Six Idaho ski resorts open Thanksgiving weekend

Skiers throughout Idaho will have much to give thanks for this holiday weekend with six of the state’s ski resorts either already open for the season or opening Thursday or Friday.

With 58 inches of snow at the base and 119 inches having already fallen this season, Grand Targhee and its 97 trails are 100 percent open as of last Friday, Nov. 17.

Lookout Pass has been open on weekends since Nov. 4. It will reopen for the weekend Thursday through Sunday, Nov. 23-27.

Schweitzer reopens Friday, Nov. 24 for the weekend after its earliest opening in 20 years on Nov. 17. It will reopen on Friday, Dec. 1 with its full seven-day winter schedule.

Silver Mountain and Lost Trail opened on weekends Nov. 17 and will reopen Nov. 24.

Both Baldy and Dollar Mountain at Sun Valley will open for the season Nov. 23.

Conditions permitting, another five Ski Idaho resorts are slated to soon join them:

Brundage – Dec. 8 Tamarack – Dec. 8 Bogus Basin – Dec. 9 Pebble Creek – Dec. 16 Snowhaven – Dec.16

There’s more good news for skiers, too. The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center issued a La Niña advisory on Nov. 9 for the Northern Hemisphere. The report says the ocean-atmosphere phenomenon has a 65 percent to 75 percent chance of continuing at least through winter 2017-18.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dave Groenert said this bodes well for skiers.

Idaho experienced a La Niña winter last year, with the wettest October-June on record.