires their devotion, says Beccie.

“Our extended family is up there,” says Chris—their “winter family” of fellow skiers and patrollers. “It’s definitely because we became patrollers that we fell in love with Mt. Spokane…The skiing isn’t the same as other mountains, but it feels like a home there. I’m drawn more to that than exotic destinations.”

Beccie’s favorite runs are off Chair 6, which opened last year, while Chris is usually dropping into the trees between runs, seeking untracked powder or a new challenge. And they love skiing with their kids. In fact, Damon, who’s almost 16 and in 10th grade at Rogers High School, has joined them on patrol—completing his candidate training last season. “There’s the definitive ‘proud papa’ moments seeing your son in his red coat,” says Chris, who is also a certified OEC instructor. Damon is formally certified as a “Ski Patrol Youth,” also known as a junior patroller, and completes patrol duties with an adult mentor.

The Whites also work in the outdoor recreation industry—Beccie works for REI and Chris is manager of the Wheel Sport store in north Spokane. He says, “I’m counting the days” until Mt. Spokane opens.

Mike & Janell Lukes, Silver Mountain

Ever since the gondola debuted in 1990, when Mike was 13, he has been a devoted fan of Silver Mountain. Along with his parents, Craig and Kim Lukes, and sister, they were season passholders and weekend regulars. “My dad’s Suburban was the neighborhood ski bus—never an empty seat,” says Mike, who grew up in Spokane Valley. His parents first taught him to ski at age 6 at Mt. Spokane. “There were a couple seasons where we had season passes at both Silver and Mt. Spokane,” he says.

Young Mike loved flying down Silver’s steep runs, which prepared him to be a youth ski racer at Mt. Spokane and then a member of the University of Idaho’s alpine ski racing team. For the past 10 years, he’s been a Silver passholder again. Now 38, Mike skis at Silver with his wife, Janell, and has been teaching their 6-year-old son to ski. Mike’s parents are still dual passholders at Silver and Mt. Spokane.  

Mike and Janell rent a locker at Silver’s lodge, making it easier to get ready as a family. They say the bunny hill and “moving carpet,” conveniently located outside the lodge, make it the perfect place for teaching their son. Mike says, “Silver Mountain’s ‘magic carpet’ is one of the best—it’s almost as long as the bunny hill, with a good, gentle pitch. I think it’s the best place to teach kids. You just get back on the conveyer belt to get back to the top [of the run], instead of trying to get your kid on and off a chairlift.”

And Silver Mountain’s varied terrain helps Mike get his adventure fix. “Silver Mountain has some really good backcountry that you can access from the gondola and some steeper runs that are fun to ski,” he says. And he likes the culture there. “Silver has a unique crowd of locals. Tall boys of Coors Lights, mid-90s Subaru Loyales, and occasionally a pair of PRE skis will be what you see at Silver.” The loyal following of season passholders who are Silver Valley locals helps to maintain a casual yet lively vibe, according to Mike—it’s a ski mountain for everyone, of all abilities. “It’s a lot of fun staying in Kellogg…skiing up top and doing the [resort] waterpark in the evening,” Mike says. “People who haven’t skied Silver in the past five years would be surprised at how much it has improved.”

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Married now for 35 years, their blended generational ski family includes four adult children and seven grandchildren, ages 12-21. All became skiers at a very young age and still ski—though the lone grandson now snowboards.

Once Mt. Spokane’s ski season opens, Seth and Gloria, now retired, are at the mountain every week, Wednesday through Sunday, until closing day.

The Fletchers first taught their kids how to ski, and also enrolled them in lessons. Same for their grandbabies. “Grammy and Poppy taught them how to ski,” says Seth, “and their parents helped out, too.”

For the Fletchers, winter break is a big deal. While only two grandchildren, and their parents, live in Spokane, the rest of the clan travels here for Christmas time.

“So we ski non-stop,” Gloria says. All stay overnight at their two Snowblaze condo units, located on the mountain close to the ski park. “We had to buy a second condo because we had too many grandkids.”

As the grandkids’ skills improved, it became tradition to conquer the checklist of skiing terrain together off all five chairlifts while skiing with Grammy and Poppy. They love those runs where they’re altogether, swooshing through fresh snow near their grandchildren, wide smiles on everyone’s faces. Meeting up at the bottom of each chairlift and riding up two by two to do it again and again, no matter the weather—from powder days to bluebird days and everything in between.

“Even it’s crappy, we still go up for a few runs. The only time we don’t go is if it’s raining,” says Gloria.

But mountain living includes more than flying down the mountain and seeking powder. “Our grandkids go sledding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing—we have all that equipment.

“So when the ski day was done, the day was never done,” Gloria says. “Some of older grandkids are now telemark and backcountry skiing.” Impressively, through the 40+ years of skiing, no one in the family has sustained any major injuries.

“The nice thing about skiing together is that it’s probably the only sport that you do together” year after year. “You only watch kids at soccer or baseball games. But skiing is the one sport that is a family sport, no matter how old or how little” say Seth and Gloria.

“Everyone in our family can ski any terrain, any mountain…once you learn (how to ski), you have it—not something you ever forget,” says Seth.

The Fletchers are also a ski patrol family, since Seth joined Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol the 1973-74 season. The perk of discounted lift tickets helped make skiing more affordable for their family. Additionally, the patrol’s annual ski swap is where they still find gear for everyone.

They’re also part of the local ski racing scene. Starting in the late 1970s, three of their children, when each was 7-8 years old, joined the team based at Mt. Spokane, and raced until age 14. Their son, Kevin, was even a ski racer for the University of Idaho.

The Fletcher’s two local grandkids also joined the ski team at Mt. Spokane, and their 12-year-old granddaughter—skiing with her grandparents since she was two—is still a member of the Mt. Spokane Ski Racing Team (MSSRT), formerly known as the Spokane Ski Racing Association. Gloria volunteers as a certified level 4 “timing and calc official,” and Seth used to officiate races.

As a devoted ski family, from the beginning the Fletchers skied with their children every weekend, from opening day to closing day, as well as occasional nights.

Though Seth “retired” from patrol six years ago, after 39 years of volunteer service, both still volunteer. In fact, because of the thousands of hours Gloria has given to supporting MSSP, a new service award was established three years ago to honor her example. Called the “Gloria Fletcher Distinguished Service Award,” it’s given annually to an outstanding non-patrol volunteer.

“This is going to be an exciting ski year, because of the new runs on Mt. Spokane’s backside. Our kids and grandkids can’t wait to come,” says Gloria. “It’s going to be so much fun. It gives us a new reason to be excited for skiing.”

[Sponsored by Ski the NW Rockies.]

Find more ski family stories in the OTO archives.

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For the past several decades, the Spokane Parks and Recreation Adaptive Ski and Snowboard program has provided equipment and instruction for skiers with physical disabilities that would otherwise prohibit them from traditional stand-up skiing, such as spinal-cord injuries, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

“Schweitzer Mountain Resort is starting to establish a program, but we’re the biggest program from Montana to the west side of the state,” says Sara Dunbar, Adaptive Skiing Coordinator. “We’ve had people from as far as western Montana in the program before.”

The program attracts skiers of varying experience, from never-evers to formerly able-bodied skiers. Some come for one day, just to test the waters; most participate in a three-week program of half-day lessons.

“One reason we like them to come up for multiple lessons is so we can tweak the equipment and get them into what they need,” says Dunbar.

Stand-up skiers have access to outriggers—in essence, a combination ski pole and brace with a small ski on the bottom—for increased stability. But most participants make use of a sit-ski: a plastic chair, or “bucket,” mounted in a metal frame atop either one or two skis.

Each participant is paired with his or her own instructor, who assists with getting the sit-ski on the chairlift and, with inexperienced or less mobile skiers, helps steer the skier by means of a hand-held tether.

In nearly all cases, Dunbar starts skiers out on a twin ski; a mono ski requires substantially more balance than its twin-ski kin and is better suited for more independent skiers.

“It’s always our hope that people can progress and be independent,” says Dunbar. But, she acknowledges, “Leisure is different for everybody—for some of them it’s just getting out there and having a new experience.”

For many participants, though, adaptive skiing allows them to participate in a cherished family activity. “I love seeing the kids get out, but one of the biggest things is when it touches a whole family,” says Dunbar. “For parents, to ski with their son or daughter or family member, it just means the world to them—especially if it’s something they never thought they’d see them do again.”

It’s fitting, then, that Mt. Spokane, with its mission of providing a family-oriented ski experience, has been such an enthusiastic host of the program. The Adaptive Ski and Snowboard program is a non-profit, relying on a crew of dedicated volunteers; even the construction of the chalet was a volunteer effort—the result of a ski patroller’s son’s Eagle Scout project.

Dunbar does as much volunteer recruitment as she can; she herself is a part-timer, with a day-job as a recreational therapist at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute. But volunteers need not have any recreational therapy background.

“We want volunteers, first and foremost, to have some ski experience,” says Dunbar. “But I have volunteers of various backgrounds: people who are in the healthcare field, people in law school needing volunteer hours.”  The program, like its participants, adapts to the circumstances on hand.

Says Dunbar, “Like anything in life, if you try something one way and it doesn’t work, you just try something different.”//

Aaron Theisen has contributed to numerous regional and national sports and lifestyle publications. He wrote about Kimberley Alpine Resort for the January/February issue of Out There.

Originally appeared in the March 2017 print edition of Out There Venture under the title “Yes They Kan: Disabilities Not a Barrier at Mt. Spokane.”

Feature photo: Disabilities not a barrier at Mt. Spokane. // Aaron Theisen

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