Pierce County ski town on the verge of collapse after floods, fires and COVID-19

February mudslides, a March pandemic, summer-long closures and September wildfires.

Small businesses in the Pierce County community of Greenwater are on the brink of closing after a year of natural disasters on top of a global health crisis.

Along the way to Crystal Mountain, Greenwater relies almost entirely on tourism the ski resort brings.

While small businesses across the state are hurting, 2020 has been acutely difficult for Greenwater. The barrage of hits to the unincorporated community along state Route 410 in Pierce County has felt overlooked, Alta Crystal Resort owner Maureen Gilbert said.

“You have COVID, in and of itself was hard for everyone, but then you add onto it two additional natural disasters that happened all this year. It was an epic year,” she said. “But because of our remoteness and because we’re small, it’s easy for us to be forgotten.”

Gilbert’s hotel has lost an estimated 40 percent of her annual revenue.

Residents are banking on a strong ski season come November to carry them through the tumultuous year. COVID-19 grants have helped to soften the blow for some, and Pierce County elected officials are working to provide further financial relief.

“If we don’t have a strong ski season, I don’t know what we’ll do,” Karlyn Clark, co-owner of Wapiti Outdoors told The News Tribune on Oct. 23.

Dave Morell is vice chairman of the Pierce County Council.

“There have been multiple challenges for them this year,” Morell said. “We are working to get them back on their feet and to get them some federal funding.”

Floods, COVID, fires

Clark and her husband, John Clark, bought Wapiti Outdoors last June. In their 10 months of business ownership, the outdoor clothing shop and espresso bar have been open for four.

Torrential flooding in February caused mudslides that trapped residents in Greenwater and kept skiers and other tourists out for eight days. The ski season restarted for a few weeks before Crystal Mountain was forced to shut down after non-essential businesses were directed to close by the state in March when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Months of empty coffee shops, taverns, outdoor shops and lodging left Greenwater quiet. Employees were furloughed or laid off.

“I have 10 families, which might not be a lot in the big picture, right? I’m not a Microsoft or an Amazon. But those 10 families, my small business is what puts food on the table and a roof over their head,” Gilbert said.

Some, like business owner Seth Cornell, chose to see the quiet spring into June as a positive thing. He and his wife rediscovered the local outdoors.

“We’ve had just a tremendous amount of things happen, but we just kind of keep on going,” Cornell, who owns a cafe and snowboard shop, Greenwater Outfitters. “We just took a month off and fell back in love with the area we live in.”

In June, Pierce County entered Phase 2 of the Safe Start plan, which allowed businesses to gradually reopen. Visitors, many of which were first-timers, began to flock to the Crystal Mountain and Mount Rainier over the summer to escape.

Wapiti Outdoors was serving more than 500 orders at their cafe on weekends, the Clarks said.

“We got a lot of first-timers, who had to cancel all of their summer plans,” Karlyn Clark said.

But nature intervened again.

The summer months were cut short by the Fish wildfire that burned 132 acres around Enumclaw, according to the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

The fire burned trees and vegetation along state Route 410. Once flames were put out, the Washington Department of Transportation deemed the highway unsafe on Sept. 8.

“The Fish fire burned the slopes and weakened trees and roots, causing several rocks and trees to come down on the road,” department spokesperson Joseph Calabro said.

For the second time this year, Greenwater residents were isolated. Power was out for weeks, business owners said.

The community lost 911 service.

Many residents rely on wells as their water source. Wells require electricity.

“If all of a sudden you don’t have power, you have no water because the pumps on the wells aren’t going to work,” Gilbert said. “There are things that you just don’t even think about when you’re in a city.”

This year, Gilbert became keenly aware of the need to be prepared. Not only does her 28-bed resort have a generator, but she has now purchased an emergency booster to have basic communication outside of Greenwater.

“The last two times, we’ve completely lost all communication through online internet, we’ve been completely flying blind,” Gilbert said.

Greenwater and Crystal Mountain Fire Chief Paul Sowers said residents know that living out in the mountains means there is more exposure to nature and its impacts.

“This is an inconvenience, but that’s a normal part of life out here,” he said. “It’s part of living in the mountains really. If you live life out in nature, it does occasionally push back.”

After a few days of being trapped, residents could be escorted by WSDOT via logging route. Life was dictated by shuttle times, with residents trying to meet shuttle times and plan their day around the schedule. Cornell compared it to living in a port town with a ferry.

The road was closed to visitors for nearly six weeks. The state installed traffic signals and opened the route to all on Oct. 20. Work is expected to be completed by the first week of November, Calabro said.

“It’s been six weeks. Nobody’s said anything, no one’s defending this place,” John Clark told The News Tribune. “We’re at the base of the biggest ski resort in Washington, and we have a small town, a small town that may be dying on the vine right now.”

Wapiti Outdoors reopened three times this year. Each time, the Clarks said they spent about $10,000 worth of food in their cafe. When the power generators went out during the wildfires, they lost that investment.

“There are only so many bruises a small business can take,” John Clark said.

The state website says state Route 410 is open, but there is a gravel detour. This has caused issues for small businesses waiting on deliveries. The Clarks’ distributors will not send trucks up to Greenwater, so out of stock clothing and items won’t be replaced until the road is repaired.

“Why is it OK to button up a small town?” John Clark asked.

Government aid

Morell, who represents Greenwater on the Pierce County Council, passed out flyers on several county grants to small business owners on Oct. 23 at the Greenwater Outfitters cafe to get the word out about financial relief.

Pierce County received $158 million in federal aid to respond to the coronavirus, $30 million of which was allocated for economic stabilization and recovery programs. Programs include providing free personal protective equipment for businesses, up to $20,000 in forgivable loans, and mortgage or rental assistance up to $24,000.

While it’s been appreciated, many need more. Gilbert’s monthly mortgage payments are $20,000. She has participated in the federal payroll protection program and has received county grants.

“A $5,000 grant from the state or the county, might sound really generous or a lot of money to some people, but that’s not even gonna keep the bank from taking the business back on a monthly basis,” Gilbert said.

Morell said he is working to open federal wildfire grants from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Greenwater. The emergency agency has been authorized through the President’s Disaster Relief Fund to help Washington areas affected by the 2020 wildfires.

“The individuals who live in Greenwater are very resilient. They will make it through this closure. It’s the businesses I’m worried about,” Morell said. “I want people to know Greenwater is open. Take a drive to see the fall foliage, hike Crystal Mountain and make sure to stop into the businesses to support them before you leave.”

The Clarks don’t want more government help — they want customers to be able to visit their stores.

“It’s all about attitude, just like everything else,” John Clark said. “You can’t lay down. You can’t wait for someone to come bail you out or help.”

Ski season hopes

CEO of Crystal Mountain, Frank DeBerry, is being realistic for the 2020-2021 ski season.

Last winter saw a 10 percent decrease in revenue and 40 percent for summer months compared to the year prior.

“Things really started to pick up towards the second half of the summer late August and early September,” he said. “We’re actually doing really, really well right up until the fires, and then we shut down early again. So we lost pretty much the entire month of September.”

Crystal Mountain is anticipated to be open, but requires reservations. Fewer skiers and snowboarders will be allowed on the mountain.

“We’re expecting to be down probably in the neighborhood of 25 percent, because we’re gonna have to restrict access,” DeBerry said.

Wapiti Outdoors, Alta Crystal Resort and Greenwater Outfitters are depending on strong turnout for the ski resort to hold them over.

“If we don’t get a ski season, we’re gonna be in big trouble,” Cornell said.

“If we get another short ski season, it’s going to be like a punch to the gut,” Karlyn Clark said. “It’ll hurt for some time.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 5:05 AM.

Josephine Peterson

The News Tribune

(253) 597-8258

Josephine Peterson covers Pierce County government news for The News Tribune.