Winter Van Life: Schweitzer Mountain Resort

When We Visited: March 2020, March 2023

We had Loveland season passes during the 2019/20 ski season, which gave us three days each at other participating Powder Alliance resorts. Of resorts participating in Powder Alliance that season, Schweitzer was high on my bucket list. It would be the last mountain we skied with a lift ticket in 2019/20 before the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, Vail shut down, and other ski resorts followed.

Part of the allure of Schweitzer was that it was supposed to be an undiscovered ski area. While it certainly didn’t have the crowds like some Epic and Ikon resorts, I got the sense they had already been found. Of all the Powder Alliance resorts we visited that season, they were noticeably busier midweek. That was in March 2020. Now, they are the first Idaho resort to join the Ikon Pass as of the 2021/22 season, which will certainly put them on many skiers’ and riders’ radars.

Fifty percent of Schweitzer’s terrain falls in the advanced and expert categories. At 2,900 skiable acres, I could create a new adventure each day. The consistent steepness throughout the mountain, ungroomed terrain, and fresh snow got me so tired I sought out the occasional blue groomer. Schweitzer has wide-open views from almost every corner. I could pick where I wanted to go next just by looking around. Their view of Lake Pend Oreille does a good job of competing with Lake Tahoe.

Schweitzer was a great way to end my lift-served season in March 2020, even though I didn’t know it at the time. Skiing Schweitzer fueled my passion for living on the road.

Plan Your RV/Van Life Road Trip to Schweitzer

schweitzer.com
10000 Schweitzer Mountain Road, Sandpoint, ID 83864
(208) 263-9555
ski@schweitzer.com

Pass affiliations: Ikon Pass (2023/24), Loveland Ski Area (2023/24)

Hours of operation: Lifts spin daily starting at 9:00 am to 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm depending on the lift. For more information and schedule updates, visit Schweitzer’s Hours page.

Mountain Stats

• Average annual snowfall: 300 inches
• Skiable terrain: 2,900 acres
• Vertical drop: 2,400 feet

Driving to Schweitzer

The climb to Schweitzer and their Fire Station Lot on Schweitzer Mountain Road includes several switchbacks. Fortunately, the switchback turns are very wide. Public transportation buses have no problem making these turns (they can stay within the lines) and we’ve seen very large Class A RVs in Schweitzer’s Gateway Parking Lot. I personally wouldn’t want to take a large rig or tow a trailer on the road to Schweitzer, especially during adverse conditions, but people do it.

If you don’t wish to drive up Schweitzer Mountain Road, you can park at the Red Barn Park & Ride area at the base of the mountain (intersection of North Boyer & Schweitzer Mountain Road) and catch the free SPOT (Selkirks Pend Oreille Transit) bus. For more information, visit Schweitzer’s Shuttle and Parking page.

Parking at Schweitzer

Update for the 2023/24 season: The parking information below was as of 2022/23. Our understanding is that the Musical Chairs lift has been replaced. We recommend visiting Schweitzer’s website for the most up-to-date parking information. I’m leaving the information below in case any part of it continues to be helpful.

We personally like parking our van around the perimeter of the Gateway Parking Lot or Fall Line Lot. The Fall Line Lot is the least busy.

Both lots are complimentary 7 days a week and ski in/out. If you need a lift ticket, you can ski down to the Musical Chairs lift from Gateway or walk to it from Fall Line and take the chair to the Village. Schweitzer allows you to take one lift ride on Musical Chairs without a pass as long as you have gear. The lift opens at 8:30 am, a half hour earlier than all other lifts. See Schweitzer’s FAQs for more information.

Alternately, from the Gateway Parking Lot, you can walk up a somewhat steep cat track to the Village. It’s about a five to ten-minute walk depending on if you are doing it in ski boots.

If your rig is larger than a van or truck camper, we recommend parking in the Fire Station Lot or Red Barn Park & Ride area and taking the free shuttle. Schweitzer parking lots can get very tight when they fill up making it impossible to maneuver a large rig.

The Lakeview Parking Lot is a pay lot on weekends, free on weekdays. It is on the same top level as the Village.

For more information, visit Schweitzer’s Shuttle and Parking page and see their Street Map.

Note: If you don’t park at the Fire Station Lot at the roundabout with the huge green Schweitzer sign in the middle, you’ll continue on Schweitzer Mountain Road until the road splits in three directions. Stay on the middle road to reach the Village, Lakeview Parking Lot, and Gateway Parking Lot. Stay right to go to the Fall Line Lot.

Tips on How to Ski/Ride Schweitzer

In March 2023, we skied Schweitzer after they received a few inches of fresh snow. However, the sun came out for the two days we were there creating variable and spring-like conditions around parts of the mountain.

If you’re looking for soft, ungroomed advanced/expert terrain…

We found the softest ungroomed snow taking the Lakeview Triple to Heather’s Run, The Face, and A Chute underneath the cornice.

In the Outback Bowl, we found the best snow in the Lakeside Chutes, Australia, Shoot the Moon, Blue Grass, Casper, and Kohl’s Big Timber.

Runs accessible from the Stella lift were mostly dust on crust.

Out at Idyle Our T-Bar, the black runs were ungroomed and partially tracked out, sitting in the sun, and thickening up making it very difficult to turn. If the runs were tracked out more, it might’ve been okay, but that area doesn’t get a lot of traffic.

For slushy groomers, the runs in Schweitzer Bowl accessible from the Scars run were perfect in the last couple of hours of the day, including Sundance and Jimmie’s Run. We tried going through the trees in that area. While doable, it needed to soften up a little bit more.

If you are looking for a tour of the mountain with views and can ski/ride at an intermediate level, check out Ridge Run from the Lakeview Triple, Gypsy and Scars from the Great Escape Quad or Colburn Triple, and Little Blue Ridge Run from Idyle Our T-Bar.

We don’t think Schweitzer is the best mountain for beginners, but there is a great run for learning at the Musical Chairs lift. It’s tucked away in a part of the mountain where you don’t get other advanced riders speeding by unless they’re trying to return to the Fall Line Lot.

Where to Sleep in Your Van/RV

Schweitzer allows overnight RV parking free in the Fire Station Lot and the parking area on the other side of the roundabout from the Fire Station Lot off Schweitzer Mountain Road. You don’t need to check in with the ski area, but visit Schweitzer’s RV Parking page for more information.

If you’re using Apple Maps or Google Maps, you can map to the Fire Station Lot by searching for “Schweitzer Fire District”. You’ll know you’ve reached the Fire Station Lot roundabout when you see the RV Parking signs.

The Fire Station Lot is not within walking distance of Schweitzer’s lifts. There are more than two miles between the two and about a five-minute drive. Schweitzer has a partnership with SPOT (Selkirks Pend Oreille Transit) who offers a free winter shuttle. You can catch the SPOT shuttle by walking to the roundabout and waiting at the sign shown below. For more information, visit Schweitzer’s Shuttle and Parking page.

The Fire Station Lot has a few port-a-potties and several dumpsters. The dumpsters seem like they are there for the entire neighborhood as people were consistently driving through the parking lot to dump trash.The port-a-potties are the cleanest I’ve ever seen anywhere. They almost seemed brand new. Someone did leave a message written on a piece of toilet paper and laid it over the closed toilet lid in one of the port-a-potties. It said “Have a nice poop!” with a smiley face. So strange!

As far as working from the Fire Station Lot, AT&T was only semi-reliable. It worked well most of the time, but we definitely had random periods where we couldn’t get web pages to load. If you have an important video work call, I wouldn’t trust the network. I’d recommend a cell booster or Starlink or relocate to downtown Sandpoint. You might consider Starbucks (Schweitzer Crossing) which is about 25 minutes (10.3 miles) from the ski area or about 20 minutes (8.4 miles) from the Fire Station Lot. You’ll likely pass it on your way to Schweitzer. It will immediately appear on your right when you turn onto Schweitzer Crossing Road from US-95.

Tip: If you intend on staying more than a night camping at Schweitzer, complete any chores in Sandpoint before you drive up the mountain or plan them for after. Schweitzer Mountain Road has several switchbacks. You might find running into town a hassle, especially if it’s snowing.

North Haven Campground – 41.6 miles / 1 hour in Bonners Ferry – We’ve had a terrible time finding year-round RV park accommodations or even a place to shower near Schweitzer. We love that Schweitzer offers overnight RV parking, but when you’re on the road for an extended period, sometimes you need a nice shower and to catch up on laundry.

We discovered North Haven Campground on our way from Schweitzer to Whitefish, Montana in March 2023. They have new owners as of 2022 who purchased the RV park from the adjacent Log Inn. So far, they’re receiving excellent reviews. The husband was very communicative via text during our entire visit, even letting us know when he was done cleaning the showers and that the floors might be slippery for a time.

We paid $49 for a water and electric site. They also have full hookup sites and cabins. All sites are gravel. The owner allowed us to pick the site we wanted since we didn’t reserve a site online ahead of time, so we chose one closest to The Outpost building that houses the restroom, showers, and laundry. The property was a bit muddy so we didn’t want to walk far. Mud is not uncommon at RV parks that reside in snow country when the weather starts warming up.

The clean, tiled and spacious showers were just what we needed after having no amenities sleeping at Schweitzer.

We also used their laundry facilities. Their washers and dryers aren’t the commercial ones you find in most RV parks and laundromats. They’re just like what you might have at home. They had two washers (one top loading and one front loading) and two dryers. The cost for one load to wash and dry was $4. Cash could be inserted into a pay box in the laundry room, or you could pay at the front office.

A dumpster was available just across the street from the RV park closest to the Log Inn, so we dumped our trash on the way out.

AT&T cell service worked great at North Haven. We could text, email, and stream entertainment without any issues. The RV park also offers free WiFi, but we didn’t use it.

If you need to stock up on groceries, Bonners Ferry has a Safeway (S Main St) about 10 minutes away.

Tamarack RV Park – 55.6 miles / 1.25 hours in Coeur d’Alene – This place is over an hour from Schweitzer but if you’re looking for a nice hot shower with amazing water pressure and clean laundry facilities, this was the best year-round place we could find in the area until we discovered North Haven Campground.

Tamarack is right next door to Costco if you happen to have a membership. This location sells diesel fuel which isn’t available at all Costcos. The diesel here is generally the cheapest we can find when we visit the Coeur d’Alene area unless you go south to the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. For other grocery options, Safeway (Neider Ave) is across the street from Tamarack and Natural Grocers is just around the corner. We like filling our water jugs at Natural Grocers because you can fill more than one container at at time.

There are also several places to eat within walking distance of Tamarack. Mostly chain establishments.

AT&T service works well here and the RV Park also offers free WiFi.

The last price we paid was $42 for a back-in, full hookup site in March 2023. There are two bathhouses with laundry facilities. The main laundry room has 5 top-loading washers and 5 dryers. It’s $2 to wash and $2 to dry. The machines take quarters. You can get $10 quarter rolls from the office during their regular business hours.

If you stay in Coeur d’Alene, take a walk downtown. Head to McEuen Park next to Lake Coeur d’Alene and take a hike on the 2-mile Main Loop Trail at Tubbs Hill or let your dog get some energy out at the dog park.

You can also catch the 60-mile Centennial Trail from here. Just look for these signs.

The North Idaho Centennial Trail makes up 23 miles of the trail. The rest of the trail resides in Washington.

Grab some savory or dessert hand pies and a coffee from Bean and Pie before you leave.

For oversized vehicle parking downtown, park in the McEuen Park parking lot. Just make sure you enter from 6th Street and not 3rd Street to avoid a low clearance bridge. Oversized spaces are $2 per hour or $1 per hour for a regular size space. Otherwise, free 2-hour parking can be found all throughout downtown.

If you’re looking for something to eat outside of downtown Coeur d’Alene, check out Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese. They have unique grilled cheese concoctions that are surprisingly not greasy. Looking at their menu, we were curious why they offered half sandwich options. We ordered fulls because our stomachs were growling and the sandwiches coming off the grill didn’t look overwhelming large. However, we figured out that a half was more than enough to satiate us. We saved half of our sandwiches and reheated them in a skillet later.

Where to Buy Groceries Near Schweitzer

• The Market – At Schweitzer in the White Pine Lodge – This isn’t a full-service grocery store, but they have some basic items in case you need something like a toothbrush.
• Yoke’s Fresh Market (Sandpoint) – 11 miles / 25 minutes in Ponderay
• Winter Ridge Natural Foods – 12.6 miles / 30 minutes in Sandpoint
• Safeway (5th Avenue) – 12.4 miles / 30 minutes in Sandpoint

Other Ski Areas Near Schweitzer

• 49 Degrees North Mountain Resort (Indy Pass 2023/24) – 72.3 miles / 1.75 hours in Chewelah, WA
• Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park (Freedom Pass 2023/24) – 91.5 miles / 2.25 hours in Mead, WA
• Silver Mountain Resort (Powder Alliance 2023/24, Indy Pass 2023/24) – 94 miles / 2 hours in Kellogg
• Lookout Pass (Ski Cooper 2023/24) – 118 miles / 2.5 hours in Mullan