Dennis Opacki and Alex Kiwerski learned their lesson last November when they rolled up to Crystal Mountain at 6:10 a.m. to find the line for the first lift of the ski season had already started.
More ski areas have announced opening days. 49 Degrees North, north Of Spokane, will open Friday at 9 a.m. and Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood is currently operating. Timberline remains open year round.
Ski season will arrive in Washington today at noon, and at least one resort claims the snow is deeper than normal for opening day.
The Crystal Mountain ski resort plans to open on a limited basis Wednesday after getting more than two feet of snow this past weekend.
This winter, you can pay more than $100 for a one-day lift ticket at Whistler Blackcomb or on Montana’s Lone Peak.
If you are a resort skier or snowboarder, there’s probably not a lot you have to do to get ready for ski season.
As far as Northwest skiers and snowboarders are concerned, it would be OK if they never saw La Niña’s brother.
You might not want to field phone calls while you’re on the slopes, but there are plenty of other reasons to carry your smartphone.
The Alpine Experience is offering bus service from Olympia to White Pass and Olympia to Crystal Mountain Resort this ski season. Riders who purchase their tickets now will receive a discount.
Skiing and snowboarding bucket lists are deeply personal things. Maybe your goal is vacationing in the Alps, spending a summer skiing in Chile or just bagging your first diamond run. But if you live in the Northwest, there are some things you really ought to have on your bucket list. Some will challenge you physically, others might be scary and some are just pure fun.
Let’s face it, the closest you’ll probably ever get to making the Olympics will be when the Winter Games come to Vancouver, B.C., in February.
A lift ticket this year will set you back as much as $63.
The economy seems to be thawing a bit, but few skiers and snowboarders are feeling rich these days.
The Big Six – Washington’s Cascade Range ski areas – have almost everything a skier or snowboarder needs for a lifetime of winters.
Snowfall stats, lift ticket prices for Washington ski areas.
50 TRAILS FOR SKIS AND SNOWSHOES
BEST OF THE WEST
Contrary to popular belief, El Niño is not Spanish for “bad ski season.”
KELLOGG, Idaho – It’s not even lunchtime and Christopher Bess has a problem.
For a while it looked like snowboarding would take over the skiing world.
CHICAGO – A ballroom in a four-star Windy City hotel – or any place in Illinois for that matter – hardly seems like the spot for a lesson on skiing moguls.
You won’t find much new around the Northwest ski scene this season, but the blame shouldn’t be placed solely at the feet of the struggling economy.
When Lisa Lawrence lived in Moab, Utah, you’d have had to tie her to a snowplow to get her to Washington state for a ski vacation.
Even if you ski or snowboard all winter for the rest of your life, odds are you probably won't do everything the Northwest has to offer.
Even Tiger Woods would have been impressed with the golf score Kendall Dreher put up in March.
Unless you plan on holding down seat cushions in the lodge this season, it probably will pay for you to do a few exercises to get in shape before you hit the slopes.
Lift tickets at Washington’s six major resorts are up 5.2 percent from last year on weekdays and 4.9 percent on weekends this season, costing skiers and snowboarders an extra $2.16 a day.
SANTIAM PASS, Ore. – There’s more to Oregon skiing than Mount Bachelor, and there’s no better way to figure this out than a trip to Mount Bachelor.
If you spent a day at each of Washington’s ski areas, you’d be on the road for 21/2 weeks.
Perhaps nobody has experienced more of Crystal Mountain than Keith Rollins.
T.R. Revere skied at Stevens Pass for the first time in 1962 when he was 2 years old.
Martin Volken gets a kick out of seeing adults coming into his North Bend ski shop to buy Alpental stickers.
Lori Sanwall knows she has it good.
If you ski or snowboard, you don’t need to speak Spanish to understand an El Niño is “muy malo.”
The first time Torin Koos tried cross-country skiing, he remembers screaming and crying.
Temple Cummins has done just about everything there is to do on a snowboard.
Regional skiing
Washington resorts
Washington has no destination ski resorts like its neighbors, so it can be a considerably cheaper place for a family vacation.
You know you are giving your demo skis a good test run when you end up on your face with a mouthful of snow.
Each season it seems like it’ll get more difficult for manufacturers to come up with new gear. But each season, with a tweak here and a gimmick there, they find ways to get you to open your wallet. With the arrival of earphone beanies and wavy-edged snowboards, 2006-07 is no exception.
One of the things Dave Bliss likes best about White Pass is that he’s been skiing there since 1978 and it hasn’t changed much.
Crystal Mountain general manager John Kircher wasn’t upset when he picked up the October issue of Ski magazine.
In a bit of a surprise, readers picked Queens Run, an easy-rated cruiser run, as their favorite run in the state.
News Tribune readers voted the White Pass Winter Carnival the state’s best event.
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