The News Tribune (Lite) - Ski season ends today ... sort of

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Section: Adventure

Ski season ends today ... sort of

CRAIG HILL; craig.hill@thenewstribune.com
Paul Hilsby can sleep in Tuesday for the first time since November.

For the past four months, as many as 20 members of the Vashon Island Informal Ski Club showed up at his house on Tuesday mornings to car pool to Crystal Mountain for a day on the slopes.

“There is going to be some serious whining for about a month,” Hilsby said, before the group starts passing the time until next season by rowing on Quartermaster Harbor.

As Hilsby rode Crystal’s Forest Queen lift on April 1 with fellow islanders Bill Buehl and Chuck Torrey, they couldn’t help but lament the end of the season.

“The skiing is still great,” Torrey said. “It’s beyond a bummer that the season is ending.”

Today is that dreaded day for skiers and boarders in the Northwest. Despite a snowpack that was 150 percent of normal for March according to the National Weather Service, most of the state’s ski areas are calling it quits this afternoon.

Staying open any longer, resort officials say, would not be profitable.

“It comes down to supply and demand,” said Gwyn Howat of Mount Baker. “There’s plenty of snow, but mountain biking, gardening, golf, soccer, baseball and all those spring activities take business away.”

However, there is still some hope for those who aren’t ready for the season to end.

White Pass, Alpental and Mount Baker plan to reopen on weekends for the rest of the month.

And Crystal Mountain hopes to reopen May 24 or 25 for summer skiing. A decision will come in early May, said resort spokeswoman Tiana Enger.

Crystal last opened for summer skiing in 2002. The summer season lasted from late May to mid June. In 1999, Crystal’s Green Valley was open to the middle of July.

“Based on the snowpack we have now, I have a good feeling,” Enger said. “But if we’re going to reopen it really depends on how warm of an April we have.”

Brad Colman of the National Weather Service says the forecast favors skiers and snowboarders. “April should be cold and wet, so it’s a fair bet that the snow will be around longer than normal,” he said.

The season is finishing strong despite a slow start.

While the season started in early November the past two seasons, this year the snow didn’t arrive until after Thanksgiving. “That’s probably what kept this from being a recording-breaking year,” said Chris Rudolph of Stevens Pass. “But it was a strong year.”

Last season, Crystal Mountain had 295,114 visits through March. This season it had 305,862 visits despite being open 19 fewer days.

Other ski areas didn’t have visitor statistics available, but, at times, Howat said, this season felt like the 1998-99 season when Baker set a U.S. record with 1,140 inches of snow.

“When it finally started snowing in December, it snowed 34 days in a row,” said Howat, who has seen more than 700 inches fall at Baker this season. “We had some spectacular conditions this year.”

On April Fools’ Day, Whistler Blackcomb issued a press release stating it was “caught in a scandal.”

Turns out the scandal involved the ski area paying “Old Man Winter an undisclosed sum to delay the arrival of spring … breaking international weather rights.”

Whistler still has a nearly 9-foot base and plans to continue operations into the summer.

“It’s probably the most amazing season I’ve ever had,” said Noah Knight, a 16-year-old snowboarder from Bainbridge Island. “I hit some monster jumps at Stevens Pass, and the snow was great. It was awesome.”

Ulli Tutsch, a ski instructor for 40 years, had a similar analysis last week as the Great White Express chairlift whisked him and his daughter, Elizabeth, to the top of Pig Tail Peak at White Pass.

“I would have to say this year has been excellent,” said Tutsch, a Tacoma resident. “How often do you get fresh powder at the end of the season? The only thing that could make the season any better would be if they extended it.”

Craig Hill: 253-597-8497

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