What's New -- Several High-Speed Lifts Will Debut This Season, Easing Crowds And Opening Access To Miles Of New Terrain

Nov 21, 1996

Ron C. Judd

Seattle Times Outdoors Reporter

Northwest ski resorts are buffing up their quads.

New high-speed detachable quad chairlifts are being oiled, polished and load-tested at Stevens Pass and Mount Bachelor, and both should be hauling skiers within days or weeks.

A new quad lift at your favorite ski area is always a big deal: After the initial hoopla fades and crowds settle down, they make lift lines and commute times shorter, greatly increasing the number of runs per day, thus runs per buck. But the new chairs at Stevens and Bachelor are ultra-significant because of their placement.

Stevens' new lift, the Skyline Express, has been on Puget Sound skiers' wish lists for a decade or more. It's the first high-speed quad to grace the area's frenetic front side, and should be a boon to intermediate skiers and snowboarders who love the long, gentle cruiser runs beneath what once was the Barrier Chair.

Skyline Express not only replaces 43-year-old Barrier, it goes one giant step farther. The lift lets out riders significantly higher on the ridge - right at the front doorstep of the 7th Heaven lift, which leads straight up to Stevens' best advanced terrain. That means The Hated Rope Tow that once connected Barrier to 7th Heaven is gone for good.

Intermediate skiers also should revel in the lift's expanded and improved exit area. Remember that narrow ridgeline that had to be negotiated to escape the old Barrier chair? Gone. You'll have to go looking for the ridge to ski it now. Prediction: There won't be a line.

Stevens managers also hope the new lift will take pressure off lift lines at other front-side chairs, such as Daisy, Hogsback and Blue Jay. It also will become Washington's first high-speed quad open for night skiing. The $2.8 million lift was built by C-TEC.

Mount Bachelor fans are similarly atwitter over the opening of the long-awaited Northwest Express lift, which adds 10 runs and 450 acres of new terrain, much of it steeper and wilder than existing Bachelor fare.

The new lift, to the west of the popular Outback Express, is a monster: It starts in the back woods at 5,700 feet and travels two miles in 8.5 minutes - all the way to 8,077 feet, which is well above treeline and almost 400 feet higher than Outback. The upper portion of the new terrain is wide-open, windswept country, with magnificent views of the Three Sisters Wilderness. The runs then drop into the trees, offering skiers and boarders a wide choice of steep glades, tricky tree skiing or broad, wide-open groomed runs.

Bachelor managers say they tried to design runs that take advantage of the natural contours of Bachelor's rugged western face - a former lava flow - to create a "natural alpine park."

This is the same terrain many Bachelor skiers and riders have been skiing for years. But you used to have to either hike - or ride the Summit Chair and make a long traverse - to get there. Now all you have to do is sit and hang on. The Northwest Express, Bachelor's seventh high-speed lift, was built by Doppemayr, USA, which many skiers consider the Cadillac of lift manufacturers.

It's not the only significant change at Bachelor, however. The mountain's high-tech rental system, already the best in the Northwest, this season switches entirely to "shaped" Rossignol skis. This wholesale swap - the first we've heard of - represents a major investment in new ski technology.

Bachelor officials expect the effect to be immediate and dramatic: Shaped skis, with more substantial sidecut angles than traditional boards, are drawing rave reviews from students and teachers, who say they make learning a proper carved turn almost seem easy.

Skiers reluctant to give them a try might get extra persuasion: A handful of skiers every day will be randomly selected by Bachelor staff members, who'll haul them into the rental shop and hook them up with top-flight gear, gratis, just to see how it feels.

Here's a quick update on other changes at favorite Northwest ski resorts:

---------- WASHINGTON ----------

In addition to its hulked-up chairlift horsepower mentioned above, Stevens Pass (actual new motto: "Fast, Friendly & Flexible!") has converted the old upstairs bar in the East Lodge to Cloud 9 Pizzeria. The place will still sell beer, but skiers now have the option of spilling it on their accompanying son/daughter. Good news on the parking front. Stevens is mulling a plan where approaching vehicles containing three or more reasonably warm bodies get "preferred" parking. Also notable for you bargain-hunting night owls: Stevens' new quad is open for night skiing, and night tickets are still only $12 Sunday through Thursday, $20 Friday-Saturday.

Marginally-related, semi-amazing Stevens Pass trivia: You can buy your lift ticket on the way up at Mt. View Espresso in Sultan. And Stevens gives you a free lift ticket (ID required) on your birthday. Finally, please note: Beginning this year, nobody will ski in Mill Valley anymore. It's too crowded.

Up north at Mount Baker, the Hard Core are doing their own version of interval training to beef up for what promises to be a longer, even more grueling Legendary Banked Slalom Race in January. Reason: The Natural Halfpipe has been lengthened, stretching the course and adding better spectator viewing. Baker also is expanding operations, running daily through March. And a new $17.50 Monday-to-Wednesday midweek ticket is in the works.

Also, part of the White Salmon parking lot reportedly has been paved. First dude to go up with a snowshovel and tell us which part wins a free Sims sticker.

Aside from one new run and some nifty new snowblowers, friendly White Pass is basically standing pat, although the resort - the very best thing, animate, inanimate or otherwise, within a one-hour radius of Yakima - continues to mull plans for a second run at scoring permits to expand the ski area.

Just down the compact-snow-and-ice road, there's some big administrative news at Crystal Mountain, where Boyne, USA (owners of Montana's Big Sky, among other recreational treasures), has signed a letter of intent to buy the place. The company promises $15 million in improvements over the next decade. Amen, pass the new quads, please. Also: Construction on Highway 410 is finished, and skiers might conclude it was worth the hassle, after all. The highway is wider, straighter and safer, making Crystal easier than ever to get to.

Our secret Wenatchee sources say Mission Ridge (actual new motto: "Closer than you think!") has done even more slope tuning, fixing the entrance to Bomber Bowl and widening other runs. Mission also beefed up its snowmaking system and has a spiffed-up ticket office and Kid's Club building. Mission continues to develop a long-term expansion plan, which might involve a land swap with Wenatchee National Forest and Washington Fish and Wildlife, the area's two landlords. The plan includes doubling skiable acres, replacing all the lifts and adding a mondo, Sun Valley-style snowmaking system.

The Pass at Snoqualmie has two new rope tows and a new halfpipe at Hyak; a new warming lodge at the highly popular Snowflake tubing center; and a coin-op slalom course at Snoqualmie. Notable night-skiing deal: The special Hyak-only night ticket (5 to 10:30 p.m.) is $10. A steal. All of this pales, however, in the face of the truly big news for the sleep-deprived I-90 skier, which is: They're building a Starbucks in North Bend.

Elsewhere: 49 Degrees North near Chewelah added some tree-skiing terrain; Ski Bluewood expanded its halfpipe; and Mount Spokane managers have immersed themselves in a nasty dispute with the landlord, Washington State Parks, which is demanding special things such as keeping the lifts running.

------ OREGON ------

Old favorite Timberline didn't sit and idly watch Bachelor and Meadows steal all the new-chair headlines. Mount Hood's original ski area replaced the high-mountain Palmer Snowfield chair, a creaky two-seater, with an express lift. Managers say the new lift is capable of winter operations (the old Palmer chair ran only in the summer) if weather permits. Given that weather often doesn't permit standing up on the Palmer, we won't hold our breath. This is a ride that might be worth waiting for, however: When the lift does run, the Magic Mile becomes almost two, and the vertical drop grows to a whopping 3,800 feet, biggest in Washington or Oregon.

Mount Bachelor, in addition to its new lift, joins Crystal Mountain by offering optional Dick Tracy Decoder Wrist Watches (actually, they're Swatch) to give season-pass holders easier gate access.

Mount Hood Meadows adds yet another chairlift, the Heather Canyon double chair; continues its new winch-cat grooming of Lower Heather; and once again offers the popular $20 lift ticket for guests at participating Hood River overnight spots.

Mount Hood SkiBowl, recovering from a nasty (warm, wet) season last year, boasts major slope work.

----- IDAHO -----

The Crescent wrenches worked overtime all summer at Sun Valley (actual old motto: "An American Shangri-La"), which paid Doppelmayr USA $10 million to upgrade all seven of its high-speed detachable quads in the wake of last December's fatal Yan-lift failure at Whistler, B.C. Lots of dough, but it buys substantial peace of mind for skiers and operators alike. The resort also plowed $1.5 million into 10 new snowcat groomers.

At Sand Point, family-friendly Schweitzer spent more than $1 million to convert its own former Yan express quad to a Dopplemayr. Down the road at the village formerly known as Smelterville, Silver Mountain is under new management by Redmond, Ore.'s Eagle Crest condo folks, who promptly decided to - and you are reading this correctly - lower its lift ticket prices 10 to 15 percent in every category.

Bogus Basin, pride of Boise, has a new high-speed quad, the Deer Point Express.

---------------- BRITISH COLUMBIA ----------------

Whistler came up with the most logical - and priciest - solution to last season's Quicksilver Yan-lift debacle, replacing the entire thing with the $6 million Creekside Gondola. It's a six-seater. The mountain also spent $3 million on snowmaking and slopework to make the Murray Downhill Course "smooth as a baby's bottom" and hopefully ready for a Dec. 4-8 Men's World Cup downhill and GS. Next door, Blackcomb replaced a goodly portion of its snowcat fleet and expanded its kiddie facilities.

In the sunny Okanagan, Big White spent truckloads of money on a new high-speed quad, the Gem Lake Express - centerpiece for an entire new base village, 15 minutes closer to Kelowna. Nearby Silver Star at Vernon did the aforementioned quad-lift retrofitting shuffle on two chairs, while Apex, two years ago touted as the next Whistler, is up for sale again. Anybody wanna buy a would-be mega-resort where local tribes frequently close off the only access roads?

Also notable in B.C.: Mount Washington on Vancouver Island paved its feisty old access road. Panorama at Invermere has new "extreme" terrain.

------- MONTANA -------

Big Sky at Bozeman replaced one of its aging gondolas with a high-speed quad, the Swift Current Express. Much of the base village, including Huntley Lodge, also got a facelift. Nearby Bridger Bowl has a new midmountain day lodge. The Big Mountain at Whitefish expanded its backcountryish terrain in Hell Roaring Basin, and, like The Evergreen State College, steadfastly continued to resist dropping the annoying "The" from its name.

------- WYOMING -------

Big doings at Grand Targhee, everyone's favorite little powder zone: A new high-speed detachable quad replaces the venerable Bannock lift, while a fixed-grip quad replaces Shoshone. Now you can zip to 11,000 feet in seven minutes, slicing the old high-altitude-headache time in half. Not to be outdone, nearby Jackson Hole replaced the Teewinot Chair with a high-speed quad.

---------- CALIFORNIA ----------

Many changes on Tahoe-area ski slopes, including the launch of a mondo seven-lift, two-lodge expansion at Heavenly. But one Tahoe upgrade deserves special mention. Alpine Meadows has a new high-speed detachable, but it's not a quad: It's a six-holer!

-------------- SKI LIFT RATES --------------

Cheapest

Ski area Weekend Adult weekday adult ---------------------------------------------------------. x - Whistler-Blackcomb, B.C. $52 $52 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Sun Valley, Idaho $50 $50 ---------------------------------------------------------. x - Big White, B.C. $45 $45 ---------------------------------------------------------. x - Silver Star, B.C. $42 $42 ---------------------------------------------------------. x - Red Mountain, B.C. $38 $38 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Mount Bachelor, Ore. $36 $36 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Mount Hood Meadows, Ore. $35 $35 ---------------------------------------------------------. y - Crystal Mountain $35 $25 ---------------------------------------------------------. y - Stevens Pass $34 $18 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Schweitzer, Idaho $34 $34 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Timberline, Ore. $32 $26 ---------------------------------------------------------.

White Pass $31 $14 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Mission Ridge $30 $20 ---------------------------------------------------------. y - Mount Baker $29 $17.50 ---------------------------------------------------------. z - Silver Mountain, Idaho $28 $20 ---------------------------------------------------------. y - The Pass $28 $15 ---------------------------------------------------------.

49 Degrees North $27 $19 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Ski Bluewood $25 $25 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Mount Hood Skibowl, Ore. $25 $19 ---------------------------------------------------------.

Mount Spokane $22 $18 ---------------------------------------------------------.

x - Canadian currency. y - Reflects lowest weekday price. z - Price decreased $3 from last season's all-day adult rate.

---------------- SKIING WEB SITES ----------------

www.skimaps.com: Ski maps of resorts in U.S., Canada and elsewhere.

www.ets.it/clients/guide/ski.htm: Mulitimple links to suchs things as U.S. Ski Association, European snowboarding network, Cyberboarder Magazine, ski jumping, ski resources, etc.

www.alpcom.it/ski/index.html: Alpine World Cup information.

www.outside.starwave.com: Outside Magazine.

www.skireport.com/ski-report/conditions.html: Weather reports for skiing.