Jeff Schmerker
Two states, one ticket
Lookout Pass is a historic ski area straddling the Idaho-Montana border home to a handful of creaky chairlifts and a whole lot of snow. Though relatively small, the area offers three faces of skiing and a mix of gentle first-timers' runs, wide open cruisers, and fun tree and steep shots. Mostly what you'll notice, however, is the snow -- by the time you exit Interstate 90 (that's right -- the ski area is just yards from the freeway) the snow will likely be piled higher than your car's windows, and a lot of that snow hangs around long into the spring and summer. Base depths -- not cumulative snow, but how much snow is actually on the ground -- regularly exceed 10 feet.
The ski area has a fun and cheap cafeteria and offers great packages for beginners. It also sells one-ride tickets for trips into the backcountry. This is another ski area with big expansion plans which are in the process of approval -- the new skiing would be largely on the Montana side of the mountain and dramatically expand the terrain. If you are coming up from Montana, note that the area operates on Pacific time -- one hour later that Mountain time.
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