Jennings: 49 Degrees North growing into regional attraction
Over the past several years, 49 Degrees North Mountain Resort has been methodically transforming itself from a modest local favorite into an aspiring regional destination. With the addition of more than 700 acres and two lifts since 2006, the ski area on Chewelah Peak rivals Crystal Mountain as the largest ski area in Washington state.
At this point, less than 300 acres separates the two hills. One could argue that Crystal Mountain’s total includes terrain accessible via boot packing only, while 49 Degrees North offers more lift-serviced acreage. Crystal Mountain does hold an undisputed advantage in amenities, but 49 Degrees North has plans to close that gap as well.
Last spring, Eric Bakken, General Manager and Vice President of 49 Degrees North, announced a five-year, $25 million capital plan that he said will push the resort past Crystal as the largest resort in the state – with amenities that include upgraded lifts, new day lodge facilities, snowmaking and ski-in/ski-out residential housing.
After collapsing through the floor during the recession, ski resort real estate has been making a comeback. Chewelah Basin Ski Corporation, the parent company of 49 Degrees North, has plans to capitalize on it. The initial real estate development phase includes 170 deeded single and multi-family lots near the base of the Sunrise Quad in the resort’s east basin. About 18 single-family home sites and 34 multi-family lots could be available this spring.
But what about the skiing and riding? A new chairlift is planned in the Nelson Creek drainage to serve terrain added below the Sunrise Quad. It would unload at the top of the entrance to the Blastface trail on Silver Ridge. But the potential improvement I’m most excited about is the high-speed detachable quad proposed to replace chair No. 1 in a few years.
The vintage Klondike lift takes you on an interminable ride from the base lodge to the summit of Chewelah Peak. A midway load saves you the time and trouble from starting over at the bottom. But I always plan my days so that I only have to ride the full length of Klondike once in the morning and then again after lunch – if I stop for lunch. A high-speed quad could change the way I usually ski there.
There are already changes visitors will notice this season. A new gravel road into the proposed development leads to Sunrise Basin. It mostly follows the alignment of the existing road that used to come out above the loading terminal of the Sunrise chair. Now it takes traffic below the terminal to a parking lot. Bakken plans to pave the road next summer.
“It’s a new experience, “ he said. “You’ll be able to drive to the east basin, park there and buy your lift tickets. Two yurts have been built back there with a deck connecting them. It’s a whole new base area.”
Limited food service will be available in one of the yurts, with grab-and-go food like burgers, hot dogs and panini sandwiches. And yes, beer will be poured. A real estate office promoting the residential development occupies the other. Bakken plans to have the Sunrise base area operational for the holidays.
A snowmaking system installed in the 1980s that was abandoned is also operating again.
“We rehabilitated that snowmaking system and brought it up to speed with a couple of state of the art fan guns,” Bakken said. “Next year we’ll build about a 3/4 million gallon reservoir on Silver Ridge. We’re going to have snowmaking running up Queen and down Classifier into the east basin.”
Some great snowmaking weather in late November allowed 49 Degrees North to get beginner terrain near the base area covered. A big storm over the weekend brought in enough of the real thing for the resort to open last weekend. With more snow in the forecast, Bakken plans to have all three basins open on Friday.
The favorable weekend forecast suggests all of the local hills could overcome this week’s monsoon in time to be open for the weekend.