January 5, 2014, Silver Mt.,ID

We decided to head to ID, MT, UT and eastern OR to find some snow.  The PNW snow is coming, but we needed to ski now and we have free lift tickets.  We drove about 6 hours to Silver Mt., and spent the night in the RT van about 50 feet from the gondola.  It is about 15 minutes on the gondola to the lifts.  It was a Sunday and it was very quiet, sunny and cold. The old ski area was Jackass Ski Area, but those days are gone and money came to the town and built the gondola.  The gondola is about 1 mile from I-90 in ID.  All the lifts are fixed lifts and the folks are laid back.  Lift #2 goes to Kellogg Peak at 6300’ and was in the sun.  The terrain was in great shape with good coverage. The area received about 10’’ over the past few days and there was ankle deep powder in a few places.  The north facing slopes were in the shade and it was verrrrrry cold.  I have skied Warden Peak at 6200’ and there were a lot of powder lines available although the hiking track was closed.  A couple of runs on ‘the dark side’ and it was back to the sunny slopes for us.  It was a very quiet day with nice terrain and recent powder with a good base. 

Thanks for you report--nice to here about the conditions of all the places you ski (which are plentiful!)

So at Silver, should one bring rock skis or regular skis with the usual recon runs for the nuggets?

Do you have to pay to park where you did and also when you are "all nighting it" in your RV?

Seems like a place with some pitch to it (I mostly ski at Bachelor so I'm sure you can see why I'm interested..since it is often called Flatchelor...).

Keep 'em coming....

Thanks for you report--nice to here about the conditions of all the places you ski (which are plentiful!)

So at Silver, should one bring rock skis or regular skis with the usual recon runs for the nuggets?

Do  you have to pay to park where you did and also when you are "all nighting it" in your RV?

Seems like a place with some pitch to it (I mostly ski at Bachelor so I'm sure you can see why I'm interested..since it is often called Flatchelor...).

Keep 'em coming....

Bring your good skis. There are some steep shots but not like Bridger Bowl.

Parking is free.

There is a swimming pool and a water slide next to the gondola. 

Great memories of skiing at Silver growing up. Should be lots of easy free parking around. Kellog is just a small old mining town. Corned Beef and Hash at the main lodge used to be amazing but haven't had it in years.

Also if you are over that way, head North to Schweitzer if you've never been. One of the NW best kept secrets if you can still even call it a secret. Also Lookout Pass which is just a little further down I-90 is fun if you are into the small family hill type of area.

Thanks for the info! Have been thinking about hitting look out pass ski area but was hoping the 1100" vert. they advertise was accurate--from the web cam, I'm wondering if the hill goes above what I can see. If that is the top, it look shorter than Hoodoo ski area here in Central Oregon which is pretty nice with some good pitch at 800' vert.. What can you tell me about the vert. there?

Any other info on Lookout or Silver much appreciated ( of course Schweitzer too).

Thanks RL

Haha if you are looking for vert, lookout pass is not going to get it done for you. I haven't seen the webcam but it is indeed very small. I think they've done some additional development since I've been there but it really is just a hill. They had an article about it in Powder sometime in the last year or two.

Schweitzer and silver are what would qualify as actual mountains. Schweitzer tends to get socked in quite a bit but is really good on a clear day. Some of the chutes lookers left on the front side are pretty fun for in bounds terrain and the back side is a lot more accessible now with a 6 pack chair. Silver has good stuff off warsner peak especially if you are willing to hike for a couple mins.