Lost Trail Powder Mountain was the last stop in my road trip (15 days of skiing in a 19-day trip) that included the Utah Gathering. After skiing some of the most well-known and crowded skis resorts, it was refreshing to spend time at a great locals mountain, with absolutely no crowds or lift lines, even on a Saturday.
Lost Trail is a unique ski area, as it sits on the Continental Divide, right where Idaho and Montana meet at Lost Trail Pass. It’s about 1 1/2 hours south of Missoula, and also attracts skiers and riders from Salmon, ID 45 minutes to the south.
The parking lot and base lodge are at about mid-mountain, so from the base (about 7200’ elevation) you can take Chair 1, which is basically on the ID/MT border. From there you can reach the entire area. Alternatively you can ski down to Chair 2 on looker’s left.
The trees on the Idaho side (to the left of the above pic) are predominantly fir with some spruce, as you move more to the north on the Montana side, it changes to pines. I mention this because on both sides have extensive glades.
Top of Chair 1.
Pivoting to the right from the same spot to view the top of Chair 2.
Chalky bumps. Highway 93 in the background.
The next run over, groomers.
Slightly tracked out snow from the previous days’ snowfall near Chair 5. I skied it, got untracked snow. Much fun, more so since there was no one else there skiing it.
At the Chair 4 side (MT) there are top-to-bottom pine glades for 1800’ vertical.
Sking pine glades, absolutely no one around me, fresh tracks. Sublime.
Chair 4 lift line.
The day I was there, Saturday March 4th, there had been a couple of inches the day before; today they were calling it a groomer day. There were indeed some amazing top-to-bottom groomers, along with nice chalky cut-up bump and off-piste area, but the real fun was in the glades, where I could pop in and out and find untracked turns. There is a lot of terrain, and with 5 fixed grip double chairs, three of them pretty long, most runs were pretty empty, even on a Saturday.
Most of the skiing is served by Chair 1 (from the lodge), Chair 2 on the Idaho side and Chair 4 on the Montana side. Chairs 3 parallels US 93 (though you never see it, riding the lift the highway is above you the left) and has a few nice blue runs and a couple of the few green runs. Chair 5 is short and has some interesting rolling blue runs and one short black run. You can access both of these areas from Chair 4, so Chairs 3 and 5 only operate on weekends and holidays. There are two transfer tows, one at the top of Chair 4 to get you to where you can take a blue run, Oreo, back to the main area, where you will find the second transfer tow to get you back to the lodge. There is another tow for beginners near the lodge.
The terrain is mostly intermediate pitch, with a few black diamonds at the top of Chairs 1 and 2, and some legit double black terrain off Chair 4 called the The White House that has marked gates from Oreo. The White House has lots of different exposures, some with cliffs, chutes, and open bowls and other aspects with trees.
The White House. This line was called Sharks Fin.
The lodge at the end of the day. The food was surprisingly good with interesting options.
There is also a yurt at the bottom of Chairs 3 and 4, which is a good place to stop and warm up on a cold day, however for food they only had reheated Costco chicken pockets and snacks. Not a great option for food, but if you don’t want to take a long lift, then a transfer two or two, it’ll do in a pinch.
Overall, it was a great day, and if you are ever in the area, go, you won’t regret it. FWIW Lost Trail is on the Indy Pass, otherwise lift tickets are $58, $50 for 60 and older. Be aware they operate Thursday-Sunday, so plan accordingly. Thursdays have the potential for great powder days since they accumulate snow Mon-Wed. That said, I was there on a Saturday and was able to easily find some fresh tracks.
I’ll be back.
Lost Trail is a unique ski area, as it sits on the Continental Divide, right where Idaho and Montana meet at Lost Trail Pass. It’s about 1 1/2 hours south of Missoula, and also attracts skiers and riders from Salmon, ID 45 minutes to the south.
The parking lot and base lodge are at about mid-mountain, so from the base (about 7200’ elevation) you can take Chair 1, which is basically on the ID/MT border. From there you can reach the entire area. Alternatively you can ski down to Chair 2 on looker’s left.
The trees on the Idaho side (to the left of the above pic) are predominantly fir with some spruce, as you move more to the north on the Montana side, it changes to pines. I mention this because on both sides have extensive glades.
Top of Chair 1.
Pivoting to the right from the same spot to view the top of Chair 2.
Chalky bumps. Highway 93 in the background.
The next run over, groomers.
Slightly tracked out snow from the previous days’ snowfall near Chair 5. I skied it, got untracked snow. Much fun, more so since there was no one else there skiing it.
At the Chair 4 side (MT) there are top-to-bottom pine glades for 1800’ vertical.
Sking pine glades, absolutely no one around me, fresh tracks. Sublime.
Chair 4 lift line.
The day I was there, Saturday March 4th, there had been a couple of inches the day before; today they were calling it a groomer day. There were indeed some amazing top-to-bottom groomers, along with nice chalky cut-up bump and off-piste area, but the real fun was in the glades, where I could pop in and out and find untracked turns. There is a lot of terrain, and with 5 fixed grip double chairs, three of them pretty long, most runs were pretty empty, even on a Saturday.
Most of the skiing is served by Chair 1 (from the lodge), Chair 2 on the Idaho side and Chair 4 on the Montana side. Chairs 3 parallels US 93 (though you never see it, riding the lift the highway is above you the left) and has a few nice blue runs and a couple of the few green runs. Chair 5 is short and has some interesting rolling blue runs and one short black run. You can access both of these areas from Chair 4, so Chairs 3 and 5 only operate on weekends and holidays. There are two transfer tows, one at the top of Chair 4 to get you to where you can take a blue run, Oreo, back to the main area, where you will find the second transfer tow to get you back to the lodge. There is another tow for beginners near the lodge.
The terrain is mostly intermediate pitch, with a few black diamonds at the top of Chairs 1 and 2, and some legit double black terrain off Chair 4 called the The White House that has marked gates from Oreo. The White House has lots of different exposures, some with cliffs, chutes, and open bowls and other aspects with trees.
The White House. This line was called Sharks Fin.
The lodge at the end of the day. The food was surprisingly good with interesting options.
There is also a yurt at the bottom of Chairs 3 and 4, which is a good place to stop and warm up on a cold day, however for food they only had reheated Costco chicken pockets and snacks. Not a great option for food, but if you don’t want to take a long lift, then a transfer two or two, it’ll do in a pinch.
Overall, it was a great day, and if you are ever in the area, go, you won’t regret it. FWIW Lost Trail is on the Indy Pass, otherwise lift tickets are $58, $50 for 60 and older. Be aware they operate Thursday-Sunday, so plan accordingly. Thursdays have the potential for great powder days since they accumulate snow Mon-Wed. That said, I was there on a Saturday and was able to easily find some fresh tracks.
I’ll be back.
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