Agency Urges Expanded White Pass Ski Area

Wenatchee National Forest officials are recommending a 300-acre expansion of the White Pass Ski Area that they say won’t encroach on adjacent wilderness areas.

But conservationists and the Yakama Indian Nation are worried that expanding the ski resort too far would harm wildlife, back-country skiing and sacred tribal sites.

The expansion proposal, one of four expansion alternatives in an environmental analysis released Monday, is designed to minimize impacts on Hogback Basin and the Goat Rocks Wilderness, Naches District Ranger Jim Pena said.

“It’s a sensitive approach to expansion, which will give White Pass the means to compete better regionally,” Pena said.

White Pass Co. requested the expansion permit from the Forest Service.

A high-speed chairlift, five additional ski runs, a midmountain cafe, a warming hut and extra parking spaces would be added to the resort as part of the recommended plan. Three other proposals included in the analysis would expand the ski area by 660 acres, 720 acres or not at all. The Forest Service will accept comments on the environmental analysis until Feb. 17.