When a group of five friends purchased the Highway 12 mountain in 2021, the new owners looked a lot like the group who helped launch the endeavor in the 1950s: a crew of Yakima skiers, many in the apple business. The new bosses are also rooted in agriculture, some owning or running businesses like Washington Fruit and Produce and Bale Breaker Brewing. “We like being independent,” says director of skier services Kathleen Goyette. “We’re looking to retain our culture.” That means even more beginner infrastructure in the coming years; the mountain already excels at intermediate terrain, having added two more lifts of long, flowy blue runs in 2010. While the mountain is eyeing upgrades to the base area, the plan is to not change too much, says Goyette: “That’s our goal, to stay in our lane.” 

At night, it’s easy to pick out Mission Ridge from greater Wenatchee; the ski area illuminates the sky with an expanded array of lights that hovers over downtown like a constellation, the clear, crisp air rarely obscuring the sight with clouds. Though only about 45 miles east of Stevens Pass, the ski area benefits from drier conditions and sunnier skies, and its distance from Seattle often means smaller crowds. While the base is little more than a simple lodge, expansion plans include on-site accommodations. For now, Mission Ridge is the kind of mountain where not every lift is the speedy detachable type, though one debuted in 2021. Chief marketing officer Tony Hickok notes that last season was the mountain’s longest in 25 years, thanks to a great year of snowfall plus a commitment to snowmaking. A free bus from Wenatchee and a midmountain deck that gets sun most days lead to a social feel. “Generally our guests boil it down to one word: vibe,” says Hickok. “There’s just something different, they can’t quite put their finger on on it.”

Gennie and Diesel work Raven Hut at all hours, for no financial compensation, but it’s hardly a labor violation. They’re rescue cats, industriously ridding Mt. Baker’s cozy lodge of rodents year-round. This green, poison-free form of pest control is just one way the ski area shows off its offbeat character. So far north you can access Canadian cell networks, the ski area’s eight nonexpress lifts fill with local college students and ski bums, not tourists. “Our focus is on the home mountain experience,” says CEO Gwyn Howat. That means no advance sales with variable pricing, just sub-$100 day tickets and limited season pass sales. With steep slopes on the shoulder of Mount Shuksan (Baker itself is a few miles away) and record-breaking snowfall from marine air, beginner terrain is limited; out-of-bounds powder slopes are legendary. Recent upgrades have targeted a more sustainable power grid, and Howat emphasizes accessible pricing and living wages over, say, gondolas or fine dining. “Our business is skiing and snowboarding and the mountains,” she says of the ski hill her family has managed for decades. “Connection with community is our business, keeping people connected to nature.” 

The biggest question mark of the 2023–24 ski season lies atop a mountain on the north end of the Olympics: will Hurricane Ridge open? The Olympic National Park facility, which consists of two rope tows and a Poma lift, no actual chairlifts, sits next to the burned remains of Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center, which caught fire in May midrenovation. Though staff were in the dark for awhile, in November the park announced that the Hurricane Ridge area would reopen this winter. 

Hurricane Ridge is one of the only national park alpine facilities left, with more views than runs. Its old-style lifts are a little tricky to get ahold of, literally. But the throwback ski area recalls the era when Northwest skiing grew up on creaky rope tows, more about the thrill of the mountains than anything else.