Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park to open Friday

Chairlifts will be up and running at Spokane’s backyard ski hill this weekend.

Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park announced Monday it would open to the public Friday, kicking off its winter season ahead of schedule.

The mountain will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be closed Monday through Thursday next week, with plans to reopen that Friday.

The ski hill’s conditions report says staff plan to “run the entire mountain,” albeit with limited grooming.

Mount Spokane is the last of the five ski areas within a short drive of Spokane to open for the season. Lookout Pass, on the Montana-Idaho border, was the first, opening on Nov. 8. Two weeks later, 49 Degrees North and Schweitzer opened, followed a day later by Silver Mountain.

Officials at Mount Spokane planned to open Dec. 7 with the caveat that the hill could open sooner if enough snow arrived. About 42 inches of snow were measured at the summit of Mount Spokane on Monday, according to its website.

No private or group lessons will be available on Friday. They will begin on Saturday.

Staffers are still preparing a new tow rope on the mountain, and they don’t expect it to be ready until Dec. 7.

Snow tubing, which is returning to M ount Spokane for the first time in years, won’t be offered until Dec. 21, a date chosen to coincide with schools’ Christmas break, according to the website. Tickets for the tubing hill will go on sale Dec. 13.