The Summit at Snoqualmie

The Summit at Snoqualmie is a winter resort in the northwest United States, located on Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. It provides alpine skiing and snowboarding, Nordic skiing, and winter tubing. Owned and managed by Boyne Resorts, it is east of downtown Seattle on Interstate 90.

The Summit consists of four base areas that used to be individually owned and operated resorts. Alpental, Summit West (formerly Snoqualmie Summit), Summit Central (formerly Ski Acres), and Summit East (formerly Hyak and PacWest), border Lake Keechelus on the East and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness on the West/North. The Summit at Snoqualmie is the closest ski area to Seattle, about an hour away.

Ski Lifts, Inc., the operator of what became Summit West, acquired the other three resorts. Booth Creek Ski acquired the properties in 1997. Booth Creek sold The Summit to CNL Lifestyle in 2006, but continued to operate the resort under a lease. Booth Creek sold The Summit lease to Boyne Resorts in 2007. CNL Lifestyle sold Booth Creek in a batch of resorts to Och-Ziff Capital Management in 2016. Boyne purchased the ski resort in March 2018.

The vertical drop ranges from at Alpental, to at Summit West. Combined, the four base areas have 19 chairlifts and 6 surface lifts. The resort is open seven days and six nights per week.

Alpental

Of the four base areas, only Alpental is located north of I-90 and is known for its advanced and backcountry terrain, including some of the steepest runs in the state.

History

The territory of Alpental ski area was first owned through mining claims by early prospectors of the valley. Bob Mickelson and some friends bought options on the mining claims around 1960 with plans to develop a ski area on Denny Mountain and a community in the lower area. To help out with their plan, they enlisted Warren Miller to produce a promotional video simply titled "Alpental". To gain access to the area, they had to reach agreement with th
Sahalie Ski Club
to allow a road through their property. Alpental ski area agreed to maintain this section of road at their cost for the Sahalie group in exchange for this access for 99 years.

The ski area opened for the 1967-68 season with 3 lifts, then called Eins, Zwei, and Drei, and 5 rope tows, had night skiing from the beginning, and was closed on Mondays. In 1979 the ski area was sold to ''Westours'' (an Alaska tour operator) then in 1984 ''Westours'' sold to ''Ski Lifts, Inc.''.

In 2022, 18 more chairs were added to the Armstrong Express chair, as part of the Summit 2030 plan.

Summit West

Summit West contains the most well-known learning terrain of the whole resort. Mainly a beginner/intermediate area, Summit West is home to the Summit Learning Center (SLC), which offers many varieties of lessons for the whole family.

History

In 1933, the city of Seattle opened a city park called Municipal Park on the location which is now called Summit West. The city operated this area until 1940, when the townspeople decided Snoqualmie Pass was too far away to be run as a city park. Operations were turned over to Ski Lifts, Inc. co-owned by Jim Parker and Chauncey Griggs, who had been the concessionaire since 1937, the year they added rope tows to the park. Under the ownership of Ski Lifts, Inc. the area was renamed Snoqualmie Summit Ski Area because of its location at the top of the mountain pass. In 1942, Griggs and Parker sold Ski Lifts, Inc. to Rance Morris and Webb Moffett for $3,500. Later it was sold to Booth Creek and then to Boyne Mountain, a family owned corporation consisting of nine resorts located in the United States and Canada.

Ski Lifts, Inc. acquired Ski Acres in 1980, Alpental in 1983, and Hyak in 1992, agreeing in December 1996 to sell the entire operation to Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc.

Summit Central

Summit Central provides a variety of terrain and is typically the most crowded of the slopes. It is also home to a large terrain park which hosts many events throughout the season.

History

In 1948, the "Ski Acres" ski area was opened by Ray Tanner. The following year in 1949, the first chairlift in Washington was built. In 1980, Ski Lifts, Inc. acquired Ski Acres and combined the operation with adjacent Snoqualmie Summit. In 1988 new terrain was added on the south end with a triple chair lift called Silver Fir.
After the purchase by Booth Creek in 1997 Ski Acres was renamed Summit Central. In 2008 the Silver Fir triple chair was replaced with a high-speed detachable-quad called Silver Fir Express. In 2019 the Holiday Riblet double chair was replaced with a new Doppelmayr fixed grip quad with a loading carpet. Also in 2019, lighting for Silver Fir Express is installed.

Summit East

Summit East (also known as "Hyak") is the easternmost of the four base areas and is accessible via I-90 exit 54. A mix of intermediate and advanced runs, Summit East is where to go for glade skiing. Adjacent to the alpine ski area, the Hyak area has free cross-country skiing on groomed trails along Lake Keechelus on the Iron Horse Trail (maintained by the Washington State Parks). A new chair was constructed at Summit East in the summer of 2014. The chair was named Rampart and is a fixed-grip quad and was proposed to open for the 14-15 ski season, but due to lack of snow and storm damage, it was unable to be used. It opened on New Years Day 2016.

History

In 1959, a new ski area was developed on the north side of Hyak Mtn by three businessmen who formed the at Hyak Ski Corporation. The company made some bad financial moves. On December 30, 1971, at approximately 3 p.m., the Dinosaur chairlift went out of control in reverse, leaving an 18-year-old skier with permanent damage. A subsequent lawsuit, along with a bad season sent the area into bankruptcy in 1977.

The area was purchased in 1980 by Pac West until they too filed bankruptcy in 1988. Pac West was one of the few ski resorts to allow snowboarding, along with Mt. Baker ski area. Bob Barci helped set up the first snowboard competition in 1985 which was won by Craig Kelly.
In 1991 the area was purchased by Ski Lifts, Inc who now owned all 4 local Snoqualmie Pass ski areas. The name was then reverted to Hyak. In 1998, Booth Creek purchased the areas from Ski Lifts, Inc, and Hyak then became Summit East.

On January 7, 2009, a large landslide destroyed the Keechelus ski lift, one house and damaged 3 others, which ended downhill skiing and snowboarding for the rest of the 2008-2009 season and the entire 2009-2010 season. Alpine operations returned for the 2010-2011 season with the installation of a used triple chair on the front side as well as reopening terrain in Hidden Valley re-using a combination of parts from the old Keechelus and Easy Gold double chairs.

On May 15, 2014, The Summit at Snoqualmie announced that the ski resort will start construction of a new chairlift in the spring. Rampart Chair was opened for the 2014/2015 winter season with construction expected to start in June. The fixed-grip quad chair featuring an easy-load conveyor system was built and installed by SkyTrac, an American chairlift company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Rampart chairlift was a long-awaited addition to Summit East and increased uphill capacity substantially while opening up a sizable portion of glade skiing in the area. The chairlift is located on the northern facing slopes of the Summit East ski area.

“We’ve eagerly awaited this key piece of the puzzle that now really helps complete the fun, adventurous side of The Summit,” says The Summit at Snoqualmie's general manager, Dan Brewster. “Our skiers and snowboarders love the diverse terrain offerings and freedom of the entire Silver Fir/Summit East zone with its beautiful glade terrain and spectacular scenic views.”

In Spring 2022, The Summit at Snoqualmie released its Summit 2030 Plan, and said they would be net zero by 2030. They announced a couple of substantial improvements, including a triple lift replacing the Hidden Valley double that summer. The Summit was widely criticized for not including construction updates about it that summer. Hidden Valley opened on Dec 28, 2022 on 11 A.M.

Cross-Country Skiing

The Summit at Snoqualmie operates over 50 kilometers of Nordic ski trails. The Nordic center typically operates mid-December to early April. The Nordic center is located at Summit East. Trails feature two warming huts along the trail. The Jim Brooks warming hut is located over Windy Pass (on the west side). There is another hut located at Grand Junction.

In addition to the cross-country ski trails at the Summit at Snoqualmie, there are several miles of cross-country ski trails that are maintained by Washington State Parks and are accessible from the Sno-Park adjacent to the Summit East base area.

Other Activities

Summit Tubing Center

Across from Summit Central is the Summit Tubing Center. With thirteen machine groomed runs it is the largest west of the Mississippi. The runs are approximately five hundred feet long. The Summit Tubing Center was formerly run under the name Snow Flake Tubing Center until its purchase by Booth Creek. The tubing center is serviced by a new magic carpet to replace the two handle-tows (added Summer 2016).

Chairlifts

References

External links

*
Alpental website
(unofficial)
Hyak website
(unofficial)

Ski Map.org
– vintage trail maps – Snoqualmie Pass ski areas

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