Washington Ski Resorts Ranked & Mapped
Washington has 13 open ski resorts, most of which are located in the Cascade Mountain Range between Mount Rainier and North Cascades national parks.
Washington Ski Season
In general, ski season in Washington state typically starts in November, although some ski resorts may open as early as October if the weather and snow conditions permit. The ski season can last until April or May, depending on the resort and the weather.
If you are looking for the best snow conditions, January and February are often considered the best months to ski in Washington, as the snowpack is usually well established and the skiing and snowboarding conditions are at their best. Late March and early April can also be good for skiing and snowboarding, as the weather tends to be a little warmer and the ski resorts are often less crowded since it’s the start of shoulder season.
List of All Washington Ski Resorts
Nine of the Washington state’s ski resorts are located down the middle of the state along the Cascade Mountain ridges.
| Resort | Pass | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 49 Degrees North | INDY | Chewelah, WA, 99109 |
| Badger Mountain | East Wenatchee, WA, 98802 | |
| Crystal Mountain | IKON | Enumclaw, WA, 98022 |
| Echo Valley | Colville, WA, 99114 | |
| Hurricane Ridge | INDY | Port Angeles, WA, 98363 |
| Loup Loup Ski Bowl | Okanogan, WA, 98840 | |
| Mission Ridge | INDY,POWD | Wenatchee, WA, 98801 |
| Mt. Baker | Deming, WA, 98244 | |
| Mt. Spokane | Mead, WA, 99021 | |
| Ski Bluewood | INDY | Dayton, WA, 99328 |
| Stevens Pass | EPIC | Leavenworth, WA, 98826 |
| The Summit at Snoqualmie | IKON | Snoqualmie Pass, WA, 98068 |
| White Pass | INDY,POWD | Naches, WA, 98937 |
Explaining Our ‘Difficulty Score’
Parks & Trips created a proprietary Difficulty Score that is generated by looking at the number of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then gives each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
The Most Difficult Washington State Ski Resorts
The most difficult ski resort in Washington is Crystal Mountain. It features the steepest vertical drop in the state by more than two hundred feet. It also has the most skiable acreage and over a third of its trails are for the experts.
The only EPIC-associated ski resort in Washington State is Stevens Pass, and it comes in at second place on our list. Clocking in with the fourth-steepest vertical drop and seventh most acreage, Stevens Pass is not huge, but it is difficult. Only 8% of their runs rated as “easy”, while almost half are considered “advanced”.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | The Summit at Snoqualmie | 14% | 33% | 53% | 68% |
| #2 | Crystal Mountain | 11% | 54% | 35% | 65% |
| #3 | Mission Ridge | 10% | 60% | 30% | 60% |
| #4 | Stevens Pass | 11% | 54% | 35% | 56% |
| #5 | Loup Loup Ski Bowl | 20% | 30% | 50% | 55% |
The Easiest Ski Resorts in Washington State
Badger Mountain is the easiest ski resort in WA according to our data. It has the second-smallest vertical drop, and is the smallest in the state by a large margin. Bluewood and Hurricane Ridge round out the top three easiest resorts due to their overall numbers being middle-to-low in just about every category.
| Rank | Resort | Green Trails | Blue Trails | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Badger Mountain | 33% | 34% | 33% | 39% |
| #2 | Ski Bluewood | 27% | 43% | 30% | 43% |
| #3 | Hurricane Ridge | 25% | 25% | 50% | 48% |
| #4 | Mt. Baker | 24% | 45% | 31% | 48% |
| #5 | Echo Valley | 10% | 50% | 40% | 50% |
The Largest Ski Resorts in Washington
Choosing the largest ski resorts is a bit of a tricky proposition. Do you look at just the summit elevation? How about the total acreage, most trails, or steepest vertical drop?
Well, we decided to combine all four of those metrics into one ranking to get the best idea, although we fully admit this is completely subjective. We’ve given you all the data in the following table to make your own decision.
As previously mentioned, Crystal Mountain has the steepest vertical and most skiable acres, making it the biggest resort in the state. It also has the second-most trails, and the highest summit elevation. Crystal Mountain is very clearly the largest ski resort in the state.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Base Elevation | Vertical Drop | Acres | Trails |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Crystal Mountain | 7,012 ft | 4,400 ft | 2,612 ft | 2,600 | 85 |
| #2 | Mission Ridge | 6,820 ft | 4,570 ft | 2,250 ft | 2,000 | 36 |
| #3 | The Summit at Snoqualmie | 5,420 ft | 3,140 ft | 2,280 ft | 1,994 | 65 |
| #4 | White Pass | 6,550 ft | 4,500 ft | 2,050 ft | 1,402 | 45 |
| #5 | 49 Degrees North | 5,774 ft | 3,923 ft | 1,851 ft | 2,325 | 89 |
