New Summit Uphill Policy in effect now

New Summit Uphill Policy

$5 for the uphill pass regardless if you are a regular pass holder or not.
Restrictions where you can park on "peak days" (Jan-March 6 weekend)
When an area is in operation you have to follow marked uphill corridors.
When an area is not operating you can ascend anywhere as long as you avoid grooming equipment, area personnel, etc. When you descend you need to obey area boundaries as if you were a paying lift guest.

Alpental remains off limits whenever they announce it until it's opened again in the spring.
Overall not that many changes.

This is happening everywhere. Some places charge $10/per day. Others are $60/season, etc. So $5/season is really basically free.

 

This is crap. They are making money on forest service land, and now they want to drive other users off. There is only one reason why they would charge $5 for a pass. They are not making significant money. They are setting a precedent. It's $5 this year, next year they bump it to $10, The next year, $20 and so on. Soon we will be forking over decent money even though we are not using any of their stuff.

Crap??  I never understood why people feel they are entitled to ski uphill at a ski resort for free.   First it starts with the parking lots,  graded and reworked in off-season, plowed in the winter.  Then we have the slopes that are brush cut in the summer, groomed in winter, avalanche controlled if necessary.   Then, this is optional, but bathrooms, food service, ski patrol in an emergency?  So the ski area is constantly spending money to provide a better skier experience,   Not to mention fees to the forest service for their lease.   So, you think you should get all this for free?   

This is kinda the same thing with Weyerhaeuser and other private forest landowners.  These private forest landowners are now charging fees for their entry onto their lands--Weyerhaeuser has been doing this for many years now....but Weyerhaeuser used to not charge.  If they charge a fee, then the private forest landowner may become liable.  The private forest landowners are not liable for any event for recreationalists on to their land per this RCW:   app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=4.24.210

 

I don't think ski resorts should be charging us to access public lands when we are not using their services. If they own the land, that's a different story. If I'm using their lifts, I can understand paying for that, but if I'm skiing on forest service land under my own power, they shouldn't have the right to charge for that.

As for timber companies charging for access to their land, that's different. Yes, they own the land and can charge for people to recreate on it. The annoying thing about timber company land is that I don't want to recreate on their land. I want to go to the mountains beyond, but they own a strip of land between the road and the mountains. The only reason I want to go through their land is because it is in the way. There should be a reasonable way access forest service land without paying the timber company. Perhaps an access corridor here and there?

Couple of thing.
First the $5 is whether you have a season pass or not. Pass holders must dish out the extra $5 as well.
2. Unless I read it wrong, now that a pass is required, they could have someone sited for trespassing. 
3 I guess will see if they enforce this on snowshoers as well 
As someone who lives by a lot of private timber access areas. The biggest issue is with illegal dumping. That’s why a lot of the gates have gone up over the years. Now they just dump at the gate
illegal brush picking -yep lots of brush pickers out here 
now we are totally off the subject of why a free pass costs $5.
Sort of like why my $30 truck tabs cost me $100+ , more for you king country residence. 
I also asked the Summit why parking lot A7 which is the furthest from the access trail. There response was to use the snow lake summer trail. NICE 
there is no “ safe” way to go from A7 to the winter access trail and no approved route through the Alpental base area, well except the Snow lake trail according to summit director of guest services Sharon