Has anyone here skied Mt. Pilchuck?

I know there used to be a ski area up there, but was wondering if anyone has any info on where it was? Any beta would be greatly appreciated.

Here are the search results for Pilchuck in the trip reports section... lots of info.  Haven't done it myself.

EDIT!

DOH! Can't link directly to the results. Try a search. Here are the top two:

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=16674.0

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=13576.0

When you get to the end of the road, you're standing where the parking area and base lodge for the ski area used to be. It's hard to believe because the trees have grown up so much since 1980, when the area closed. I posted a picture of it in the following thread:

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...index.php?topic=1950



Since then, I've found more pictures of the ski area in the Bob & Ira Spring collection, although the picture above is hard to beat.

Wow Lowell. That is an amazing photo. I worked for a guy about twenty years ago. He had a poster sized photo of a lone skier in his office. Turns out it was taken at Pilchuck and he used to work there. It was my understanding that the low snow year of '76/'77 killed Mt Pilchuck. That was to be my first year skiing (fifth grade), but we were advised to wait until next year due to the lack of snow.

The recent improvements (not so recent now) to the summer trail at Pilchuck take you past some ruins. I imagine that they're the ruins of the top of that lift in Lowell's photo.

Last time I skied Pilchuck it was great. Mission Ridge road was closed due to maintenance so we couldn't ski there. We'd drive up to as close to the parking area on Pilchuck as we could, skin up sort of parallel to the summer hiking trail but a little to the East. Find an old cat track to climbers right and that switchbacks up to the left eventually. Then it's climb as you can until you inter sect the summer trail again higher up. From there just climb snowfields to where ever you want to ski down. Or you can continue on across to the SW and on more snowfields to just South of the summit there is a steep drop called the South East Chute or Gun Barrel. Only drop a couple of hundred feet. You can take a right and drop a few more feet but you will be retracing your steps to the saddle to the North. From there it's a short climb to the East then down the ridge veer left and drop. Now look up and boot back to familiar environs of the old ski area.

thanks for the info. I really appreciate it.

It was my understanding that the low snow year of '76/'77 killed Mt Pilchuck.  That was to be my first year skiing (fifth grade), but we were advised to wait until next year due to the lack of snow.

Here are some notes on this subject:

alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/ms/goldthorpe-1980.html

"The winters of 1977 and 1978 were poor snow years. In 1976-77, the area was open 2-1/2 months and in 1977-78 just three weeks. 1977-78 was the last winter of operation of Mt Pilchuck Ski Area. The following year, in 1978-79, the ski area was passed back and forth between USPRC and USFS, with each agency blaming the other for lack of movement on a concession-lease agreement. Finally, due to uncertainty over their ability to renew the lease, Heather Recreation, Inc. decided not to continue operation. The authors write that it was the inability of government entities to get together and make a decision that really killed the area, not poor snow conditions or financial problems of the ski area operators. The authors also blame Governor Dixy Lee Ray for working to kill the state's only winter recreation park. "

You can find a few more odds and ends under "Mt Pilchuck" in my lost skis areas reference:

alpenglow.org/ski-history/subjects/S-info.html#ski-areas-lost

This one is particularly interesting:

alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/period/n...wskier-1979-jan-5-p2

When operators of the Mt Pilchuck ski area applied for an extension of their lease, the Forest Service rejected their expansion plans. Ski area spokesman Gary Barrett said that in order to be economically viable, the area needs to expand. "If our ten-year operating plans allow for expansion, then we won't get a lease renewal. On the other hand, if we can't expand, we can't operate. It's a double bind." The area did not operate in 1977-78 and does not expect to operate in 1978-79, due to uncertainty about its lease.

In the 2-20-79 issue (p.2) Joe Nadolski of the Forest Service offered the agency's view of the problem. "It's not that we don't want to see skiing up there. It's just that we haven't seen much skiing there since the area opened. That's the major reason for rejecting the lease renewal and expansion proposal. It's a low altitude area and it's often that there's no snow. We weren't responsible for Pilchuck's closure the past two seasons; the weather did them in." The area opened in the 1950s when a private ski club from Everett leased the land. By 1956, the operators received a special lease permit good for thirty years. Pilchuck applied for an extension of the lease to run for another twenty years and the Forest Service rejected it, maintaining that the area is inherently poor for skiing.

damn, look at those lift lines!

I'm so glad we have all these mega chairs now and lift lines like that are just barely reckognizable images from the past!

I remember driving UNDER the chairlift in 1974, and 75. Is that right?
I don't remember skiing there on the lift, but I did carry my skis on my back in 1988 and 1989 and ski down from the firewatch a number of times. The upper mountain is a very cool ski, interesting NW northface skiing!
I climbed it 10 or more times in the mid 70's in the evening and some day hikes, doing the summit in a couple hours. and then glissading down the thick spring snowfields with my wooden REI iceaxe in the near dark.
You have to understand that here in the USA, we did not have Rando gear at all. Only 3-pin set-up. No AT gear at all, so "touring" was a vague dream at that time (1970's and 80's).
Oh, I also remember seeing the lights of the ski area from Interstate-5. The lights would REALLY stand out looking at the mountain from the freeway going northbound there by Everett. You could almost see the skiers.

Anyway, I have a question, where did the upper Mount Philchuck chairlift TERMINATE?
Was it BELOW the upper meadows of the upper portion of the mountain? There is a cliff there and it opens up from the trees.
The picture looks like it terminated there in the spot I described. You WILL find very little in the way of ruins, some cement footings is about it but they are there. I have never seen ruins any higher up.
I wonder, did the chair go up near the top ridge? I saw a reference to a chute(the funnel) that everyone HAD to ski down, that would be near or on the top ridge. That does not make sense, I believe the chair terminated only about halfway up the mountain(from the road) and NOT up on the top ridge. As you can see, I am confused.
Lowell sir (or rather Sir Lowell)? Do you remember where that chair terminated? I cannot find any picture of the top terminal, that would solve my dilemma anyway.

Also where is that chair now?

Best of the seasons,
BillyTheMountain

Unfortunately, I never skied at Mt Pilchuck when it was open. I believe, based on photos and topo maps, that the main chair terminated around 4300ft, about 1/2 mile NW of the summit lookout. If you follow the NW ridge of the peak down to 4600ft on a topo map, you'll come to a very flat shoulder. From this point, a subsidiary shoulder descends north toward a knob marked on the USGS 7.5 map (in TOPO!) at 3945ft. The upper terminal of the chairlift was around 4300ft to 4400ft on this northerly trending shoulder. There is an aerial photo on p. 87 of Ted Mueller's book "Northwest Ski Trails." showing the chairlift.

A good friend of mine who skied Mt Pilchuck a lot when he was younger tells me that the old Pilchuck chairlift is now Chair 6 at Crystal Mountain.

Here's a nice diagram of the Mt Pilchuck ski area in the late 1960s, from p. 86 of "Northwest Ski Trails." The book says that the upper lift terminus was at 4350ft.

Here's a nice diagram of the Mt Pilchuck ski area in the late 1960s, from p. 86 of "Northwest Ski Trails." The book says that the upper lift terminus was at 4350ft.

Now it makes sense. I thought the chair did not go up that last 300 or 400 feet above the cliff. It makes sense that it would.
Now that I see this map, I feel like Mount Philchuck would actually make a VERY cool ski area if a chairlift went another 4 or 500 feet up to the NW ridge so a skier could easily traverse the (very complex and interesting) top area of the mountain. I bet grooming might be a problem on that north facing slope. Did the Mount Philchuck Ski Area have ANY grooming when it operated?

TY Lowell for this and all your research and work on our skiing history, I don't know why, but this history interests me a great deal.
Bill

Did the Mount Philchuck Ski Area have ANY grooming when it operated?

I doubt it.  At least not in the sense that we think of grooming today.

I was telling my son about "the old days" recently when we were skiing together. As you can see in the photo above, the slope was packed entirely by skiers and is extensively moguled.  I remember a lot of that in the 1970s. Young skiers today sometimes make fun of people who make short radius turns at modest speeds--but that's the way you pretty much HAD to ski at a place like Pilchuck in the 1970s. Widespread, daily grooming has really changed things.

I sure hope...the EXTENSIVE and seemingly "wildcat" logging frenzy in the 1980's on state land had nothing to do with revoking the Mount Pilchuck Ski Area permit.
On the map you will see the old ski area and look at that clearcut up next to it? I believe this large clearcut was created right after the ski area got the boot. Hmmmmmmm.
Look at the yahoo map and then go east up the valley towards Spada Lake...sure are a lot of recent clearcuts way up high on the mountain.


Link to yahoo map of Pilchuck ski area:
maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=s&lat=48.067395&lon=-121.814582&zoom=15

I have snowboarded up on Pilchuck a few times, but all after the resort was closed. My buddy and I hiked up and built a kicker and rode all afternoon. It was great. Here's the question to you all, IS IT POSSIBLE TO REOPEN THIS RESORT ONE DAY???

lostskiareas.wikispaces.com/Mt.+Pilchuck

at the bottom of the page is a link to what it looked like in 2005, also had all the other abandon ski areas of the NW.

The base would never get enough snow, Sadly it is just too low of a elevated mountain to ever become a ski resort again. Now Mt. Aix, that would make a great ski resort

Now Mt. Aix, that would make a great ski resort 

Sorry Kyle, but Mt. Aix is in the William O. Douglas Wilderness -- some dreams just can't come true.

Hi all, I am new here and this post caught my eye. I grew up skiing Pilchuck, was on their race team, new lots of the people associated with the area (after all it was small) and can probably answer questions you may still have. Here is a little more information that was communicated from Robert O'Callahan (Squirrel).
www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/comm/ocallahan-robert.html