xfernfts.com

In the aftermath of the first major ski patrol strike in over 50 years, Vail Resorts has announced a compensation program for guests affected by the strike at Park City from December 27, 2024, to January 8, 2025.

Ticket and pass holders who skied or snowboarded during this period will receive a 50% per-day credit to be applied toward a 2025-26 pass purchase. Season passholders will receive credits based on an eight-day calculation, while Epic Day Pass holders’ credits will be based on the number of days purchased. The minimum credit amount will equal 25% of the 2024-25 pass price.

Our Take

While Vail’s effort to address guest feedback is a step in the right direction, some may find the credits insufficient compared to the full refund some were likely hoping to get. For affected skiers and riders, these credits can only be redeemed on future purchases, meaning immediate compensation is not available.

It’s also worth noting that for those who purchased lift tickets, they may have had to pay as much as $351 per day with taxes and fees. This means that even with a 50% credit, the full amount paid for these days without a credited refund could end up being well over $150. For the substantial terrain closures, lack of notice, and frustrating lift lines, it feels like this is still a whole lot of money to be down the hole.

Finally, by giving visitors credits rather than refunds, Vail Resorts is basically forcing Park City guests to return to their resorts to get any sort of compensation. We imagine that after this experience, many of those affected won’t ever want to go to a Vail-owned mountain again—and if they don’t, this compensation program basically has no value.

A Note on the Park City Class Action Lawsuit

We can’t help but think about whether this compensation initiative was offered in the face of a class-action lawsuit, which alleged that Vail Resorts “intentionally and willfully deceived hundreds of thousands of consumers” at the expense of “tens of thousands of dollars per family.” If the text in that lawsuit is any indication, a significant chunk of the customer base will not be happy with only a few hundred bucks of resort credits.

Considering a ski trip to Utah this winter? Check out our comprehensive Utah rankings, as well as our Park City mountain review. You can also check out our analysis on the ski patrol strike and other compounding factors facing the Utah ski scene in our video analysis below.

Over the past five years, the Utah ski scene has gotten more commercial than ever. But until recently, one major ski resort had been able to fend off the corporate influence—Powder Mountain. With extremely limited ticket and pass sales, a down-to-earth atmosphere, and a sizable footprint, the resort was something different from the polished, high-profile corporate mega-resorts. 

But lately, Powder Mountain has actually been captured by a very corporate individual: the Netflix co-founder, Reed Hastings. Under his ownership, the resort has been making headlines with a flurry of controversial updates—and while there have been some significant improvements, other changes have been some of the most anti-consumer we’ve ever seen at a ski resort. One might jump directly to greed in some of the decision-making we’re seeing from Powder Mountain’s leadership, but some of the decisions have been so perplexing that we’re left wondering if the people in charge have truly thought through the implications of exactly what they’re doing.

So, what exactly are the changes going on at Powder Mountain, and why are they so baffling to those who’ve been following the ski industry for years? Well, let’s break it all down.

Removing Public Access To Several Terrain Areas (And Reserving Them for Homeowners Only)

Let’s start with the first controversial change Powder Mountain has made—its decision to designate several lifts and terrain areas exclusively for private homeowners. On its own, this decision is already unprecedented in the ski world, with no other ski resort in modern memory taking away previously-public terrain to make it private. Unsurprisingly, the decision has sparked significant blowback.

The resort is now reserving the Village lift, Mary’s lift, and a new lift in the Raintree area for property owners only, effectively excluding the public from these key sections of the mountain. Now, there are still plenty of enjoyable terrain areas open to regular ticket and passholders, but these newly private areas encompass some really fun beginner and intermediate runs and woods, plus some great advanced glade terrain in Raintree. It is worth noting that guests can still hike the Raintree terrain, as they could in years’ past, but they can’t use the lift to get to it.

Okay, but if you’ve been to Powder Mountain before, you might think you know the mountain well enough to sneak past whatever ropes or access gates they might have put in to stop the public from getting into Village and Mary’s. But not so fast—Powder Mountain has staffed what might be the first group of “homeowner patrollers” we’ve ever seen at a ski resort, putting employees at each resident-only entrance to make sure nobody else can sneak in. If you try to mess with them, good luck not immediately getting banned from the resort.

The reasoning behind this move, according to the resort, is the need to “pay its bills.” However, this justification feels hollow when weighed against the broader implications of this policy. Powder Mountain has traditionally been a place that prided itself on its size and down-to-earth spirit, and this move cuts squarely against both of these qualities. More broadly, Powder Mountain has always prided itself on being a low-traffic resort. The affected lifts rarely saw significant wait times, even during peak periods.

Ultimately, this restriction creates a divide between those who can afford to own property on the mountain and those who can’t, turning what was once a communal experience into an exclusive privilege for the very wealthy few. Sure, Powder Mountain is a business and it needs to make money. But hundreds of other ski resorts have been able to do this in the past—and continue to do so today—without excluding anyone.

Paid Parking on Weekends and Holidays

And if you thought the terrain restrictions weren’t enough, the next strange decision that raises questions about Powder Mountain’s intentions is the resort’s choice to implement a paid parking policy. In an effort to, in their words, “mitigate crowding and to incentivize carpooling”, Powder Mountain is charging $12 per vehicle before 1pm on weekends and holidays. Carpools of three or more people are exempt from the policy. The resort is coupling this change with additional parking on premise.

But wait a minute—Powder Mountain has already historically capped its lift ticket sales to control crowds—and the resort claims it still does so today. This means parking has never really been an issue. So what “crowding” does it need to mitigate?

This decision raises three possibilities: (1) the resort is attempting to capitalize on a growing trend seen at many Utah ski destinations, (2) they anticipate significantly higher visitor numbers this season, which would suggest an increase in lift ticket sales, or (3) they suddenly care a lot more about the environmental impacts of vehicle pollution.

Since PowMow seems to have expanded its parking capacity this season, it seems more likely that this change is a revenue-driven move rather than a response to anticipated crowding. However, this shift also raises concerns about whether the resort will try to dramatically increase its ticket sales. Powder Mountain might be the only ski resort we’ve visited in North America where lift lines are truly non-existent outside of mechanical issues, and it’s poignant to think that might change this winter. However, as we’ll discuss later in this piece, a couple of other factors have led us to believe that a huge uptick in crowds is unlikely to occur.

For frequent visitors, the new policy creates additional financial burdens. Individuals, couples, or small groups traveling together now face yet another hidden cost, on top of lift tickets, lodging, and gear expenses. This is particularly frustrating because Powder Mountain’s unique selling point has always been its commitment to simplicity and accessibility—qualities that are eroded by nickel-and-dime strategies like this one.

And to add insult to injury, season passholders aren’t even exempted from these paid parking fees. Instead, you get a free UTA bus pass. For those who want to ski or ride Powder Mountain every weekend and holiday this winter and don’t want to deal with the bus, this could introduce parking fees of up to $576 across the season—or a 33% tax on the original $1,700 price tag. Unfortunately, these parking policies were announced after the vast majority of passholders made their purchases, and the resort isn’t offering refunds for disgruntled customers. For many loyal customers, this feels like a cruel bait and switch—especially when so much of the value proposition of a Powder Mountain season pass has historically been the crowd-free weekend and holiday access.

February Passholder-Only Days

But even though Powder Mountain’s season passholders have to pay for peak-time parking along with everyone else, at least passholders can still at least access the resort on February weekends. Wait, what?

Yep, that’s right—a few months back, Powder Mountain announced that weekends in February would be for passholders only, with no lift tickets or other forms of access available during that time. At first glance, this decision might actually sound like a win for passholders—fewer crowds, more exclusivity. But dig a little deeper, and the decision starts to fall apart.

For one, imagine you’re a Powder Mountain passholder who enjoys skiing with friends and family who don’t have season passes. This new policy makes that impossible on Saturdays and Sundays in February. To add insult to injury, passholders will still be excluded from homeowner-only terrain during this time, and the paid parking policies are still in effect. It’s almost a cruel irony that season passholders, who might otherwise be able to fill their carpools with friends or family to achieve the paid parking exemption, are now more likely to have to pay the $12 fee—all because they can’t fill their cars with eligible guests during that time period.

So what about non-passholders who already booked trips? This announcement’s mid-October timing is particularly callous. Many folks had already planned their vacations well ahead of that timeframe, coordinating time off work and securing lodging, and now the literal only way to ski or ride Powder Mountain during this time frame is to buy a $1,700 season pass—which, mind you, is still on sale as of early January 2025. In fact, Powder Mountain even suggested so for people facing this problem in an FAQ section of their policy announcement. In our view, this is an incredibly tone-deaf move, given these guests are now being asked to spend even more money by a management that’s totally upended their plans.

Lifting of Season Pass Cap

Now’s probably a good time to cover a circumstance we hinted at earlier—Powder Mountain has officially lifted the season pass cap that both made it so desirable and infamous for years. In years’ past, the resort had never sold more than 3,000 season passes, and some claimed they had to wait on yearslong waitlists to be able to grab one. As one of the only large ski resorts in the United States where season pass sales are still available to purchase, this circumstance is squarely no longer the case. Some of us are left wondering whether this is a permanent decision, or whether the resort is left trying to recuperate costs after blowback from its other controversial changes.

Departure from Indy Pass and Skyrocketing Lift Ticket Prices

In addition to this, Powder Mountain has recently dropped out of the Indy Pass program—of which it was a founding member. While on the surface, this might be a much more forgivable decision than many of the other initiatives that dropped this winter, it’s another sign that the new resort leadership is biting the hand that’s historically fed it. The decision to part ways with the program, instead of sticking with the incredibly restrictive blackout dates and reservation system that Indy Pass holders already had to contend with, highlights the resort’s growing focus on profit over inclusivity across income brackets.

Now, the only way to visit Powder Mountain is through a season pass product or lift ticket. We will give the resort a little bit of credit—it did offer somewhat reasonably-priced off-peak weekday tickets of just over $100 through December of last year. But weekday tickets now start at a much less palatable $177, and if you want to buy any weekend or holiday ticket—assuming you’re going in a month you can actually visit on one of these dates without a pass—you’ll be forking over more than $200 for a single day, even if you buy well in advance. This is a huge price increase from a few years ago, when you could buy a holiday ticket for $140 even at the window, and makes it such that there is basically no economically reasonable way for any rational person who isn’t a regular season passholder to visit the resort anymore.

For context, every other ski resort that regularly charges over $200 for lift tickets also offers multi-resort pass product access that can be had for much cheaper if purchased in the summer or fall, and the vast majority of visitors to these resorts use one of these pass products—which, in many cases, are available to purchase as flexible ticket-like products rather than true season passes. Vail Resorts, which includes all of its mountains on the Epic Pass and is responsible for several of the mountains that charge $200-plus lift tickets these days, cites that 75% of its visitors use an Epic Pass product to visit its mountains rather than a traditional ticket.

In other words, Powder Mountain is kind of missing the point with its absurdly-priced lift tickets—while other resorts are purposely inflating their ticket prices to get people to lock in revenue through a much more economically-priced pass before weather can influence their decision, Powder Mountain doesn’t really have one of those options—and no, their four-figure season passes don’t count. (To play devil’s advocate, one could argue that the early-bird off-peak-weekday tickets were this form of discounted access. But given how few people have the opportunity to plan their vacations during these times, and the fact that the Epic and Ikon passes offer discounted access for weekends and holidays, that doesn’t really come across as a feasible alternative to these pass products.)

So it’s entirely possible that Powder Mountain is still achieving the empty slopes they advertise—but less because it’s capping ticket and pass sales, and more because it’s just such a terrible deal for skiers and riders of any remotely budget-conscious nature.

Misleading Marketing Efforts

So how does Powder Mountain get ahead of these controversial changes? Well, the resort seems to think they can do that with compelling marketing efforts. However, Powder Mountain’s leadership seems to either think that its consumer base is quite dumb or just be running out of ideas, as their latest ads have arguably been just as deceptive as the timing of some of their policy announcements.

Lift Blog on X (Twitter) has done a particularly good job of spotting these ads and calling them out, and here are a few of the most egregious examples he’s found.

Powder Mountain is still advertising on Facebook that they offer more acres than every other U.S. ski resort. A look at the website shows that the resort is sticking with their claim of 8,000 acres of skiable terrain, which—if true—would indeed make it the largest ski resort in North America. However, this claim has always been problematic; even in previous years, nearly 40% of Powder Mountain’s footprint was only accessible via guided tours. But the claim is even more of a slap in the face now that another solid chunk is only accessible to homeowners. For the 2024-25 season, only about 2,700 of Powder Mountain’s acres are lift-served and public, which makes this area of the footprint—the part the overwhelming majority of guests will be spending all of their time on—smaller than at least five of the ten resorts it calls out in this ad.

Lift Blog also called out another ad from Powder Mountain advertising its uncrowded slopes. In the ad, Powder Mountain contrasts its so-called “crowd-free” experience with the slopes of another unnamed resort pictured at the top. However, the top picture apparently showcases a ski resort in Ukraine—which isn’t exactly a place that attracts the same demographic as Utah destination mountains. This is even more hilarious given the crowding issues that a certain Utah resort has experienced in recent weeks.

Finally, and perhaps most comically, Powder Mountain is still running ads advertising itself as the #1 ski resort in the West. But if you look closely at the ad, you’ll see a small text that states that this was a “Recently Named” award by Ski Magazine. So just how recent was this designation awarded? Well, Lift Blog correctly calls out that the mention was a holdover from their 2024 rankings (which were released in October 2023), well before any of the resort’s controversial changes went into effect. Given that the resort wasn’t even included in Ski Magazine’s top 30 resorts in the West in their 2025 rankings, this is an incredibly deceptive marketing technique. 

Positive Guest Experience Improvements

So all of the changes we’ve covered so far might seem pretty demoralizing as far as ski resort initiatives go. But has Powder Mountain completely dropped the ball on adding anything  universally positive to the experience? Well as it turns out, quite the contrary.

Powder Mountain has made significant investments in its infrastructure this season. First off, the resort has installed a whopping three new publicly-available lifts, including a high-speed replacement for the Paradise quad, a fixed-grip quad replacement for the aging Timberline triple, and another new fixed-grip quad to the top of Lightning Ridge, replacing the previous snowcat service there. Notably, the previous snowcat service cost over $40 with taxes and fees, so this is a huge democratization of this terrain.

The new Paradise Express cuts the ride time of Powder Mountain’s second-longest lift in half, making it much easier to spend time in this advanced-oriented area and faster to return to the nearest facilities. Upgrading Timberline to a fixed-grip quad doesn’t notably increase ride speed but replaces a 52-year-old lift, significantly improving its reliability for the years to come and slightly boosting capacity as well. Lastly, the new Lightning Ridge quad is probably the most consequential of all these investments, offering two key advantages: the first-ever lift-served access to the advanced and expert chutes on Lightning Ridge and James Peak, and the resolution of a considerable missing lift link, with the new chair finally linking the main section of the resort to the beginner-friendly Sundown area with night skiing.

But the investments aren’t stopping this season. Looking ahead, a new lift in the Wolf Canyon area is planned for 2025, opening over 1,000 acres of advanced and expert bowl, glade, and chute terrain currently reserved for guided tours. And for those who’ve missed terrain parks, they’ve returned to the Sundown and Hidden Lake areas for the first time since 2020.

Finally, it seems pretty evident that Powder Mountain cares about their staff. While it’s hard to assess this quality from a truly objective perspective, from an anecdotal point of view, all the staff we chatted with throughout our visit this past weekend were incredibly friendly and some of the least stressed we’d ever seen at a ski resort. Also, the staff at the resort had been issued some pretty sweet new jackets.

These improvements are genuinely impressive, and for certain visitors, it’s not hard to fathom they’ll outweigh the negative changes that are happening elsewhere at the resort. We argue the biggest beneficiaries will be experts, who can now both lap the technical Paradise terrain much faster and access several of the double-black Lightning Ridge trails without a lengthy hike, and night skiers, who can now make their way over to the Sundown area without having to take a bus.

Final Thoughts

So, where does this leave Powder Mountain? On one hand, the new lifts, reintroduced terrain parks, and new lift-served terrain are absolutely fantastic steps forward, and they’ve greatly improved the experience at the parts of the resort that remain public—and we might even argue that as an overall package, Powder Mountain is a better mountain in 2025 than it was before closing off Village and Mary’s. It’s also clear the resort is investing heavily in the quality-of-life of their lifties, patrollers, and other mountain staff, which is especially noteworthy given the high-profile squabbles at other resorts in the state. And finally, Powder Mountain remains refreshingly empty, even on weekends.

But on the other hand, the resort seems to have pissed off just about everyone important to their bottom line. Unaffordable access for the mainstream population, restrictive policies that rub all but the wealthiest the wrong way—and that includes the non-homeowners who can still afford four-figure season passes—and hastily-announced paid parking and ticket policies have all eroded Powder Mountain’s trust as a reliable vacation spot, and that’s not a position any ski resort wants to find themselves in, let alone one that’s cited “paying their bills” as a reason for some of their most significant changes. 

Ultimately, even though Powder Mountain has made some incredible improvements this year, their series of recent policy decisions have done a fantastic job of alienating the very people who made the resort what it is today. It’s one thing to be greedy, but to a certain extent, we’re left wondering if the people at the helm of these decisions are genuinely detached from reality. It’s especially painful to write this after witnessing how clearly the resort cares about their staff and the future of the mountain, but sadly, we don’t know how much the leadership thought through the bottom-line implications of the choices they made and the manner in which they made them.

Many of us are left wondering whether Powder Mountain is already reaping what it’s sown. The misleading ads and continued season pass sales suggest that resort may be left trying to recuperate costs after blowback from its other controversial changes. The resort is still as empty as it’s always been, but is it too empty to sustain its operations? We’ll be following the developments over the next couple of months to know for sure, but one thing’s for certain—it is quite a historic time to be a skier or rider in Utah, for better or for worse.

Considering a ski trip to Utah this winter? Check out our comprehensive Utah rankings, as well as our comprehensive Powder Mountain review (which was written last April before many of these changes went into effect). You can also check out our Powder Mountain review in video form below.

MOUNTAIN SCORE

#3 in Washington

#61 Overall

WRITTEN REVIEW

MOUNTAIN STATS

CATEGORY BREAKDOWN 

See our criteria

Snow:

Resiliency:

Size:

Terrain Diversity:

Challenge:

Lifts:

Crowd Flow:

Facilities:

Navigation:

Mountain Aesthetic:

GOOD TO KNOW

1-Day Ticket: $49-$84

Pass Affiliation: Indy Pass

On-site Lodging: No

Après-ski: Limited

Nearest Cities: Spokane (1.5 hrs)

Recommended Ability Level:

  +   Pros

• Local feel

• Low crowds

• Lighter snow than Washington resorts further west

  –   Cons

• Modest vertical drop

• Limited true beginner terrain

• Slow lifts in most areas

MOUNTAIN STATS

Skiable Footprint: 1,308 acres

Total Footprint: 2,325 acres

Lift-Serviced Terrain: 100%

Top Elevation: 5,774 ft

Vertical Drop: 1,871 ft

Lifts: 7

Trails: 88

Beginner: 30%

Intermediate: 40%

Advanced/Expert: 30%

Mountain Review

Tucked in the northeastern corner of Washington State, 49 Degrees North defies some of the expectations guests may have of Washington skiing. The resort offers light, dry powder and minimal crowding even on weekends, and offers a local, non-commercialized experience in lieu of the luxury its neighbors have.

Size

49 Degrees North is a midsized ski area with primarily tree-defined terrain. The resort claims a skiable footprint of 2,325 acres, which would theoretically make 49 Degrees North the second largest ski area orbiting the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene area and one of the largest ski areas in Washington State. However, by our measurements, the actual skiable footprint is only 1,308 acres, which is in line with several other resorts in the state of Washington, although not class-leading.  

Terrain Layout

There are two base areas at 49 Degrees North. The main base area is where most visitors and all overnight RV campers will start their day, and the much smaller Sunrise Basin base area is primarily geared towards season pass holders, as it does not have any ticketing or rental services.

49 Degrees North consists of two main peaks, Chewelah Peak and Angel Peak. Chewelah Peak is the main summit where three significant lifts converge, two of which are base-to-summit chairlifts out from each of the bases. On the far west end of the resort, Angel Peak contains its own isolated pod of terrain, although the chairlift accessing it is usually only open on certain weekends and holidays.

Beginner Terrain

While there may appear to be a fair number of green trails at 49 Degrees North, the only true beginner terrain exists off the lower-mountain Payday chairlift. This lift is the next step up for beginners who have graduated from the first-timers’ Gold Fever Conveyor and it features green runs of varying pitches and steepness.

However, any green run not originating from the Payday chairlift or Gold Fever Conveyor is basically just a green run in name only. Rather than a true beginner run, the green trails at other parts of 49 Degrees North are just the easiest ways down from the summit or a traverse—and, as a result, these runs are essentially intermediate in difficulty. The first halves of Silver Ridge and Huckleberry Ridge are wide open and groomed, which initially would seem great for beginners and light intermediates to cruise. However, both of these runs unavoidably funnel into much steeper and narrower segments towards the bottom that are not beginner-friendly whatsoever. Beaver Slide is a particularly odd trail to mark as a green, as it leads down to a flat area where the mid-station of the old Bonanza chairlift used to be. With that now gone, the only real way out is a trail that leads to a black diamond. Overall, beginners at 49 Degrees North will face a rather steep difficulty curve when progressing from the lower-mountain learning areas to the rest of the mountain.

Intermediate Terrain

Intermediate guests will find plenty of terrain to enjoy at 49 Degrees North. Green runs not on the Payday chairlift are challenging and long enough to entertain most intermediate skiers, plus the resort offers a solid selection of blue runs of varying difficulty across most mountain areas. In recent years, 49 Degrees North has made continual improvements to their grooming fleet, and more runs of varying difficulties are regularly groomed. Intermediates looking to push themselves can choose from a plethora of black diamonds that are wide and immaculately groomed. Still, many runs remain ungroomed, and intermediates can test their mettle with bumped and moguled runs.

Somewhat mellower intermediate terrain exists off of the Grubstake chairlift, but ever since the Northern Spirit Express was installed, Grubstake seldomly runs. This means that accessing this milder terrain usually requires skiing from the summit down a very steep blue run just to get to this terrain pod, which negates its effectiveness as progression terrain from the lower-mountain greens.

A cool and unique run at 49 Degrees North is Hobbit Forest, a gladed area with a very mild, almost beginner-level pitch that serves as a wonderful introduction to gladed skiing for lower level skiers and snowboarders.

TRAIL MAP

Advanced Terrain

Black diamonds are arguably the strongest part of the 49 Degrees North experience. The variety in advanced terrain is excellent, with the resort featuring lengthy groomed bombers perfect for high speeds and carving, long mogul runs for a sustained technical challenge, and a rich selection of gladed skiing that ranks among the best in the Pacific Northwest.

Glades can be found on almost every chairlift at 49 Degrees North, ranging from the thicker woods between defined runs to thinner, decently-large official glade trails. The glades at 49 Degrees North also feature different tree densities and gradients, meaning there is something for everybody and good snow preservation during and after snowfall.

When open, Angel Peak is worth checking out for advanced visitors thanks to its steeper pitches and limited grooming. While there are some intermediate runs on the trail map, this area will appeal most to the advanced skier.

Expert Terrain

For those seeking truly harrowing expert terrain, 49 Degrees North doesn’t offer much in the way of chutes, cliffs, rock outcroppings or perilous pitches. The double black diamonds marked on the map are primarily glades next to a single black diamond run. The only true exception to this rule is Lower Cy’s Glades, which is simultaneously very steep and densely forested. The single black diamonds have a lot to offer for those who enjoy that level of challenge, but those seeking adrenaline-pumping runs may have to look elsewhere.

Terrain Parks

For most of the ski season, 49 Degrees North has two separate terrain parks. A small terrain park exists very close to the top of the mountain next to the Silver Ridge run, and has a steep narrow entrance and 2-4 jump features. It’s a small terrain park, but a fun way to start your run before heading anywhere to the skier’s right of the Northern Spirit Express chairlift.

The main terrain park at 49 Degrees North exists along the Claim Jumper run. For most of the ski season, this terrain park starts at the bottom half of Claim Jumper below the steep segment, giving it a very mild pitch loaded with many jumps, boxes, rails and other snow features as it runs alongside the green run Silver Dollar. On some occasions, this terrain park can extend all the way up Claim Jumper close to the top terminal of the Grubstake Chairlift. While neither park is particularly high-end, 49 Degrees North offers a pretty competitive setup when compared to neighboring ski areas.

Snow Quality and Resiliency

Although located in Washington State, 49 Degrees North does not see quite as much of the wet and heavy accumulation that most Pacific Northwest ski resorts are notorious for. Rather,this ski area sits in the Selkirk Mountains much closer to the Rockies than the coast. While not on the level of Utah or Colorado snow, fresh snow at 49 Degrees North is overall  light, somewhat dry, and powdery, and those riding here on one of the resort’s many powder days will enjoy some of the highest quality snow to be found in Washington State.

49 Degrees North experiences  weather patterns that typically offer frequent snow refreshes but relatively low accumulation numbers per snowstorm, which averages out to a respectable average seasonal snowfall average of around 225 inches. The fairly consistent refreshes help counteract the fact that 49 Degrees North’s fairly low elevation can result in frequent freeze-thaw cycles.

RECOMMENDED SKIS FOR 49 DEGREES NORTH

NOTE: We may receive a small affiliate commission if you click on the below links. All products listed below are unisex.

Navigation

Overall, getting around 49 Degrees North is a pretty straightforward experience. The major weakness of navigating this ski area is that signage can be hard to read due to inconvenient placement, and the resort lacks signage outright at some significant junctions. 

Still, it is difficult to truly get lost, despite the decently-sized footprint. All runs will eventually funnel down into one of three areas; the main base area, the bottom of Sunrise Basin, or the valley with the bottom terminals of the Silver Lode and Angel Peak chairlifts—which also has a traverse down to the main base area. From the main base area and the bottom of Sunrise Basin, the Northern Spirit Express and Sunrise Basin chairlifts lead straight from their respective base areas right to the summit, meaning almost all of the ski resort can be accessed in a singular lift ride, save for Angel Peak.

Lifts

For a very long time, 49 Degrees North had a reputation of being the largest US ski area without a detachable chairlift. However, their Northern Spirit Express ended that reputation, becoming the longest detachable chairlift in all of Washington State. The Northern Spirit Express is still the only detachable chairlift at 49 Degrees North, but considering it is a base-to-summit chairlift that serves a large amount of terrain, most guests will find that a lot of their lift rides throughout the day will be on this high speed lift.

The rest of the chairlifts at 49 Degrees North are older fixed-grip chairlifts, some of which were purchased secondhand from other ski resorts. No lifts except for the Northern Spirit Express have safety bars. Some of the fixed-grip chairlift rides are more arduous than others, ranging from the reasonably-fast-feeling Silver Lodge double chair, which provides helper service to the front side of the mountain, to the painfully-slow Sunrise quad chair, which provides the only access out of the Sunrise Basin base.

Crowds

But even though many of its lifts are slow, 49 Degrees North is almost never crowded. Even on powder days, weekends, and holidays, the resort is one of the least crowded ski areas in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene region. On busy days, the most crowded areas will be at the top of Chewelah Peak, where multiple chairlifts converge, and the top segment of the Silver Ridge, but it’s never overwhelming.

The layout of the mountain results in long top-to-bottom or near-bottom runs, and long chairlift rides help spread out crowds out on the slopes. The worst lift queues are almost never more than a couple minutes.

On the busiest days, the relatively small Little Calispell Lodge at the main base area and Cy’s Cafe in Sunrise Basin can be a bit pressed for seating. However, with the recent addition of a second base lodge next to the Little Calispell Lodge, finding seating has been less of an issue. 

The parking lots at both base areas are very close to the slopes, so those who bring their own lunches and keep it in their car can bypass any waits entirely, without too much walking.

On-Mountain Facilities

49 Degrees North offers pretty run-of-the-mill facilities that aren’t fancy, but handle the visitation levels well. At the main base area, the Little Calispell Lodge is a comfy, mid-sized facility offering a bar, cafeteria style foodservice, two different restroom facilities, and ticket sales. There is plenty of seating both indoors and on the deck outdoors, with the outdoor seating given covers and patio heaters during the coldest months. A downside of the Little Calispell Lodge is how cramped the restrooms are.

New for the 2023-24 ski season is an additional lodge built next to the Little Calispell Lodge; this “Sprung Structure” provides a major increase in available indoor seating, although the construction wasn’t entirely finished during its inaugural season. Starting in the 2024-25 ski season, this new structure will be where all of 49 Degrees North’s skier services will be located.

At the bottom of Sunrise Basin is a very minimalistic, relaxing base area that consists of a deck with a small amount of seating attached to two Yurts and a restroom building. One yurt is for employees only, but the other houses Cy’s Cafe, which provides some seating with shelter from the elements and a small menu for food and alcoholic beverages. The restroom building can have long waits at times, as it has three individual private restrooms, but they’re heated, clean, private, and rather roomy.

Mountain Aesthetic

On clear days, 49 Degrees North has beautiful views of the surrounding forested mountain ranges and the nearby valleys. Besides the base areas and the Nordic Center yurt, there is no other visible development for miles around 49 Degrees North besides the Flowery Trail Road itself. 

To the north is Calispell Peak, a mountain just tall enough to have an above-treeline mountaintop to contrast the densely forested surrounding landscape. When skiing on the Lost Dutchman run, there are great views of the valley below where the small town of Chewelah can be seen, and looking south from the summit offers beautiful views of a rural landscape extending all the way to another ski area, Mt. Spokane. To the east, more mountains and a valley containing the Pend Orielle River can be seen. There is absolutely no village development or on-site lodging, and most of the buildings in the main base area are surrounded by trees, so 49 Degrees North is a place visually defined by nature with little development unrelated to the ski area at this time. However, this will soon change in the Sunrise Basin, with numerous parcels being developed to eventually accommodate private houses and condos below the base area.

Getting There and Parking

49 Degrees North is about an hour and twenty minutes from downtown Spokane and an hour and forty minutes from Coeur d’Alene. The best route during winter is via US-395 approaching from the west, where roads are generally well-maintained. In contrast, the eastern approach from Idaho involves steeper, less-traveled roads that can be trickier in icy conditions. The nearest airport with commercial flights is Spokane International Airport, approximately an hour and a half away in good weather.

Parking at 49 Degrees North is free and requires no advanced reservations. The walk from the parking lots to the base areas and lifts is a very short one, which also makes bringing your own lunch and stowing it in your vehicle or tailgating a viable and convenient option. It’s very easy to find any necessary skier services upon arriving thanks to the simple layout of the main base area. Numerous employees often wait around the main parking lot, offering to help carry the gear of guests up the small hill to the lodges. The main parking lots are unpaved, and can be unpleasantly muddy on days when snow isn’t layered over it. 

As for Sunrise Basin, there is a limited amount of parking available, but this base area is only usable for season pass holders as there are no skier services other than the available food and restrooms. Those who can park here will be treated to an extremely short walk from their vehicle to the slopes.

RECOMMENDED SNOWBOARDS FOR 49 DEGREES NORTH

NOTE: We may receive a small affiliate commission if you click on the below links. All products listed below are unisex.

Lodging

There is no on-site lodging at 49 Degrees North, although there is some overnight RV parking available on a first come first serve basis at affordable prices. Some RV parking spots have electrical connections, but no water or sewage RV connections are available.

The nearest lodging available is in the town of Chewelah, a short twenty minute drive away, and almost all of the available lodging consists of budget motels; the only actual hotel in the area is the recently opened Mistequa Casino Hotel. Additional budget oriented lodging is also available a little farther away in the towns of Newport and Colville, although those wanting more options will have to drive farther to Spokane.

Après-ski

49 Degrees North has no après-ski scene, as the bars and food service close shortly after the lifts stop spinning for the day. The ski area is surrounded by forests and rural communities, so at first glance there isn’t very much to do after a day of skiing on the slopes unless you drive to Spokane or Coeur d’Alene. However, within a thirty minute drive of 49 Degrees North are two casinos which can provide a fresh and unique après-ski experience with plenty of food and entertainment for an evening.

Verdict

49 Degrees North avoids a lot of the weaknesses of Washington skiing, namely the lack of crowds, lower prices and lighter, dryer snow, and can be great, affordable fun for intermediates and advanced skiers. However, the lack of truly beginner terrain, no onsite lodging, older lifts, and rural setting may make this place a tough sell for vacationing families. Still, 49 Degrees North is very much worth a weekend trip or as part of a broader ski vacation through the Pacific Northwest, especially when factoring the how many neighboring ski resorts are also on the Indy Pass.

Pricing

49 Degrees North offers a rather affordable skiing experience, with tickets cleverly priced at $49 for non-holiday weekdays, and a peak ticket price of $72 for weekends and holiday periods. Combined with cheap accommodations a short drive away, 49 Degrees North can offer a shockingly affordable several-day vacation. Season Passes are also competitively priced and undercut almost every other ski area in Washington State.

49 Degrees North is also a member of the Indy Pass, which offers two days of skiing at over 200 partner resorts. Nearby Silver Mountain is also on the Indy Pass, meaning it would be very easy to visit both of these resorts on an Indy Pass-fueled trip.

If you have an Ikon Pass product for the 2024-25 season, you may need to make in-advance reservations for lift access to certain resorts. This reservation system opened up on August 1, 2024, allowing guests to start securing spots at participating mountains. But with many of Ikon’s most popular mountains requiring these reservations, do you need to commit now to secure your spot? In this piece, we’ve compiled all you need to know about Ikon’s reservation system—and whether you should rush to figure out your itinerary if you haven’t already.

Which Ikon Pass mountains require reservations for lift access?

The following Ikon resorts will require reservations for the 2023-24 season:

• Jackson Hole, WY

• Aspen / Snowmass, CO

• Big Sky, MT

• Summit at Snoqualmie / Alpental, WA

• Loon, NH

• Windham, NY

• Deer Valley, UT

Which Ikon products does this policy apply to?

All Ikon products, including the full Ikon Pass, Ikon Base and Base Plus Passes, and Ikon Session Passes, require reservations at the aforementioned mountains.

Do you need to book your reservations on August 1 to secure your spot?

No—if previous seasons are any indicator, reservations to these mountains will not fill up on day 1, even at the most popular mountains on the busiest days. But if you already have your vacation booked, there’s no harm to securing your reservation now so you don’t forget to do so later.

When will Ikon Pass reservations really start to fill up?

Based on previous years, we expect that Ikon Pass reservations will start to fill up by the middle of the fall. Holidays and peak weekends at top-tier destinations such as Jackson Hole, Big Sky, and Aspen will be the first to go, with the other destinations following shortly after.

For the most hassle-free experience, try to secure your reservations before mid-October—assuming you are visiting on a weekend or holiday. That said, if you plan to visit these mountains on off-peak weekdays (i.e. Monday through Thursday on a non-school vacation week), you may be able to wait until the day of to book your reservation.

If a reservation date is completely full, is there any chance it will open up?

Yes—if you check back religiously, chances are you can snag a spot, even if your date has already filled up. Others may cancel their reservations, or resorts may open more spots depending on expected snow conditions.

However, if you don’t want to deal with the stress of being in this situation and checking the Ikon website four or five times per day, it’s best to secure your reservations early.

Can you cancel your Ikon Pass reservations if you decide you don’t want to ski/ride on a particular day?

Yes—you can cancel your reservations up until 9am the date of your visit with no penalties. So even if you aren’t 100% sure of your itinerary, it may be a good idea to secure your spot now, and revisit later if need be.

It’s worth noting that if you do not show up or cancel after that time on the date of your reservation, you may be restricted from making or taking advantage of future reservations.

Is there a limit to the number of Ikon reservations one can make at a time?

Yes—passholders can only make reservations for up to the number of dates of access they have at each mountain—meaning seven for each mountain with the full Ikon Pass, five for each mountain with the Ikon Base and Base Plus Passes, and two to four total depending on the Ikon Session Pass product (none of the reservation-mandating mountains offer unlimited access on Ikon).

As a result, passholders can’t “over-reserve” if there are a lot of potential dates they want to secure spots for.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, Ikon passholders won’t need to scramble to secure their reservations on August 1 for access to Jackson Hole, Big Sky, and other popular mountains. But these reservations will begin to fill during the fall for peak weekends and holidays, and while spots do open up sporadically, passholders will save themselves a lot of hassle by booking reservations as early as possible. If you’re not 100% sure of your itinerary, you can always cancel your reservations up until the day of with no penalty!

Not sure of whether the Ikon Pass is right for you? Check out our in-depth comparison between the Ikon, Epic, Mountain Collective, and Indy pass products. Additionally, you can check out our Ikon Pass mountain reviews here.