- By Sandy Compton

If your husband doesn’t ski and the rest of the family does, you can reduce your guilt level as you head for Schweitzer’s Great Escape Quad by turning him over to Paulie Cohen at Schweitzer’s Mountain Activity Center in the Selkirk Lodge. Be forewarned, though. He may be on the tubing hill when it’s time to buy dinner.

In its fourth season, the center has a lot of options for active folks of all ages and tastes. If there’s an alternative form of fun at or near Schweitzer, Cohen and his crew know about it and will be happy to hook guests up.

“We’ve stepped up our services many notches this year,” Cohen said. “We have a huge database of things to do in the area, and we cater to active skiers and non-skiers alike. We can help you plan a day or a whole week of activities.”

The Activity Center helps Schweitzer guests arrange a ride down the tubing hill, take a snowmobile tour or backcountry skiing trip with Selkirk Powder Company, or set up on-mountain photography. Snowshoe and cross-country ski tours of the hemlock groves in the lower part of the mountain have been standard for the past few years.

This year, cross-country skiers and snowshoers will be able to take interpretive tours, as well as work their way higher up the mountain and participate in the popular full moon tours. The center-run Selkirk Theater will also be showing up to three movies daily.

“We also have something for kids every Saturday,” Mary Weber-Quinn, village events and activities director said, “plus craft activities at Christmas time. We’ve added new activities every year since we started the center in 2003. We also oversee Refuge, the mountain teen center.” Refuge is a safe, friendly teens-only space in the Village.

The most exciting addition to non-skiing activity at Schweitzer this year may be dog-sled trips with True North Expeditions. Local musher Dan Phillips has moved his Iditarod-qualified dogs home from Snowmass and will be giving a variety of tours on handmade, traditional sleds.

The Activity Center also acts as concierge for Schweitzer guests who wish to enjoy an on-mountain massage, explore Sandpoint to shop downtown (including Coldwater Creek’s new store on First Avenue) or visit one of the town’s great restaurants for dinner.

By the way, if you think that your husband might want to learn to ski or snowboard, the Mountain Activity Center can arrange that, too.

Contact the Mountain Activity Center at (208) 255-3081 or by e-mail at activity [email protected].