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Mission Possible
Superb snow plus planned upgrades may spark a run for the Ridge
By GREG JOHNSTON 
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
WENATCHEE -- The driest snow in the state, big skies over grand scenery and a lack of lift lines are the laurels that crown Mission Ridge ski area, 12 miles up a winding road from this apple capital of the universe.
But the most curious thing about the place is that its terrain is totally upside-down.
Instead of a broad base area that tapers up to mountaintops, Mission is a massive cliff-lined bowl at the top, funneling down to a narrow base area.
"It is an upside-down area," says Alison Girard, Mission marketing director. "It opens up on top and each area up there is different. You don't feel like you're on a ski freeway. It's two miles across on top."
Riding Chair 2 to the 6,770-foot epicenter of this bowl -- where the 360-degree view seemingly reaches across the length of the Cascade Range -- makes a Mission newcomer antsy with anticipation.
Dramatic, lichen-covered cliffs on either side of the bowl provide multiple expert-level chutes.
Steep but short double-diamond drops fan out under the chair, mellowing and converging with long, narrow glade-runs cutting across the bowl.
Heavily timbered with widely spaced lodgepole pine and larch, Mission provides probably the state's best tree-skiing.
Spanning 2,000 acres with a vertical drop of 2,200 feet and no west-side-size crowds, it is said that stashes of powder can be found even two days after a fresh snowfall.
"I've skied there for 10 years with this really good buddy of mine, and one time we went there after 16 to 18 inches of fresh snow," says Rex Bratton of Kent, a Wenatchee native and Mission partisan.
"I took him down this one spot and he said, 'I've skied here for 10 years with you and you've never taken me here before!"'
Says Charlie Naismith, former Mission Ridge Ski Patrol director now working in the area's front office: "When you get fresh snow, it's the best powder skiing in the state."
At the same time, some of Mission Ridge's assets are also liabilities that so far have kept what Bratton calls a "great-kept secret." The east-side snow might be drier and dreamier, but early in the season it often falls in minimal quantities that give area managers nightmares.
Lift lines are short because the area is so far from the Puget Sound region. Almost a three-hour drive from Seattle, it has never attracted the crowds to turn a solid profit and provide money to reinvest in modern lifts.
The four chairs at Mission are all slow two-seaters.
"It is a gem of the Northwest," says Jake Moe, operator of Sports Media and the voice of the Cascade Ski Report. "It's one quad away from being a phenomenal place."
That could change. Mission Ridge is now owned by Harbor Resorts. This partnership between Seattle real estate mogul Stimson Bullitt and Keith McCaw of Cellular One fortune also owns the Stevens Pass ski area and Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Idaho.
Harbor Resorts has proposed a cooperative venture with Chelan County, using state funds for economically distressed counties. The county and outside sources would provide $4 million for 25 new snow-making machines (the area already has several) and the company would spend $4 million for a new high-speed quad chairlift and other improvements.
"With an expanded snow-making system, we can ensure a quality product by Thanksgiving each year," says Mark Milliette, Mission GM. "In addition, skiers and snowboarders today want high-speed lifts."
A decision is due in April from the county, which is also considering other proposals for the available state funds. If approved, Mission Ridge managers hope to have the improvements operational for the 2000-2001 season.
But Mission already offers a great change of pace for west-side sliders.
And it must be the only ski area anywhere that enshrines a crashed WW II bomber. The story of the B-24 Liberator that crashed in 1944 on what would become a Mission Ridge slope -- with the loss of all six crew members -- is a curious bit of local lore.
Although wartime security kept publicity about the crash to a bare minimum, apparently over time the curious began hiking up to the crash site and taking home pieces of the wreckage as souvenirs. Local legend then developed that the ghost of one of the crew members, the prop man, began wandering the mountain at night in an agitated state.
In 1992, ski area owners decided to mount a piece of the ill-fated bomber's wing on the slopes as a memorial. Perhaps not coincidentally, the season of 1992-93 marked the end of a seven-year drought with record snows, and the wing became linked to that good fortune. Local people then began returning pieces of the wreckage to the ski area, and the twisted and rusted relic of a .50-caliber machine gun now rests on the general manager's office wall.
"Bomber Bowl," not far from the crash site, has since become the area's hallmark run, snaking steeply down alongside and then beneath an impressive band of basalt known as Bomber Cliffs.
Ski area brochures boast that the sun shines 300 days a year, and while that claim might or might not hold up to an empirical review of climatic data, there's no doubt the skies are vastly clearer than on the wet side of the Cascades.
David Keene, a skier from Newcastle, has been part of a group that has been visiting Mission in early March for 11 straight years.
"This is amazing," he says. "In the years we've been going over -- and we ski Thursday, Friday and Saturday each trip -- there's only been one day when it rained. The other times it's either been sunny or snowing."
Another thing Mission is known for is impeccable grooming. The surface or the runs have all been smoothed, and the drier snow allows modern grooming vehicles to prepare an excellent surface.
"They do the best job of grooming in the state," maintains Keene. "It's like skiing on top of a billiard table. It's a great area for cruising, and if you want the steeps, you can go play in the cliffs."
Skiers love it, but despite what your mother told you, good grooming has its drawbacks. During occasional spells of frozen hardpack such as when a P-I reporter and photographer visited in early January, when sliders dare not venture off the designated runs into Mission's lumpy off-piste terrain, it's too smooth to suit a snowboarder's expressive sensibility.
"When conditions are right, Mission Ridge is just one big natural terrain garden," says Scott Erickson of Wenatchee, the area's snowboard race team director. "The flip side with groomed runs is that a lot of the snowboarders there are on carving equipment because the corduroy (a type of snow texture) is so good there."
Two other raps about Mission are the slow chairs and a limited number of beginner runs.
The area's beginner runs are all under Chair 1. With the smooth, fine grooming, they are superior for novices but represent only 10 percent of Mission's runs.
From the base area, it takes two chairs (1 and 2) and about 20 minutes to reach the top.
"We're anxious to see if they're going to get the quad," says Keene. "On a windy day, that's a long chair ride to the top."
Once there, however, it's a glorious place, with dramatic views of Cascades peaks such as Stuart, Rainier, Adams and Hood and characterized most distinctly by acres of snow-covered pine trees.
With the snow hardened and twisted by cold winds, the trees become odd, contorted, strangely beautiful sculptures -- a most fitting mantle for an upside-down ski area.
If you go ...Where: 12 miles southwest of WenatcheeElevation: Base area 4,570 feet (highest in state); summit 6,770 feet; vertical drop of 2,200 feet Snowfall: 175 to 225 inches per year, considered to be lightest, driest snow of any ski area in Washington Facilities: Four double chairlifts; two rope tows; rope tow-served snowboarding halfpipe; two restaurants, at mid-mountain and base area; full rentals; child care Terrain: 2,200 acres of backcountry glades, chutes, bowls, plus 35 groomed runs at the following levels: 30 percent expert, 60 percent intermediate, 10 percent beginner Ticket prices: Adult (18-64) weekend, $33; student (7-17) any time, $18; children 6 and under free; seniors (65 plus) any time, $18. Adult midweek, $26. Spring season (March 20-closing), midweek prices apply Contacts: office, 509-663-6543; snow line, 800-374-1693; Web site, www.missionridge.com
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