Snowhaven struggles to hire manager
Grangeville ski hill scrambles to hire manager as larger resorts plan November openings
Some of Idaho’s largest resorts will open Friday while one of its smallest is in danger of skipping the season.
La Nina has delivered a promising start to the 2024-25 ski season and is helping ski areas meet their goal of opening in late November. Brundage Mountain near McCall, Silver Mountain near Kellogg, Schweitzer Mountain near Sandpoint and Targee Pass near Driggs will all begin their seasons Friday. Bogus Basin will welcome skiers Saturday while Sun Valley and Tamarack will open next week. Lookout Pass, which fired up its lifts last weekend, will reopen Friday.
Snowhaven, the small ski area owned and operated by Grangeville, hopes to open Dec. 21. But if the city isn’t able to hire a general manager by Dec. 1, it will pull the plug on the season.
“It’s supposed to be a good snow year so as a city we really want to get it open,” said Grangeville City Administrator Tonya Kennedy. “It works great for the city and surrounding area. We get people all the way from the Palouse.”
The previous manager left for another job and Kennedy said if a new person isn’t hired soon, the ski area will miss its window to prepare the hill for the season. Snowhaven has a rope tow and T-bar plus a tubing hill served by a rope tow.
The city has contacted several people who previously worked at the hill in various positions and has them on standby.
“If a manager does get hired, at least we have an idea of who is coming back,” she said. “We do have some good returners.”
People interested in the position can contact Kennedy at (208) 983-2851.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com.
