Resorts near Seattle

A snowHead

I'm traveling to Seattle near the end of January with work and I have 2 days to spare before I flying home.
Does anyone know of any good resorts that would be close enough so I could squeeze in a couple of turns before heading home?

Cheers..
/dd.

A snowHead

Stevens Pass is one of the closest, I believe. Don't know much about the others.

I've been there in May 2001, it was within reasonable driving distance.

I have no idea how far Whistler would be - maybe too much driving for two days?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

dingdong, there are a few nearby, and if you'd like someone to show you around, I'd suggest asking on www.epicski.com

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I think Whistler is only about 4 hours drive north, but the border crossing can be slow.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I’m originally from Seattle and grew up skiing there. I’ll give a brief rundown of the local areas, arranged from closest to farthest:

Snoqualmie (1 hour): Also know as ‘No-sno-mie’. It has a base of about 3000 ft and is therefore often under the snow line. This means that you often end up skiing in the rain on ‘Cascade Concrete’. It can be really bad. There are four distinct areas on the lift ticket, three of which are absolute rubbish. The other one is Alpental, which isn’t bad if the snow is good. It’s a smallish mountain but properly steep. Fine for a day. Snoqualmie’s main redeeming factor is that at least when I was growing up, it had the largest night skiing operation in the US. It’s good for an evening after work, but for a day, you’re better off going somewhere else.

Stevens Pass (1.5 hours): It’s a little bigger and a little higher than Snoqualmie, and therefore a little better. Actually, it’s a nice day ski area with surprisingly varied terrain for a place of its size. It can get pretty crowded on the weekend, but not as bad as Snoqualmie.

Crystal Mt (1.5 to 2 hours): By far Washington’s biggest ski area, and the only one with on-site lodging. This is a legitimately good mountain, and if it were located in Colorado or Utah everyone would have heard of it. They leave a large proportion of the mountain ungroomed but avi controlled, so there is tons of lift served in-bounds off-piste skiing. It can be as ‘steep and deep’ as you, and the weather Gods’ want. It also manages to rack up some insane snow totals. 60 inches of snow in a day is not unheard of. The groomed runs are also pretty good, but there is something of a gap between the beginner and advanced terrain. It also gets crowded on the weekend, but they’ve just opened up a new chair this winter, so maybe that will ease some of the pressure. The drive back down the mountain at the end of the day is hellacious (think 30 mile traffic jam on a two lane mountain road). Better to eat dinner in one of the two restaurants at the base (one is a typical pub type place and the other is a very nice, but more expensive place).

Mt. Baker (2.5 to 3 hours): I haven’t been there to ski, so I have no personal experience. It is famous for setting all the snowfall records. It is also fairly small.

White Pass and Mission Ridge (3-4 hours): Probably too far to consider for areas this small. Both are really nice local hills, but not really worth driving for a day from Seattle. Mission Ridge is on the other side of the mountains and as a result has the driest snow in the Cascades. It also has the least snow for the same reason.

Whistler (6 hours): You’ll never get there in 4 hours. It’s Whistler, but it’s way too far for a day trip.

If I were you and only had two days, I’d go to Crystal the first day and decide if I wanted to ski there the second day of go to Steven’s Pass. Or I’d look into lodging at Crystal and stay there for two days. If you have the time and the desire, and the weather is good, a night at Snoqualmie (Alpental) is an easy option from the city, too. Keep in mind, Crystal and Stevens are in opposite directions from Seattle, so to drive frmo one to the other would take at least 3 hours.

You'll need to Register first of course.

ami in berlin, Thanks!! That gives me plenty of information. I'll check Crystal Mt out on the web. I'd say we'll probably set up camp there for the last couple of days and then head home.

Thanks!
/dd Very Happy

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

I learned at Snoqualmie as well. I never really liked skiing for the first several years because I associated it with getting rained on all day, falling on snow as hard as concrete and then sitting in the car soaking wet all the way home. Then I went to Crystal one day and it all made sense.

dingdong, lodging at Crystal is probably your best option. I've never stayed up there but always wanted to. I think they have some reasonable mid-week specials if that is an option. They also have the only thing remotely approaching apres in Washington. The Bullwheel pub is great for a beer and some pub grub right off the slopes, and the Snorting Elk is a damn nice bar later on in the evening. That's it, though, and things are shut down and everyone's in bed well before midnight (just as it should be, in my opinion).

ami in berlin, It's going to be a weekend stay, do you think we'll need to book accommodation well in advance or could we do when we arrive?

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Alpental terrain is great and its only about an hour from the airport - you can ski the other Snoqualmie areas on the same lift ticket but anyone who skis/rides at Alpental will probably tell you not to bother. Baker is worth a trip - stay at Bellingham & drive up.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Definitely not Whistler (as already said) - you'd be lucky to get across the border in four hours (well, going back into the States anyway, a horrible experience).

Have to say, at a tangent, that I was rather disappointed by my visit to Seattle (except for the Football match we watched).

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skisimon, good grief, you and I don't seem to see eye-to-eye on US cities - Seattle's one of my favourite cities on the planet. Laughing

Another long range possibility is Mt Hood, Oregon - a fabulous setting, about 4hrs from Seattle if memory serves (and where I first skied snowHead

)

dingdong, lodging at Crystal is limited (and is totally non-existant at the other local ski areas). I'd book soon and check what their cancellation policy is. This can all be done pretty easily through their website. Otherwise you can leave it late, but you may end up either having to drive up from Seattle or staying in a cheap motel down the mountian. Enumclaw is probably the closest but is still a 45 minute drive away. It's also a crap place to have to do anything other than drive though.

And honestly, while Alpental has its charm and I'm sure Baker and Hood would be nice as well, Crystal is still the best in the region and significantly closer to Seattle than the latter two options.

You know it makes sense.

Apologies for slight hijaking of thread... Little Angel

laundryman, I was just a little disappointed as it had been built up a lot when I was in Vancouver (my experience was probably not helped by the position of my hotel). I'm not denying at all that its a pleasant city (I'd give it a 7 out of 10), and I did quite like San Francisco (so it's not all US cities Laughing

).

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Help!!

Resorts near Seattle

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