Nighttime is the right time: Ski areas are less crowded, cheaper and better after dark

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January 29, 1998

Nighttime is the right time: Ski areas are less crowded, cheaper and better after dark

By GREG JOHNSTON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

When it's good, it is superb; the snow is dry, fast and forgiving as you race along the edges of the shadows, smoothly carving toward the distant sparkle of the lodge lights, the chill air tickling your cheeks.

When it's bad, it is insufferable; a cold east wind blowing over the mountain chills you to the bone and every track carved during the day is frozen into a rut ready to grab your edge and toss you on your lips.

But it's always cheap, convenient and available -- in big acreage -- to Washington's skiers and snowboarders.

For many, nighttime is the right time.

"It's a neat experience. It's different," says Ron Nova, general manager at Stevens Pass Ski Area. "There's a lot of shadows, and your depth perception increases under the lights, so visibility is really good for seeing the run ahead. All in all, you can't beat a good night."

Many Western Washington skiers and snowboarders have learned their chops while carving up the night.

Longtime local sliders might recall the $2 weeknight lift ticket in the late 1960s and early '70s at the old Hyak Ski Area on Snoqualmie Pass, now called Summit East. There were only two chairlifts and the lodge was chilly, but with a couple of jelly sandwiches in a brown bag, plus a buck each from your buddies for gas, a poor college kid could muster the money.

Night rates are more expensive these days, of course, but usually much less than day tickets -- $14 Sunday through Thursday nights at Stevens, for example, compared to $35 for a weekend day ticket.

Today managers of the four areas on Snoqualmie Pass boast of being the largest night-skiing spread in America at 900 acres.

"When we fire up all our lights, I think we can still lay claim to being the largest," says Rod Fowler, marketing assistant for Ski Lifts Inc., the Booth Creek Ski Holdings subsidiary that operates the Snoqualmie areas.

Another 400 acres are glowing nightly at Stevens, and about 120 acres at White Pass are lit up each Friday and Saturday night. However, both Crystal Mountain and Mission Ridge ski areas have given up night skiing, at least for this season, no doubt due to a lack of profits.

Crystal, however, plans to add lights to its new high-speed, six-person lift -- Forest Queen Express -- during the upcoming off-season, which would greatly expand its night-skiing area. Plans call for a return to night operations there next season.

Proximity to population is critical for successful night operations. The areas on Snoqualmie are less than an hour from Seattle, when road conditions are good, allowing a person to get off work at 5, be skiing by 6:30 and home in bed by 11.

"Night skiing is where our location advantage really comes through," says Fowler. "People can come up here after work, when the snow is best and lift lines short. Many of our upper-end skiers in terms of skill level tend to be night skiers. They can come up here and just do laps."

Indeed, a recent Tuesday evening at Summit Central found Denise Benda of Edmonds skiing black-diamond runs -- advanced-level -- with her 6-year-old son Steven. She explained that they ski nights when Steven doesn't have to wake up for school the next morning.

"He has school Tuesdays and Thursdays," she said. "We come up here Tuesday when I get off work and ski until it closes."

Stevens is about an hour and 10 minutes from Everett, an hour and a half from Seattle, but with Skyline Express -- the only high-speed chairlift in Washing-ton that is lit up at night -- you can get in enough runs to ride yourself ragged.

During the week, Summits West and Central actually get almost twice as many people at night than during the day. Lift lines are nothing like during weekends, but they can build on busy weeknights.

However, most night skiers head for home by about 8:30; snowboarders tend to ride out the night. At any rate, the slopes during the last hour or two before closing are usually pleasantly uncrowded.