Dismal ski season taking toll on local snow-dependent businesses

Longtime Pacific Northwest skiers know: The key to a great season is deep winter snow and a long, chilly spring.

Recent transplants to the region, however, would be forgiven for wondering if the Cascade snowpack is merely a legend.

Snowy days have been so few and far between this year, The Summit at Snoqualmie announced Wednesday it was shutting down. And many other local businesses are feeling the chill.

Related: Summit at Snoqualmie forced to shut down

At ProSki Seattle, owner Mike Tracy can perfectly custom-form boots to each skier’s individual feet.

But look around the cozy shop on Aurora at 90th, chock full of skis, sweaters, and mountain gear, and you’ll see plenty of neon discount tags.

“All of our clothing is 25-percent off. Bindings are more like 10-15-percent,” Tracy said, pointing to racks of specialized ski touring equipment.

ProSki doesn’t normally put things on sale this early in the year. “We went a little early,” Tracy admitted. “Normally I’d wait till probably after Presidents Day. But with the lack of snow, and people’s doom and gloom, we’re going a little earlier.”

Businesses like ProSki are looking to Mother Nature to turn around what has been a dismal season for winter sports.

Peaks from Baker to White Pass and Hurricane Ridge have merely a fraction of their normal snowfall.

While Tracy had luck going up to Stevens Pass to ski, he called the snow conditions “slarvey.” That’s less-than-ideal. “Not crusty, but more like a slurpy. But it was good fun.”

The powdery days boarders and skiers dream about have become a distant memory.

“There’s a lot of holes and creeks. It’s a little scary-looking that way,” Tracy said.

Guy Lawrence with the Summit at Snoqualmie says they’ve been struggling all season to stay open.

“It’s never fun and it’s never easy to get through these types of seasons. We always want those great snowy days,” Lawrence said.

Every night, Snoqualmie’s groomers have been hauling loads of snow around with specialized equipment, even carrying 50 gallon drums of the white stuff to fill smaller holes and hazards.

It’s simply been too warm and rainy to fix all the bare spots in the slopes. The resort was forced to close all of its areas except Alpental in recent days, and Wednesday they decided to throw in the towel there as well.

“Unfortunately, our crews were just not able to climb down the main lower slope at Alpental,” Lawrence explained. “That means they wouldn’t be able to move the snow up and repair the hill, which was badly needed.”

“Without that access, we really can’t run Alpental.”

“We’ve had to make the decision: We’ll have to suspend operations temporarily until we get better weather and snow,” Lawrence announced in a mournful tone.

A majority of the resort’s employees are part-time seasonal labor like ski school instructors and lift operators.

Lawrence said most of those workers are out of luck. “It’s the reality of the situation that we just won’t have any work for them, at least for a little while.”

Some employees will head to the East Coast, where other Boyne Resorts locations are having great snowy seasons.

Meanwhile, boarders and skiers will make the drive to Crystal or Stevens Pass, and pray for more snow.

“We’re really holding out hope that we’ll see a return to winter sometime soon,” Lawrence sounded hopeful. “At that point, we’ll be ready to open up lifts and get going again.”

Larry Schick is a meteorologist for Ski Washington. Online, he’s known as The Grand Poobah of Powder. But this year, the Poobah’s Powder reports have been pretty grim.

“In the past, we’ve had a lot of comebacks. That is, kind of weak starts and strong finishes,” Schick said. “But unfortunately in this situation that I’m seeing, it doesn’t favor it, to tell you the truth.”

The future is not looking any chillier. “Coming up I don’t see much change. And the extended forecast for February and into late winter and early spring also indicates warmer than normal.”

Sure, there’s been plenty of rain. The problem lies with warm pineapple express patterns from the South and West that have stuck around for longer than usual.

Schick pointed out that ski resorts can only do so much to manufacture and move snow around their mountains.

“They’re essentially snow farmers. The ski areas are waiting for their crops, and if they don’t get it, it’s very difficult.”

Snowbunnies will need to put some earmuffs on for this news: This current warmer, slushier winter may be a preview of things to come.

“I’ve studied a lot of the climate change projections. This is sort of what scientists are telling us future winters may look like with some consistency,” Schick explained. “We’ll have enough rain in the winter, but the snow levels will be roughly 1,000 feet higher on average.”

That prediction sends a chill down Mike Tracy’s spine. “Terrifies me. I mean, they forecast Snoqualmie not being around in twenty years due to [climate change],” he said. “Scares the bejeebus out of me.”

The staff at ProSki Seattle said you can still find lots of local groomed slopes for downhill fun.

“The people who have been renting skis from us come back and still say they had a great time, even if it was wet,” Tracy said.

He recommended expert skiers who want fresh powder this season look higher. More like 6-thousand-feet high. Tracy provides lots of touring gear for intrepid mountaineers to sling a board or skis on their backs and get hiking.

“Rainier’s been skiing great. And that’s half of our clientele. People who are going to walk uphill and are willing to walk an extra thousand feet higher to get better snow.”

And while downhillers might be reaching desperation mode, the Methow Valley in Northeast Washington has plenty of snow for cross-country skiers and snowshoers.