Lookout Pass, ID/MT, Doubling Terrain This Season as Part of Massive Expansion Project

In a timeline spanning the next 20 years, Lookout Pass hopes to expand lift-served terrain by about 2,000 acres. The master plan includes opening two additional 6,200-foot peaks west-southwest of the existing ski area as the gateway to the St. Regis basin. The concept consists of a new 20,000-square-foot base lodge on the back side of the ski area. The existing lodge—the oldest continuously operating ski lodge in Idaho, will continue to offer full services.

• Related: Skiing Secrets: Idaho’s Unmarked Powder Highway

Phase I Expansion was approved by the USFS in May 2017, and the first trail was cut in October 2017. Further runs were cut last year, but until the addition of the chair lift, the runs were only accessible by snowcat.

The Phase I Expansion increases the special-use permit area by 458 acres (expanding the area from 538 acres to a total of 1,023 acres) and includes two new chairlifts to the summit of Eagle Peak with a top elevation of 6,150’. The two new chairlifts will access 14 runs, plus gladed areas, on the north and east aspects of the new peak. Lookout’s vertical drop will increase to 1,650’. An additional base lodge located in Idaho (14,000 square feet from a previous approval) and maintenance facilities are included in the Phase I Master Development Plan, plus 130 additional parking spaces.

“It’s a mix of good intermediate and double black diamond terrain.”

– Matt Sawyer, director of marketing

The conceptual Phase II of the long-range plan includes a new lodge and parking at the base of a second additional peak in an area covering about 30 acres. The new base area will continue to be accessed by Exit 0 on I-90, but instead of taking a right turn into the existing parking lot, visitors will take a left and drive down old Highway 10 – the route over Lookout Pass before the interstate was built. About a mile down the road, the new base area will take shape when and if the plan is ever accepted for NEPA review by the USFS. No real estate development is planned.

The resort hopes that adding new terrain will encourage skiers of all abilities to come and visit Lookout Pass.