It isn't easy to get to ski in the olympics. There's only one, of course. It isn't clear if you'll succeed even if you get there, because the conditions are difficult and your vision about how your run should go may be foggy. And the road there is difficult. So difficult, that unlike all the other Washington State ski resorts, you need to have chains. And the rental agencies did not rent them ... Oreilly Auto Parts to the rescue (with free returns :-) ). I am or course talking about the Hurricane Ridge ski resort in the Olympic National Park. A historic ski resort opened in 1958, operated by a non-profit association for enabling skiing in the mountains of the park.
The summit elevation is 5240 ft or m, and there's 800 ft of vertical. The official website (including traffic information) is here. The resort is a small, family-oriented ski and snowboard area, supporting a ski school, ski team, terrain park, and tubing area. The area is operated by the non-profit Hurricane Ridge Education Foundation. On site there's almost nothing - even the road isn't open expect Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. There's two containers, one for ticket sales and another for bathrooms. A parking lot.
There used to be a lodge with food, rentals, etc. But it burned down in 2023.
The weather is very unpredictable. As wikipedia puts it:
"Hurricane Ridge is named for its intense gales and winds. The weather in the Olympic Mountains is unpredictable, and visitors should be prepared for snow at any time of year. "
The ski area is organized on the two sides of the ridge. The road and parking lot, along with facilities is on one side, and the beginner slope is right above it. By taking the beginner rope lift and skiing to the right (from looking from the road) you can reach the intermediate slope. This too has a rope lift, but it is the fastest rope lift I have ever experienced. It goes up very fast, and on a pretty steep slope. Be careful even when grabbing the rope, it will have to be slowly getting the grip otherwise it will yank you too fast. At the top you can basically drop off anywhere you want, going all the way to the end will have you go through a forest to get to the slope, but a bit earlier you can go directly to the slope.
Then if you ski from the bottom of the intermediate lift you can cross over to the backside of the ridge. Here lies the ski area's jewels: the Poma button lift, one narrow prepared slope, and plenty of off-piste opportunities on both sides of the lift. There maybe more than one prepared slope at other times, the ski area map has a few slopes on this side, but at the time I was there, I only found one.
The off-piste areas are easy to access by traversing left or right from the top of the Poma lift, without having to climb much. Then just drop into the bowl. I chose the skier's left side, seeing that on the much steeper right side there were some avalanches. On the left side there's a steep drop-off first off the ridge, then it mellows down among small trees, and then eventually joins the one prepared ski slope. Snow was crappy though, but surprisingly skiable. Even made some fresh snow turns :-)
The Poma lift is pretty short, however, so the runs aren't that long. You could continue the off-piste runs further down, the terrain looks inviting ... however, you'd have to hike back up. And there's a warning about "abandoned mines and other natural dangers":
I had a lot of fun, skied also the off-piste areas on the Poma lift:
Road & views:
Map of the area:
Slopes, starting from the expert slope, served by the Poma button lift:
Facilities - the patrol hut, the ski lift engine hut, and the ticket sales container:
Views:
Read the full Planetskier series at planetskier.net, or all blog articles from Blogspot, TGR. Photos, videos, and text (c) 2025 by Jari Arkko.
No comments:
Post a Comment