Welcome to Halloween week around Schweitzer, October 26 through November 1. Ski season leads the calendar even though the lifts are not turning yet. Schweitzer is still in its off-season, with no ski operations this week, and the resort plans to open on Friday, November 27, conditions permitting. Opening day is 32 days out, so check gear and passes, and mark two save-the-dates: Warren Miller's Days Off at the Panida on Saturday, November 7, and the SARS Ski Swap on Saturday, November 14, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bonner County Fairgrounds in Sandpoint.
Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Did you know that Sandpoint once had a floating ballroom? In 1908 the Northern Navigation Company built the steamer Northern right here in town, at the present-day site of Sandpoint City Beach. At 102 feet long, with two decks and a screw propeller instead of a paddle wheel, she was built for work on Lake Pend Oreille, but she was dressed for a good time, with a ballroom for dancing and live entertainment, an electric-powered orthophonic phonograph, and seating on the stern made for picnic lunches.
If your Schweitzer trip includes a wander through downtown Sandpoint, there is one storefront on First Avenue that locals will point you to without hesitation: Larson's Good Clothes. Family owned and operated since 1940, Larson's has been a staple of the community for generations, outfitting North Idaho through logging days, lake summers, and ski seasons alike from its home in the heart of downtown.
When you stand on Schweitzer and look down at Lake Pend Oreille shining below, you are looking across a homeland far older than the resort, the town of Sandpoint, or Idaho itself. For thousands of years this lake, its rivers, and its mountain shores belonged to the Kalispel people, an Interior Salish people whose own name, Ql'ispé, means lake or river paddlers, as the Bonner County Historical Society explains. Fur traders called them Pend d'Oreille, French for hanging from the ear, after their circular shell earrings.
Every mountain town needs one grocery store that feels like it truly belongs to the place, and in Sandpoint that store is Winter Ridge Natural Foods. Sitting on Lake Street just blocks from Lake Pend Oreille, this natural foods market has been stocking local pantries and vacation kitchens since 1997, and it is the first stop many Schweitzer visitors make on their way up the mountain.
