49 Degrees North Ski Area is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

in the northwestern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located inside

Colville National Forest The Colville National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in northeastern Washington state. It is bordered on the west by the Okanogan–Wenatchee National Forest and the Kaniksu National Forest to the east. The forest also borders Little Pe ...

in Stevens County,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, east of

Chewelah Chewelah ( ) is a city in Stevens County, Washington, United States. It is located approximately northwest of Spokane, Washington, Spokane. The population was 2,607 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, a 19.3% increase from 2000. Hist ...

, which is north of

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

. The base is at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

with the summit at on Chewelah Mountain, yielding a vertical drop of . Its slopes are primarily north-facing and are served by six

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. They ...

s - one quad, one high-speed detachable quad, and four doubles. The ski area first opened in late 1972 with three chairlifts. It is actually at 48.3° North, about south of the 49th parallel, the international border with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Following two consecutive winters of poor weather, the ski area filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in June 1990. International Selkirk Loop - Skiing at 49 Degrees North - NARA - 7719616

Six years later in June 1996, John Eminger, a local, purchased the ski area and acted as owner operator for the next 23 years. In the 1990s, the trees were thinned over most of its , providing some of the greatest variation and magnitude of tree skiing found at a single resort in the northwest United States. The resort will soon be implementing mountain biking. A predecessor ski area named "Chewelah Peak" was about west (), towards Chewelah. It was served by a double chair that vertically climbed . It began operation with a rope tow in 1936; the double chairlift was added in 1950, and a lodge in 1952. In the spring of 2019, the ski area was sold to CMR Lands LLC, headed by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-area businessman Tryg Fortun. The group also owns Silver Mountain in

Kellogg, Idaho Kellogg is a city in the Silver Valley of Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, in the Idaho Panhandle region. The city lies near the Coeur d'Alene National Forest and about 36 miles (58 km) east-southeast of Coeur d'Alene along Intersta ...

, purchased three years earlier in 2016. In 2021, the resort installed a base to summit high speed detachable quad chairlift. Northern Spirit, built by

Doppelmayr USA Doppelmayr USA, Inc is an aerial lift manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a subsidiary of the worldwide Doppelmayr Garaventa Group. The United States company was formed in 2002 after the merger of Garaventa of Goldau, Switzerland, a ...

, is the newest, longest, and most powerful chairlift in the State of Washington and the Inland Northwest, surpassed only by Crystal Mountain and Silver Mountain's Gondolas.

References

External links

* br>[2
Mountain_Webcam.html" ;"title="">[2
Mountain Webcam">">[2
Mountain Webcambr>Ski Map.org
– trail maps – 49 Degrees North ski area Ski areas and resorts in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Stevens County, Washington Tourist attractions in Stevens County, Washington {{ski-resort-stub