Pebble Creek Ski Area sees snow, prepares for upcoming season
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – Pebble Creek Ski Area saw a dusting of snow for the first time this season on Monday, with hopes to open the mountain in mid-December. This is the first season Pebble is included in the Indy Pass, and crews have worked on mountain improvements all summer for guests to enjoy.
Coming off of a disappointing season last year, the staff at Pebble Creek is determined to have a better ski and snowboard season. Throughout the summer, crews replaced the ramps on all three lifts at the ski hill. They also installed new carpeting in the lodge and new picnic tables on the deck.
"As always, we had tons of lift maintenance and inspections that we got done; we also added restraint bars on the Aspen chairlift," said Dana Barrow, Assistant General Manager at Pebble Creek. "Each chair will have a bar to pull down for safety."
The Aspen Lift serves the students who come for lessons at the mountain, making it even more important that newcomers have safety bars on the lift. Crews also installed new, larger trail maps at the top of the Skyline lift. Barrow said the old signs were fading and in need of replacement.
"We also did a major expansion on Pebble Lane, which most people call the cat tracks," she said. "We widened them quite a bit and then recontoured them so there's a more consistent downhill slope throughout them."
Barrow added that the team feels excited and accomplished about what they were able to improve upon in the warmer months. The mountain will continue offering lessons for people of all ages and abilities. Portneuf Valley Adaptive Sports will have their sophomore season at Pebble Creek, providing athletic experiences for disabled athletes.
Pebble hopes to open by mid-December, if not by Christmas week, as long as the weather complies. Barrow said they'll begin making snow as early as they can, another weather-dependent facet of the mountain.
The snowfall on Monday was a small dusting, but Barrow says even getting that early moisture on the mountain ground is essential.
"It's perfect because it will melt into the ground and then the ground is saturated and freezes a lot easier than dry ground," she said. "When the snowfall comes up, it'll stick and stay right on that ground, which is just what we want."
Forecasters are predicting a record-breaking El Niño this season, so temperatures may stay above average for ski resorts. In spite of the stark weather outlook, staff at Pebble Creek are determined and hopeful for a better season than last year, no matter what the winter brings.
"We are excited to have a better season than last year. Surely it's bound to be better," Barrow said. "We will just be happy with an average season at this point, but really, we're hoping for big snow, lots of guests and lots of fun skiing and snowboarding back up here."
This is the first year Pebble Creek is included in the Indy Pass – a season pass to multiple ski resorts around the region. Pebble is hopeful it will bring in more skier and snowboarder traffic on the weekdays.
"They will be limited to weekdays during the peak season, just because we don't have enough room to accommodate everybody," Barrow said. "But it will be really fun to show people from all over our mountain."
Barrow said being part of the Indy Pass should allow Pebble to remain open seven days a week, which is their goal. The mountain consistently hosts school programs during the week, but adult visitation dwindled last season. With more out-of-state skiers traveling to see new mountains with their Indy Pass, it's possible Pebble Creek sees record-breaking numbers every day of the week during this season.
"It's going to be a fun year up here; we're going to make up for lost time that we didn't get to enjoy last year," Barrow said.
