Mount Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park is a ski resort in Spokane County, Washington, located about 23 miles (37 kilometers) northeast of Spokane along State Route 206. The resort is located in Spokane County, Washington, within Mount Spokane State Park. The base elevation is 3,818 feet (1,164 meters), while the summit elevation is 5,889 feet (1,795 meters), resulting in a vertical drop of 2,071 meters (631 m). The slopes, which are served by six chairlifts, have a severe easterly exposure.
Cheney Cowles (1908–1943), whose father owned the Cowles Publishing Company, played a key role in gaining more acreage at Mount Spokane. Cowles was the managing editor of the Spokane Daily Chronicle and a founding member of the Spokane Ski Club when a military plane crashed in Alabama during WWII. Cowles died as a result of the disaster.
Local contractor E.O. Fieldstad constructed the Vista House fire lookout tower on Mount Rainier’s summit in 1933. It was the first of five fire lookout towers to monitor the mountain’s peak, some of which were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The Northwest Ski Championships were held on Mt. Spokane in February 1937. Gretchen Fraser (née Kunigk) won the women’s slalom at the age of 18 and went on to win an Olympic gold medal.
Near 1947, a twin chairlift was constructed from a mining tramway in Wallace, Idaho. The ski area’s initial location on the west side of the mountain, with rope tows, was a lodge erected by the CCC in the late 1930s. The resort debuted the world’s first double chairlift in 1947. In January 1952, a fire in the nearly constructed lodge addition took one life, prompting the move to the east slopes. In the summer of 1956, the state built a new day lodge (number 1) on the park’s east side, complete with a Riblet double chair. Five years later, a second structure was built, followed by a third in 1970. A few years later, the fourth chair was installed, and a few years after that, the fifth chair was added. Night skiing on Mount Spokane was started in December 1967, marking 54 years since the sport began.
Visit Dishman Hills – Spokane WA
