Summit at Snoqualmie
1,994 acres, 65 runs across 4 areas near Seattle. Ikon Pass access, night skiing, one hour from the city.
Season 2025 - 2026
Opens
19 Dec 2025
Closes
5 Apr 2026
Days open
107
Annual snow
38ft
The Overview
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
The Summit at Snoqualmie's summit reaches 3,865 feet, dropping 1,024 vertical feet to a base at 2,841 feet across 65 runs spread over 1,994 acres at Snoqualmie Pass, Washington. Terrain splits 42 per cent advanced, 33 per cent intermediate, 14 per cent beginner and 11 per cent expert, with average annual snowfall of roughly 450 inches. The resort carries Ikon Pass access. Twenty-five lifts, including nine double chairs, seven quad chairs and three triple chairs, serve four distinct base areas alongside six surface lifts.
The Summit is unusual among major resorts in combining four formerly separate ski areas into a single operation: Alpental, Summit West, Summit Central and Summit East each retain distinct character despite operating under one ownership and one lift ticket today. This structure gives visitors genuinely varied terrain, from Alpental's steep, advanced-focused slopes to the gentler beginner areas elsewhere on the pass. Its position roughly 52 miles east of Seattle on Interstate 90 makes it the closest major ski area to the city.
Each of the four areas has its own separate ownership history: Ski Lifts, Inc. bought Ski Acres in 1980, Alpental in 1983 and Hyak in 1992, gradually consolidating what had been independent ski hills along the pass. Booth Creek Ski Holdings purchased all four areas together in 1997, formally uniting them under a single company for the first time.
Boyne Resorts became the lease-holder and management company for The Summit at Snoqualmie in 2007, before purchasing the resort outright in March 2018. Adult daily tickets run from 89 to 125 US dollars, with the Unlimited Pass at 929 dollars, reflecting a resort built from four once-independent mountains into Seattle's primary local ski destination.
1,024ft
Vertical
65
Runs
1,994 acres
Skiable
38ft
Annual snow
Ikon
Pass
The Terrain
65 runs across 1,994 acres skiable
Summit at Snoqualmie spreads 65 runs across 1,994 acres skiable of terrain. It leans advanced at 42%, with 9 beginner runs to find your feet and 34 advanced or expert runs when you want to push.
Terrain split
65
runs
65 runs across 4 grades
Beginner9 runs · 14%
Intermediate21 runs · 33%
Advanced27 runs · 42%
Expert7 runs · 11%
Time it right
When to visit Summit at Snoqualmie
The 2025-26 season at The Summit at Snoqualmie ran from 19 December 2025 to 5 April 2026, a roughly fifteen-week season supported by average annual snowfall of around 450 inches. This substantial snowfall total supports reliable conditions across the resort's four base areas throughout the season. Season dates can shift depending on early and late-season weather.
Midwinter, from January through February, typically brings the most consistent conditions to the pass's varied terrain. As Seattle's closest major ski area and an Ikon Pass destination, The Summit sees very heavy weekend traffic from the Puget Sound region, with Interstate 90 access making it a straightforward day trip for a large metropolitan population. Night skiing extends operations across the resort's substantial terrain park, among the largest in the Pacific Northwest.
The resort's four-area structure means conditions and crowding can vary meaningfully between Alpental's steep terrain and the gentler slopes elsewhere on the pass, giving visitors flexibility depending on ability and preference. School holiday periods bring particularly heavy demand given the resort's proximity to Seattle's large population base. Nordic skiing and tubing add non-alpine options across the broader Snoqualmie Pass area.
Specific event programming beyond standard operations is not confirmed in available resort information. Boyne Resorts' ownership since 2018 has continued to invest across all four base areas while maintaining their distinct individual character. The Summit's role as Seattle's primary local mountain remains its defining seasonal identity despite its Ikon Pass destination status.
Season 2025 - 2026
19 Dec 2025
Opens
5 Apr 2026
Closes
107
Days open
38 ft
Annual snow
Getting there
Getting to Summit at Snoqualmie, and where to stay
The Summit at Snoqualmie sits at Snoqualmie Pass in the Washington Cascades, roughly 52 miles east of downtown Seattle on Interstate 90, with a base elevation of 2,841 feet and a summit at 3,865 feet across a 1,024-foot vertical drop over 1,994 acres spread across four base areas. This makes it the closest major ski area to Seattle of any resort in the state.
The pass itself has limited standalone town infrastructure, with most visitors day-tripping directly from the greater Seattle metropolitan area rather than staying overnight near the resort. North Bend, a smaller community at the base of the pass, offers some additional services. Seattle's western Washington population base supplies the overwhelming majority of the resort's visitors given the direct interstate access.
Interstate 90 provides direct, high-capacity access to the resort from both Seattle to the west and central Washington to the east, making Snoqualmie Pass one of the most straightforward major ski area approaches in the country. Winter driving conditions on the pass can include heavy snow and occasional chain requirements during storms, though the interstate is well maintained given its importance as a major transportation corridor.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the nearest airport with extensive commercial service, roughly an hour's drive from the resort under normal conditions. This convenient combination of interstate access and airport proximity makes The Summit at Snoqualmie one of the most accessible major ski resorts in the country relative to a large metropolitan area.
Where to stay
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Latest News
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Mount Buller Becomes Latest Australian Resort to Call Time Early on 2026
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Tremblant to Add New Timber Summit Ski Sector for 2027/28 Season
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2 Sept 2026
Mount Hotham to Close for the 2026 Season on Sunday, September 6
We knew when the Bird Bath Pond Skim showed up on Hotham's Instagram that the season was on its way out. It's been a rough one - I only managed two days on snow all year, at Falls Creek - and now Baw Baw, Selwyn and Hotham have all called it, possibly the worst Australian season I've seen in a decade. Hotham's last day of lift operations is Sunday, 6 September, with a Retro Day, Father's Day après and closing sales before the lifts stop turning for good.
1 Sept 2026
Thredbo to Replace Ageing Gunbarrel Quad With New Six-Seat Chairlift for 2028
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31 Aug 2026
Summit at Snoqualmie Lift System
The Summit at Snoqualmie runs twenty-five lifts across its four base areas: nine double chairs, seven quad chairs, three triple chairs and six surface lifts, serving 65 runs across 1,994 acres. This substantial combined network reflects the resort's origin as four separate ski areas, Alpental, Summit West, Summit Central and Summit East, each retaining its own lift infrastructure within the unified operation.
The consolidation of these four areas proceeded gradually: Ski Lifts, Inc. acquired Ski Acres in 1980, Alpental in 1983 and Hyak in 1992, before Booth Creek Ski Holdings purchased the combined operation in 1997. Boyne Resorts' management since 2007 and full ownership since March 2018 have continued to invest across all four areas' distinct lift networks.
Alpental's lifts serve the steepest, most advanced terrain on the pass, while Summit West, Summit Central and Summit East offer a broader mix of beginner, intermediate and advanced skiing across their combined double, quad, triple and surface lift network. This distributed structure allows skiers to choose terrain suited to their ability across four genuinely different mountain characters within a single ticket.
Specific recent lift replacement or expansion projects beyond the current twenty-five-lift network are not confirmed in available resort information. Boyne Resorts' ownership since 2018 has continued to support this unusually large combined network for a resort of the Summit's overall footprint. The Ikon Pass access gained under Boyne ownership has brought substantial additional destination visitor traffic to what remains fundamentally Seattle's local mountain.
25lifts across 4 types
7
Quad Chairs
3
Triple Chairs
9
Double Chairs
6
Surface Lifts
Summit at Snoqualmie lift system
Summit at Snoqualmie is served by 25 lifts, listed here by type. Check which lifts are turning against the live conditions before you plan your first laps - early lifts and high-speed chairs get you to the best snow fastest.
More Summit at Snoqualmie intelligence: trail map, snow report, webcams, resort overview.