Winter brings fresh snow, fresh dreams and, in the case of Stevens Pass Ski Area, a safer ramp for beginners.
The end of the Daisy chairlift often has been a tangle of rookie skiers and boarders with equipment poking up at dangerous angles, the scene a contender for a Warren Miller film.
“While it’s funny in a movie, it’s not any fun for guests who are new to the sport,” said Lori Vandenbrink, director of sales and marketing.
Stevens Pass corrected the accident-waiting-to-happen this summer with dynamite, removing more than 9,000 cubic yards of rock, doubling the size of the off-loading area and creating a longer, shallower exit ramp.
“Snowboarders will have room to buckle up,” Vandenbrink said, “and new skiers and riders will have plenty of space to get situated without a lot of congestion, more time to get the feel of sliding on the snow without the fear of immediately needing to turn sharply or stop quickly.”
Paying attention to beginners is increasingly important. The ski and snowboard industry has experienced relatively low growth for several years. Making the commitment to new faces is a nod to the future.
Much of the future rests with snowboarders, who make up about half of Stevens’ clientele.
Its Top Phlight terrain park has earned good marks. Freeze magazine recently called it one of the best parks in the country.
Stevens took much of the debris from the ramp remodeling and added it to the 15-foot-high sidewalls of the 450-foot-long superpipe so the walls need less snow.
Stevens also has a new 10-foot Frequent Flyers half-pipe and, in the School Yard, beginners can learn on a 6-foot-tall Future Flyers mini-pipe.
It’s the only ski area in Washington to offer three half-pipes, one for each skill level.
This year Stevens also has a plan for working adults. The Pacific Crest Lodge offers wireless Internet access, enabling guests to connect to the Internet from their own devices or at one of four terminals.
“They can go skiing and their bosses will never know,” Vandenbrink said.
Unless they meet on the chairlift.
The Summit at Snoqualmie
Competition for snowriders can be fierce, with each ski area down the spine of the Washington Cascades working to create loyal fans.
Krush Kulesza has thrown down the gauntlet to competitors of The Summit at Snoqualmie.
“To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a superpipe built correctly in the state of Washington yet,” said the youth marketing manager.
True or not, Kulesza now has a big piece of equipment to lend weight to his prediction that the best superpipe in the state will be just off I-90. The Zaugg Pipe Monster is recognized by the industry as the standard of excellence.
Olympic specifications for a superpipe are 15-foot-high walls and a length of 427 feet; the Swiss-built Monster can create 18-foot-high walls.
The Summit also has added grooming machines, a moving-sidewalk-style beginner lift at Summit Central, re-aligned and lengthened the Magic Carpet lift at Summit West, and created a new children’s adventure zone.
Mount Baker Ski Area
But if it’s good snow that draws you, look no farther than the Mount Baker Ski Area, rated number one for best snow in North America by Skiing magazine.
“It’s a great honor, especially considering we’re a relatively small ski area,” Mount Baker spokeswoman Gwen Howat said. “It’s also a reminder to people that the Northwest has a real gem.
“Snowboarders want fresh snow and we get more fresh snow than anyplace in North America.”
And snowboarders respond. Seventy percent of Baker’s season pass holders are snowboarders.
Baker continues to upgrade its facilities, converting double lifts into quad chairs and chair six to a fixed-grip quad. Owners also dropped a cool quarter-million to purchase a winch cat.
“It allows us to drag the snow cat up steeper slopes so that we can groom some of the more advanced terrain,” Howat said.
Crystal Mountain
This winter Crystal Mountain opens its new 12,500-square-foot Campbell Basin Lodge in the Campbell Basin, near the top of the Forest Queen chairlift.
The trend at Crystal Mountain, ranked number seven in North America by Skiing magazine, is towards freestyle skiing.
“That’s big mountain skiing with shorter, fatter skis” spokeswoman Stacy Schuster-Lyon said. “And quite a few are taking up telemark skiing.”
White Pass
White Pass Ski Area didn’t make major improvements this summer but has kept its reputation as a family ski area.
“We have multigenerational skiers, grandmothers and grandfathers, those in their 50s and 60s, and children and grandchildren skiing together,” said spokeswoman Kathleen Goyette, who is excited about the weather.
“We keep hearing that it’s potentially an El Nino year. The last ones left a legacy of fantastic snow in the southeast Cascades. We are thrilled to have it. Bring it on.”
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