Resort advice -- passes / uphill access

One of the best ski areas in the world is just north of Vancouver. 5 and ten day Edge cards are a bargain. I have a full pass but my wife has a ten day one and the days don't count till December 18th! She will probably get in 10 free days by then! With the Dollar strong and gas cheap there is no reason to not be up there whenever you have a few days available. Last year was challenging but was heads and shoulders above all other West Coast resorts.

Alpental uses explosives and other measures for avalanche control -- checking in with Alpental ski patrol before hand should always be done.

At the non-Alpental Snoqualmie (West, Central and East) areas uphill travel has been generally tolerated

Even at night snoqualmiepassskimo.blogspot.com/

Best to be polite, stick to the edges of runs and be friendly with any ski patrol folks that come up to chat and work with any safety oriented requests they may make.

Summit East / Hyak is only open weekends -- mid-week dawn patrol treks there are a common work out.  The summit did a good brush trimming at all their areas over last summer, so it won't take so much snow to cover the brush this winter.

FWIW:  In the '90s Kittitas County tried to impose an admissions tax on the sale of lift tickets on the non-Alpental ski areas at the summit (Alpental is in King County)   The ski areas fought back and contended that the lift tickets were for riding the lifts only and not for access to the ski area itself -- they won that case -- so if they start getting hard core about excluding uphill travelers -- Some letter writing to the Kittitas County Commissioners might be in order   bocc@co.kittitas.wa.us

I don't think Kittitas County commissioners have any say so about SUPs with the USFS

I don't think Kittitas County commissioners have any say so about SUPs with the USFS

Sure -- but if the ski areas start telling people they can't be in the SUP without a lift ticket -- then the County could impose their admissions tax on the sale of lift tickets.   If they the new owners of the ski areas "forget" that -- a letter from the county commissioners should help them set the correct policy.


FWIW: Here is the Record of Decision (ROD) in the most recent Special Use Permit (SUP) for the Summit at Snoqualmie.

a123.g.akamai.net/7/123/11558/abc123/for...17_FSPLT1_018078.pdf

AFAICT: The subject of "public access" within the SUP isn't spelled out -- perhaps it is just assumed from general USFS policy.

For the most part I've haven't had negative encounters. There was one time as I was approaching "Grand Junction" on the XC trails that someone rather grumpily as to see my ticket (for using the groomed XC trails) I think they were just having a bad day or something -- as they were a little confused when I showed them my "Summit Crew" id card.

I've never understood the desire to tour within ski areas, especially when they're in operation. Why not ski the adjacent areas? For me, avoiding the resorts is a major motivation for going touring. What's the attraction?

Quick access , more skiable with low snow coverage , no worries about snow stability , lights at night.

E.g. Summit East / Hyak is closed mid week and is commonly used for "dawn pattol" session s before work. Similarly Summit Central and West are sometimes used for rando racing workouts in the evening .