State ski areas prepare to unveil major improvements amid talk of a big season

By GREG JOHNSTON  
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER 

The busiest ski area off-season in recent Washington history is proceeding apace, with Stevens Pass already testing a new high-speed lift, Crystal Mountain stringing cable for its second big "six-pack" and heavy equipment combing Snoqualmie Pass.

 "When you think about it, the whole landscape of ski-area operation in Washington has changed," said Rick Hodas, new spokesman for The Summit at Snoqualmie, where parent company Booth Creek Inc. is pouring $6.5 million onto the slopes.

 "It's all going to be great for skiers and snowboarders."

 Booth Creek's avalanche of improvement at Snoqualmie, to be detailed publicly at a function this afternoon in Seattle, is believed to be the largest single-season investment ever in a Washington ski area.

 It includes two high-speed detachable "quad" chairlifts -- four-seat lifts that zoom up the hill but detach from the main cable and slow down in the terminals to ease loading and unloading.

 One is being built at Snoqualmie Central, the former Ski Acres, replacing the adjacent two-seat lifts Bonanza and Alpine. The intermediate runs that the lift serves have seen extensive recontouring. The other new quad is at Alpental, replacing Debbie's Gold.

 To the north, the chairs are hung and Stevens is already load-testing its new high-speed quad, named Hogsback like the aged two-seater it replaces. "We sometimes call it Superhog, as kind of a nickname," joked Stevens planning director Chet Marler.

 At a price of $2.3 million, the new Hogsback gains 781 vertical feet, with the bottom terminal lower on the slope than the old one, eliminating the short but tiresome uphill hike required to reach it.

 The bottom station at the nearby Brooks lift also has been rebuilt lower to ease access there, and Stevens is putting in a new snowplay area, "Tube City."

 Down at Crystal, wheel assemblies are being installed in the terminals of the $1.9 million high-speed six-person Chinook Express, which replaces Midway Shuttle. It's basically a shuttle lift from the base area that accesses two upper mountain lifts, the high-speed six-pack Forest Queen Express and the high-speed quad Rainier Express.

 Forest Queen dramatically reduced lift lines during its inaugural season last year at Crystal, and the new six-pack should cut them further.

 Ski area operators feel a sense of urgency due to talk of a cold-weather La Niña, which is said to follow warm-weather phenomenon El Niño. The latter was blamed for last year's mild winter here and all the precipitation down south.

 La Niña supposedly means a fierce upcoming winter and plenty of snow on the slopes.

 "People are really excited," said Kelly Graham at Crystal's marketing department. "We've all been put on alert by our general manager to be ready by Nov. 1. We're anticipating an early winter. As soon as the rocks have been covered by snow, we're going to flip the switch."

The association operates and maintains the Methow Valley's extensive trails system. For details, call 509-996-3287.