Plenty of snow at the right times allowed White Pass to keep thriving despite a slow start and warmer-than-ideal conditions for much of the ski season.
Annual snowfall turned out to be close to average, but high temperatures and rain kept the snowpack down most of the winter, leading to Washington's statewide drought emergency declaration last week. Some ski areas, including Mission Ridge near Wenatchee and all three at Mt. Hood in Oregon, even closed due to significant rain and above-freezing temperatures in late January or late February, but White Pass managed to stay open most days.
"We essentially went from a slow start to average snowpack after we got the good couple storms, but then that kind of midseason real warm, kind of heavy rain event affected the snowpack quite a bit, but not enough to be overly detrimental," marketing director Andy Mahre said. "Throughout this area, we did very well this year compared to most of the other areas, so no complaints there."
Snow has faded away slowly this spring, allowing White Pass to maintain its groomed runs after adjusting to a thinner snowpack. The addition of a new winch cat allowed staff to occasionally groom some of the mountain's steeper black diamond runs, notably Cascade Cliff, Upper Roller, Waterfall and Outhouse.
While Mahre said that approach drew mixed results from skiers and snowboarders, his efforts to liven up the conditions report in a daily email to subscribers drew nearly universal praise. While the snow rarely improved, Mahre tried to be creative in coming up with reasons why people should still make the drive up US Highway 12.
"For me it was like, I need to say what it's like but then also kind of just rant on about other things and make strange comparisons, so I received a lot of pretty good feedback on the conditions emails," Mahre said. "Then as the season turned around and became good, where that wasn't as much of a thing it was kind of actually harder for me to do because I was more so like here's the events coming up, here's what the conditions are like."
Better quality snow in March coincided with White Pass's biggest events, including the Bantam Cup, Castle Jam and the area's marquee event, Winter Carnival. Mahre said Saturdays, which had already been reliably selling out, began reaching that threshold a few days earlier.
A celebration of the 40th anniversary of White Pass legends Phil and Steve Mahre winning gold and silver, respectively, at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics also drew a considerable crowd in late February. Andy Mahre, one of Steve's sons, said the success sparked conversations about possibly making a chance for visitors to join the Mahre twins on a race course at White Pass an annual event.
Daily operations stopped April 14 but White Pass will remain open Saturday and Sunday through this weekend, although the Couloir quad lift will no longer be running. That was also the case for nearly the first full month of the season, which Mahre said caused some crowding issues before the back side finally opened on Jan. 6, allowing people to spread out and better enjoy even the busiest days.
"That first month was tricky just with that thin snowpack and variable snow conditions," Mahre said. "This season was a diamond in the rough, essentially. It was a good season. It just had some rough periods here and there and luckily the customers and the avid users still kept coming even when conditions weren't ideal."
As usual, things quieted down in the spring as White Pass began turning its attention toward the offseason and plans for improvement, most notably replacing the two-person Chair 4 with a fixed grip quad. Mahre said the Forest Service reversed its initial approval, so it's unclear when installation of a new lift will begin.
Another focus will continue to be expanding winter offerings for beginners, and Mahre said general manager Rikki Cooper's had conversations with consultants addressing that topic after the addition of a third carpet for this pass season. Expansion of the nordic trails on the north side of Highway 12 will also continue this offseason and Mahre said White Pass is exploring the possibility of hosting kids' mountain biking camps.
"We're slowly trying to transition into more summertime operations and activities," Mahre said. "That's something that the new ownership would like to see happen and it makes sense from a business standpoint to try and not have the summer only be a time when you lose money."
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