Schweitzer Breaks Another Record
By Keith Kinnaird

Visits up by 7,400 in December 2001

SANDPOINT - Schweitzer Mountain Resort has set a new record for visitors in December for the second year in a row.

"We had a great holiday," said Schweitzer spokeswoman Lisa Gerber. "In general, it's kind of hard to compare day-to-day from last year since the holiday fell on different days."

Schweitzer recorded 64,933 skiers and snowboarders in December, up from 57,536 in 2000, said Deanna Harris, the resort's base area director. Despite receiving a below-average snowpack in 2000, the resort managed to eclipse its December 1999 record largely thanks to Stella, the region's first six-person high-speed chairlift.

Stella, a theatrical "ski-through" recreation of a 19th century pioneer barn, was created by ex-Disney Imagineer Geoff Puckett in 2000 on the request of Schweitzer's parent company Harbor Properties.

The resort also beat it's Christmas-New Year holiday record last year even though only 60 percent of the resort was open to skiers and 'boarders. This time around, early season snowstorms and clear weather during the holidays enabled Schweitzer to beat the December 2000 record by almost 7,400 visits.

"Having that early snow made a huge difference, as did the good weather over the holidays," Harris said. Schweitzer has tallied 5,939 visitors for the first few days of January, according to Harris.