Did you know that the big lake you can see from Schweitzer on a clear day has its own lake monster? Lake Pend Oreille, spread out below the Selkirks, is home to the Pend Oreille Paddler, a mysterious creature said to surface as a long, dark shape moving with an undulating motion and a wide wake. Locals do not tell the story with fear, exactly. Over the decades it has become a piece of living heritage, retold on docks and beaches and passed along to every new visitor who asks what might be hiding in that deep, dark water.
Did you know Schweitzer has already seen its first snow of the season? The resort's own daily message reports the first official snow sighting on Saturday, October 10, with snow falling on and off through that weekend, and an Ikon Pass roundup released October 14 noted first flakes on Schweitzer with more snow on the way this week. Winter is officially on the radar, and the countdown is on: opening day is set for Friday, November 27, just 43 days from today.
Long before ski lifts climbed the Selkirks, timber built the towns below Schweitzer. The forests around Lake Pend Oreille held prized western white pine and cedar, and once the railroads arrived, that green wealth drew loggers, mill hands, and whole new communities to Bonner County. Sandpoint grew from about 300 people in 1900 to roughly 3,000 by 1906 and about 5,000 by 1908, and boosters of the day claimed it shipped more cedar poles than any other city in the United States.
Did you know the very first snow of the season can set a deadline? Schweitzer Mountain Resort is celebrating the first flakes that fell over the mountain this past weekend with its First Flakes Lodging Flash Sale, and today, Wednesday, October 14, is the last day to book it. The resort is offering 20 percent off winter lodging for stays from November 27, 2026 through April 11, 2027, with a two-night minimum, at properties including the Humbird, Selkirk Lodge, White Pine Lodge and 5 Needles.
Did you know some of the best ski days at Schweitzer this winter can be free for kids? Registration is now open in October for the Ski Idaho Peak Season Passport for 2026-27, which gives fifth graders three free ski or ride days and sixth graders two free days at each of 18 participating Idaho resorts, including Schweitzer. The passport is open to kids from any state or country, and the processing fee is 29 dollars for families who sign up before December 20, rising to 49 dollars after that date, so this month is the smart time to register at Skiidaho.us.
Long before a highway hugged its shore, Lake Pend Oreille was the road into this country. In 1866 the Oregon Steam Navigation Company launched the steamer Mary Moody on the lake, and she became its first official mail carrier, helping travelers push north toward newly discovered gold fields. For years afterward, steamboats were how people, mail and supplies moved here, linking little landings around the lake and up the Clark Fork River, while the forested shoreline around present-day Sandpoint was still quiet and sparsely settled.
Welcome to mid-October in the panhandle. The lifts at Schweitzer are quiet — summer operations have wrapped, and the mountain is resting up for a projected opening on November 27 — but town life in Sandpoint, Post Falls, Coeur d'Alene, and Bonners Ferry is anything but quiet. Here is the week ahead, ski-flavored highlights first.
Happy Monday, mountain friends — and cover those tomato plants, because the season's first widespread frost is on the way. The KOTX radar lit up this morning with a band of rain sweeping across the Inland Northwest, echoes stretching from the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene area north toward Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry. Behind it comes a sharp, clear night: the National Weather Service is calling for widespread frost after 1 a.m., with lows around 28 degrees in Sandpoint and 27 up at Schweitzer.
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