Schweitzer Creekside Express Upgrade: Finally, A Worthwhile Beginner Experience

The Creekside Express is Schweitzer’s fifth high-speed lift and the first new lift installation since 2019.

For the 2023-24 season, Idaho’s Schweitzer performed a major upgrade to its sole beginner area. The resort replaced its ancient Musical Chairs double lift, which served the resort’s only two green trails, with the Creekside Express, a modern, high-speed quad.

As part of the installation, the Idaho panhandle resort extended the new lift line downward, extending the Happy Trails run over a brand new skier bridge and a few hundred extra feet of terrain. In future seasons, the skier bridge will provide access to and from what will be a massive 1,400-space parking lot—and the first paved parking zone in the resort’s history.

While those who aren’t learning may overlook this beginner-oriented investment, the Creekside Express and associated lift line extension bring some crucial benefits to the overall experience.

Schweitzer’s front side trail map, with the Creekside Express lift highlighted in red and the expanded terrain highlighted in purple.

Background on the Old Setup

Schweitzer is a place that has rapidly modernized and quietly become a regional destination ski resort over the past two decades, seeing a roughly 50% increase in annual visitation over that time frame. As such, the former Musical Chairs beginner lift had become the part of Schweitzer in most dire need of an upgrade.

Not only did Musical Chairs and the adjacent magic carpet serve the only beginner terrain at Schweitzer, but it also served the large Fall Line parking lot, meaning the lift was jammed with both beginners and those trying to get up to Schweitzer Village, which is where the lifts to get anywhere else on the mountain start, without waiting on the shuttle. The former Musical Chairs also didn't have a great hourly capacity; not only was it a fixed grip double, but resort management (understandably) ran it at an even slower speed for the beginners it served. The Musical Chairs lift also ate beginners for breakfast, and it constantly stopped due to the amount of loading and unloading mishaps that naturally come with learning how to ski or ride—especially on a lift that does not slow down for riders to get on and off.

The new Creekside lift is the first high-speed chairlift at Schweitzer to serve beginner terrain.

Experience Changes

Upgrade Positives

Capacity and Lift Lines

The new Creekside Express lift is an extremely effective capacity increase over the old Musical Chairs double lift, bringing approximately double the uphill throughput and at least for now, solving the chokepoint issues that the old double lift had.

With the increased capacity and far fewer loading and unloading mishaps, lines are short the vast majority of the time. Unlike in previous seasons, where the Musical Chairs lift was home to the worst waits at Schweitzer, queues now only take a couple minutes to clear—even at the beginning of the day, amidst the rush of folks arriving from the Fall Line parking lot.

Ride Experience and Speed

In terms of ride experience, Creekside Express is a significant upgrade over the old Musical Chairs lift.

As a detachable chairlift, the Creekside lift is much easier to load and unload. The unloading ramp on the new Creekside Express is far more gentle and beginner friendly than that of the old Musical Chairs top station, making for far fewer chair-stopping incidents at the top. The chairs are very padded and comfortable, and while the old Musical Chairs had safety bars, the Creekside Express also comes with footrests!

With the new lift’s higher speed, the ride time has shrunk by about half on paper. But thanks to the far fewer slowdowns and stoppages, the effective change in ride time is probably even greater on busy days.

Thanks to its higher speed and fewer stoppages, the Creekside Express cuts the ride time to Schweitzer’s beginner terrain down by about half.

Upgrade Mixed Blessings

Beginner Experience

Now that Schweitzer’s sole beginner area is no longer plagued by a slow, low-capacity lift, beginners at Schweitzer will find this learning area much more enjoyable. The new lift is the first to ever provide high-speed service to green runs at Schweitzer, and guests getting to and from the Fall Line parking lot are able to get out the way much faster than in previous seasons.

However, the new Creekside lift has been somewhat of a double-edged sword for Schweitzer’s beginner experience. The new lift’s higher speed has attracted more guests into the area, making the two beginner trails a bit more crowded than they used to be—even if the lift line to get back up isn’t as bad anymore.

New Skier Bridge

It’s also worth noting that the skier bridge that was constructed over Schweitzer Creek is somewhat narrower than might be ideal. To put it into perspective, the bridge is about the width of a snowcat, and most green trails are significantly wider.

I've personally witnessed a lot of close calls on that bridge, as all of the traffic from three separate areas—the two beginner trails, and the Fall Line parking lot—funnel onto this bridge around the exact same time. if someone falls over on the bridge, they can block a fair amount of space until they get back up. That happens a lot, as the bridge is frequently icy—and, of course, skied by large volumes of beginners. 

I imagine this issue will only get worse when the massive new Creekside parking lot opens. For the 2024-25 season, skiers and snowboarders who park at this lot will have to cross the bridge to reach their vehicles, something that is not necessary with the existing Fall Line lot.

If Schweitzer adheres to its Schweitzer Creek Village master plan, there will be a day where other trails will go down to the new parking lot—so maybe the bridge capacity issue will mediate itself somewhat once these development plans have been fully realized.

Readiness for New Parking Lot

Speaking of the new Creekside parking lot, this massive 1,400 space lot will be four times the size of the existing Fall Line lot (the future of which is unclear at this time). If the Creekside lot fully replaces the Fall Line lot, lines may swell substantially in the coming seasons, especially in the mornings. Ultimately, we will have to see.

The new skier bridge that provides access down to the Creekside Express’s base terminal is on the narrower side, and it can get congested during peak times.

Final Thoughts

While any beginner area that’s intertwined with a major parking lot will inevitably see a few issues, Schweitzer’s new Creekside lift is an absolutely fantastic upgrade that is an anchor to major future development. The new lift makes for a much more inviting beginner experience, and its presence will allow for the debut of a much needed parking capacity increase in the near future. Ultimately, the Creekside upgrade paves the way for Schweitzer to compete more effectively with popular resorts elsewhere in the Northwest and Northern Rockies.

Considering a ski trip to Schweitzer this year? Check out our full Northern Rockies rankings, as well as our comprehensive Schweitzer review. You can also check out our analysis of the major 2022-23 ski resort upgrade projects in video form below.