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Member Profile - Stevens Pass: Ski Haven for the Masses |
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Written On: January/February 2005 |
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Written By: by Daniel Brunell |
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In 1937, Don Adams and Bruce Kehr hooked up an old Ford V-8 engine to some wheels and ropes, and made a toe rope at the top of Stevens Pass. After World War II, Adams and Kehr were joined by John Caley. Then they went to work on turning the desolate pass into a one of the premiere ski areas in Washington.
That single tow rope of more than 60 years ago has grown into 10 chairlifts and 37 runs on more than 1,100 acres of Forest Service land. Located along Highway 2 in the central Cascades, Stevens Pass is 78 miles east of Seattle, at the head of the Skykomish Valley.
Stevens Pass offers a stunning scene for adventure and great snow. Stevens receives an average of 450 inches of dry, crisp snow every year. There’s more than 1,800 feet of vertical drop on three different slopes on two mountains at Stevens. This environment makes the area popular with skiers and snowboarders from Seattle, Everett and Wenatchee — and the rest of the world.
And just because you’re in the middle of nowhere, you don’t have to forgo your daily latté. Stevens Pass offers all the amenities of the world’s best modern resorts.
Since Harvard Investments took over after the original investors retired in 1976, the area has continued to grow and prosper. New lodges were added in 1978 and in 1988. Stevens has also installed new high-speed quad-chair lifts, specialty runs and other amenities. Also, Stevens has added new features to the mountains such as a half-pipe, jumps and specialty runs for new and emerging sports such as snowboarding and twin-tipped skiing. Twin-tipped skis are short skis designed for stunts.
In recent years, Stevens has invested millions in improvements. The reconstruction of Granite Peaks Lodge in 1999 is an example. It replaced the original lodge at the base of the resort. The new lodge expanded Stevens’ infrastructure by upgrading the ticket and service areas. Also, this expansion allows more room for restaurants and stores.
These improvements to Stevens have helped it remain competitive. “We have received a lot of positive comments about the improvements we have made here in the last 10 years,” said John Gifford, general manager of Stevens Pass Ski Area. “For example, the recent addition of the high-speed-quad chairlifts have really helped skiers so they can get several more runs in per day and less time waiting in the chair-lift line.”
The addition of this new infrastructure also highlights a key difference in running a ski area over most other businesses. “A ski resort is a self-sufficient community,” Gifford said. “We are basically our own town.”
Stevens Pass is not just a ski area. There are the restaurants, bars and coffee stands, and rental and retail stores in the lodges to serve the thousands of visitors a year. But it’s even more than this. Stevens has to have its own security, sewer systems, water wells and emergency responders in order to cope with anything that might happen. Even with these extra challenges, though, things couldn’t be better.
Stevens Pass has seen a steady increase in business, averaging more than 450,000 skiers and snowboarders during each of the last five years. Over the last few years, Stevens, along with the rest of the industry, has made a concerted effort to increase the number of people coming to the mountains.
“We, as an industry, try to do a lot to bring people to the mountains,” Gifford said. “We offer lessons, rentals and lift-ticket packages to encourage new people to start skiing.”
The demographics of those using ski resorts have radically changed. Today, more than 40 percent of all the people on the slopes are snowboarders, who are usually less than 30 years old.
This rise in the number of people going to Stevens Pass creates unique problems. For example, traffic on Highway 2 has slowly increased with the popularity of Stevens. In the sometimes treacherous conditions of the pass, the amount of traffic that Stevens Pass produced was a serious concern. In order to remedy some of this, Stevens Pass now runs two shuttle buses to and from the ski area.
These shuttles are based in Leavenworth and Sultan and cost riders a nominal fee of $5. The shuttles operate daily from Christmas through the end of February. On the weekends, extra shuttles are put on so that a bus leaves every half hour. “This has been very successful,” said Gifford. “The shuttle helps skiers by letting them ski without fighting the weather, road conditions and traffic.”
Over the years, Stevens Pass has always been a resort in constant change. New trends such as snowboarding and twin-tip skies have changed what skiers want from a particular resort. No matter what becomes popular next, Stevens will gear up for it.
The resort will continue to grow as a destination for fun and adventure, just like the two guys with a vision and an old Ford V-8 engine figured — and hoped — it would. Go and see for yourself. Just remember to bundle up before heading for the slopes.
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