Washington Skiing

History of Mission Ridge (click to read)

In 1944, a B-24 Liberator Bomber based out of Walla Walla Washington crashed in the Squilchuck Basin, where the ski resort is located outside of Wenatchee. The name "Mission Ridge" was selected in June 1964,[3] and it began operations 52 years in the fall of 1966 with two chairlifts. A wing section of the plane was removed from the mountain and taken down to the lodge in 1985; it was hauled back up the mountain in October 1992, mounted above "Bomber Bowl.

Bill Johnson, the gold medalist in downhill at the 1984 Winter Olympics, trained at the Mission Ridge Ski Academy as a teenager. Source: KPQ.com

History of Stevens Pass (click to read)

The ski resort was started by Don Adams and Bruce Kehr, both passionate skiers, in the winter of 1937-38. The original lodge was constructed in 1937 by the CCC, a government funded work force. In 1940 this lodge burned down.[1]In 2011, Stevens Pass was acquired by CNL Lifestyle; operations were turned over to the operator of Mountain High in California. In 2016, CNL sold Stevens Pass to Och-Ziff Capital Management. Source: National Park Service. Ski Lift at Stevens Pass, 1961.

History of Mount Baker Ski Area(click to read)

This ski area is know worldwide as one of the snowiest places in the world. The ski area is home to the world's greatest recorded snowfall in one season, 1,140 inches (95.0 ft; 29.0 m), recorded during the 1998–99 season. Mt. Baker also enjoys the unofficially highest average annual snowfall of any resort in the world, with 641 inches.
1921–26: Mt. Baker highway constructed to Heather Meadows; skiing begins.[10]
1927: Mount Baker Lodge opened. Mt. Baker Ski Club organized.[10]
1930: First ski tournament at Heather Meadows.[10]
1931: Mt. Baker Lodge destroyed by fire.[10]
1935: Pacific Northwest Ski Association downhill tournament, held on northeast face of Table Mountain.[10]
1935–36: "Ski escalator" installed.[10]
: First rope tow installed, Otto Lang ski school.[10]
1953: The first chairlift, Pan Dome (now Chair 1), is constructed at the ski area.[5]
1977: Six chairs and four rope tows operate. They are referenced by name instead of number.[11]
1981–88: One rope tow (Galena) is removed, and chairs are now numbered instead of named.[11]
1989–90: The first quad chair (Chair 7) is installed in the White Salmon area. One more rope tow (7 Hills) is removed.[11]
1991–98: Chair 8 opens.[11]
1996: White Salmon Day Lodge opens.[12]
2002: Chair 4 and Chair 5 doubles replaced with Chair 5 quad.[13]
2011: Chairs 1 and 6 designated as "Experts only".[11] Source: The Bellingham Harald, Mount Baker Main Lodge, 1927