With its high snowpack and haute resort overlooking Northern Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille, Schweitzer Mountain Resort takes a casual, Western approach to high-speed winter thrills. Idaho’s only six-person, high-speed lift whisks skiers and snowboarders to the top of a 2,400-foot vertical slope and within reach of the bountiful backcountry.

Ski Magazine made Schweitzer an editor’s pick for “Best-Kept Secret” based on “picture-perfect Sandpoint,” in their ski resorts review. CNN Travel lists Schweitzer Mountain Resort as one of the “7 Underrated Ski Resorts,” in the United States, noting that “it’s unlikely you’ll wait more than five minutes in the lift line.”

Uncrowded powder, combined with 300 inches of annual snowfall, ensure that skiers should never have to work hard for untracked lines. Known for offering some of the best powder and tree skiing in the country, Schweitzer Mountain is a short, easy drive from The Idaho Club.

The on-mountain amenities in the Resort Village ensure that even non-skiers have plenty of entertainment options, whether at the full-service spa or with a glass of local wine at Chimney Rock Grill. All of this is available, along with one of the best slope side views in the West of Lake Pend Oreille nearly 4,000 feet below.