During December 2023, there was barely any snow on Vancouver’s local mountain trio of Cypress, Grouse and Seymour. So we decided to make a small trip down to Seattle(ish) and visit Stevens Pass for the first time during the Christmas break. Because, well, something is better than nothing.
Map
Dec 27th
We got to Stevens pass around 5 pm thanks to a giant enthusiastic crowd at the border. The snow condition is a lot better than we thought it would be. There was still quite a few people , but since the night ski area is so big. it was not too much of a problem. Except for the green run.
The green run for Stevens pass got to be one of the smaller ones that I have been to. Since we were mostly just exploring and warming up, we stayed on the green run most of the time. But I did managed to checkout 2 other lifts that were opened to more difficult runs. What took me by surprise was how steep the slope is coming down the lift chair. Maybe it’s just a bad year with not a lot of snow base. But it definitely was the steepest for the resorts that I have been to. Other than that, it’s just pretty icy all around.
Dec 28th
It’s the day of exploration! We went to the rest of the lift that we were not able to the previous day. Namely Brooks, Tye Mill, and Kehr. Honestly most of them are not bad. You could still feel a skin of snow. The more annoying terrain for me was probably from Hogsback to Tye Mill. Just too much moguls there. we got on Tye Mill pretty late. Honestly the snow there is even better, albeit just slightly. But it was getting dark. And there was just not enough snow for them to open the back mountain that is Mill Valley. So unfortunately we had to leave it until next time.
Honestly I could see a lot of tree runs at Stevens Pass that could be fun. Hopefully next time the snow has gotten much better and we can even get to Mill Valley.