The White Pass Ski Area is a

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

of the United States, in the Cascade Range at

White Pass White Pass, also known as the Dead Horse Trail, (elevation ) is a mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains on the border of the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, Canada. It leads from Skagway, Ala ...

in the state of

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 ...

. It is located west of

Yakima Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uni ...

U.S. Route 12 U.S. Route 12 (US 12) is an east–west United States Numbered Highways, United States highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, for almost . The highway has mostly been superseded by Interstate 90 (I-90) an ...

, and east of

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film '' Horton H ...

As the crow flies __NOTOC__ The expression ''as the crow flies'' is an idiom for the most direct path between two points, rather similar to "in a beeline". This meaning is attested from the early 19th century, and appeared in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver ...

, the pass is southeast of the summit of Mount Rainier and north of Mount Adams.

Alpine skiing

The base

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 § Ver ...

of White Pass is at 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 standardise ...

, with a lift-served summit at , yielding a vertical drop of . Located on the south side of the east-west highway, the slopes primarily face north. The mountain has 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. Th ...

s: two high speed quads, a fixed-grip quad, a triple, and two doubles. It also includes two surface lifts: a platter lift and a

magic carpet A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet and common trope in fantasy fiction. It is typically used as a form of transportation and can quickly or instantaneously carry its users to their destination. In literature One o ...

for beginning skiers. There is a

terrain park A terrain park or snow park is an outdoor recreation area containing terrain that allows skiers, snowboarders and snowbikers to perform tricks. Terrain parks have their roots in skateparks and many of the features are common to both. From thei ...

located on Rib Eye off the Basin Quad that regularly features rail jams, slopestyle, and other obstacles.

Cross-country skiing

The Nordic Center provides access to a variety of groomed, double-tracked

cross-country ski Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

, trails in the

Wenatchee Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...

and

Gifford Pinchot National Forest Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a National Forest located in southern Washington, managed by the United States Forest Service. With an area of 1.32 million acres (5300 km2), it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Ran ...

s. The terrain challenges all ability levels in classic cross-county, skating cross-country, and snowshoeing on of trails.

Base facilities

The day lodge has rental skis and boards, food, lockers, and a bar. Across the highway to the north, the ''White Pass Village Inn'' offers overnight accommodations.

History

White Pass Ski Area opened in January of 1953. The initial area only consisted of the Poma Face hill serviced by a number of

Rope tow A surface lift is a type of cable transport for snow sports in which skiers and snowboarders remain on the ground as they are pulled uphill. While they were once prevalent, they have been overtaken in popularity by higher-capacity and higher-c ...

s. Shortly after, the ski area built a

Poma Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, peop ...

surface lift that ran from roughly in front of the present day lodge's location to the top of the Poma Face. In 1956, White Pass expanded to the summit of Pigtail Peak with its very first

. Dubbed ''Pigtail I'', the two-person lift was created by the

Riblet Tramway Company The Riblet Tramway Company of Spokane, Washington, which operated from 1908 to 2003, was once the largest ski chairlift manufacturer in the world. The company was founded by Byron Christian Riblet, who was born in Osage, Iowa, in 1865 and earned ...

Spokane, Washington 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 Cana ...

. It was a mile (1.6 km) in length, with a vertical rise of from the highway base area to . The resort cut two long runs from the summit, which they named Holiday and Cascade. White Pass added its second double

, ''Pigtail II'', in the fall of 1958. Also built by

Riblet The Riblet Tramway Company of Spokane, Washington, which operated from 1908 to 2003, was once the largest ski chairlift manufacturer in the world. The company was founded by Byron Christian Riblet, who was born in Osage, Iowa, in 1865 and earned ...

, it ran in parallel with the original chair. This second chair had nearly 30% greater capacity (900 vs. 700/hr), with a more robust cable and gearbox. It also had 50% more lift towers, which were greater in height in anticipation of high snowfall. The installed cost of the second chair exceeded $200,000. The resort also widened Cascade and cut out two additional runs from the summit: Mach V and Paradise. The area started full-week operations for the 1958–59 season, with daily adult lift tickets priced at $3.50. In 1964, the area added a new

double

to the beginner area. ''Chair 3'' ran from the highway on the east side of the resort to a flat area about a hundred yards below the base of Cascade Cliff. Former

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

racing twins

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...

and

Steve Mahre Steven Irving Mahre (born May 10, 1957 in Yakima, Washington) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and younger twin brother (by four minutes) of ski racer Phil Mahre. Career Mahre won the silver medal in slalom at the 1984 Winter Olympics in ...

grew up at White Pass, where their father Dave "Spike" Mahre was the mountain manager. The twin brothers and their seven siblings lived with their parents in a house near the base of the lifts. In 1984, the ski area installed ''Chair 4'', another double built by

. This lift ran from roughly halfway down Paradise to the summit of Pigtail Peak. Additionally, the resort cut out three new runs around Paradise that ended at the new lift. Looking to increase capacity at the base area, White Pass installed a high-speed detachable lift that ran from the highway to the summit in 1994. Built by Doppelmayr, the ''Great White Express'' had nearly double the capacity of the two ''Pigtail'' lifts combined. The Poma surface lift and ''Pigtail I'' were removed to make room for Great White, though some of the Poma's towers were left on the hill as lighting for night skiing. In 2000, White Pass overhauled the beginner area of the mountain. The last remaining rope tow was replaced with a Doppelmayr platterpull. ''Chair 3'' was removed and a new Garaventa triple lift, following a different route, was installed. Beginning in a newly cut-out area to the east of the area, the ''Far East'' lift ended at the top of the Poma Face. The expansion in the Paradise Basin opened in the 2010–11 season and added of terrain and two new Doppelmayr chairlifts. The ''Basin Quad'' is a fixed-grip quad and the ''Couloir Express'' is the area's second high-speed detachable quad. The resort also constructed a new lodge between the new chairlifts. In December 2021, the ski area was sold by White Pass Co. Inc. to a group of five Yakima-area businesspeople. In 2022, the new ownership group introduced an expanded beginners' area, more Nordic trails, and a ski patrol building. Future expansion is contingent on approval from the U.S. Forest Service.

Lifts

''Pigtail II'' is one of the oldest still-operating chairlifts in North America. As of 2019, it is the second-oldest chairlift still in operation in

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

(beaten only by

Mount Spokane Mount Spokane levation ��previously known as Mount Baldy until 1912 due to its pronounced bald spot—is a mountain in the Pacific Northwest, northwest United States, located northeast of Spokane, Washington, Spokane, Washington (state), Was ...

’s ''Chair 1'').

References

External links

* - Ski White Pass.com
Ski Map.org
– vintage trail maps – White Pass ski area
WSDOT.wa.gov
- White Pass road conditions & webcam {{Washington Ski areas navbox Buildings and structures in Lewis County, Washington Ski areas and resorts in Washington (state) Buildings and structures in Yakima County, Washington Tourist attractions in Yakima County, Washington Tourist attractions in Lewis County, Washington Gifford Pinchot National Forest 1953 establishments in Washington (state)