WINTER TRAVEL -- The lifts are closed for the season, but snowshoers and backcountry skiers are finding good reasons to hit the slopes at Mount Spokane.

State Park manager Steve Christensen took time yesterday to snowshoe to the mountain summit over a couple inches of new snow on a hard base.  

"It as perfect for snowshoeing -- solid and fast," he said.

Steve Reynolds of the Spokane Mountaineers skinned up his backcountry skis and found the conditions less than ideal but promising.

He said the upper 500 vertical feet of the mountain was as icy over the weekend as he'd experienced it in 35+ years and hundreds of trips.

However, the slopes are ripe for the first shot of sunshine that turns the boiler plate to corn.