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Pleasures
Skiers hope for repeat of dream season
Darren Samuelsohn, The Olympian WASHINGTON -- What will La Niña do for an encore?
Last winter's monstrous snowfall, courtesy of La Niña, is still fresh in many minds.
Ah, those delicious conditions for back-country skiing!
Ah, those powdery runs for lessons!
It was unparalleled in recent history, and skiers and snowboarders are still raving about the quality and quantity of white stuff that fell from the sky.
"We had some of the greatest snowfall that I've ever seen since I've been skiing," said Philip Roberts, a 77-year-old Lacey retiree who first hit the slopes 12 years ago. "It was great snow all year."
Surely the ski resorts loved it too. Mount Baker, for example, landed itself on the world map by breaking a world record for human-measured snowfall (1,140 inches.)
Then there was Crystal Mountain Ski Resort's season, which had a swan song all its own by opening up for an extra month of mountain surfing last summer.
And now here we are. The months have flown by, and the ski resorts are anticipating the season's arrival by calling for the first snow to land between the middle and end of November.
The big question is: Can the skies drop an amount equal to that of last year's snowfall? Unless you own a time machine, that answer is hard to determine.
Still, Laura Street, media coordinator at Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, took an optimistic shot.
"It's been predicted that the ski season will be as good, if not better," she said.
Ed Younglove, training director of the Olympia Ski School, isn't holding his breath.
"It would be real hard to be better than last year," he said.
And what was so great about last year?
For one, so much snow meant back-country skiers got their first chance to visit terrain that was previously inaccessible, Younglove said.
For another, such fluffy snow was a complete contrast to the wet, sticky and uncomfortable snow the Cascade Mountains typically get.
"The snow was light, fluffy and a great learning environment," said Dee Doiron, director of the Evergreen Ski School.
Yes, this year's snowfall is truly unpredictable. But the additions and improvements to a handful of Western Washington ski resorts aren't.
Stevens Pass appears to have undergone the biggest change. More than $8 million went into the 1,125-acre resort, which is 78 miles northeast of Seattle on U.S. Highway 2.
The largest chunk of money was invested in the Granite Peaks Lodge, a two-story, 21,500-square-foot building that the resort would like to be the focal point of attention, said John Gifford, Stevens Pass marketing director.
The new building, which replaces the 60-year-old T-Bar Lodge, will house a restaurant, pub, convenience store and heated plaza.
In conjunction with the addition, the West Lodge will be renamed the Tye Creek, and the East Lodge will now be known as the Pacific Crest Lodge. An expanded child care facility will be in place in the latter lodge.
The additional space of the new building means a larger, expanded rental area. Customers can now get all of their equipment in one place, instead of shifting from station to station.
"They won't believe the changes," Gifford said. "It'll feel like a whole new Stevens this year."
Elsewhere, the changes aren't as glamorous or widespread.
Snowboarders will get a new half pipe at White Pass, which is about 90 miles from Olympia, southeast of Mount Rainier National Park.
Mount Baker presents a new restaurant called the Raven Hawk Café, which will be at the base of the Shucksan ski lift.
Both the Summit at Snoqualmie and Crystal Mountain initiated major renovation projects in the summer of 1998. The Western Washington resorts kept things low-key this summer and are simply touting new grooming, which will improve ski run quality, for the first skiers every morning. The Olympian Copyright 1999
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