Snoqualmie Pass sits roughly in the center of this onX Backcountry screengrab.
Crowding in the backcountry is a thing. More users. More access to route information. More people seeking a little peace and quiet and, if they are lucky, some fine turns. Unless you can walk/skin out the door, we primarily access backcountry trailheads and entry points by car. All those cars need to be parked somewhere.
If a lack of deep light powder snow has you up in arms, a lack of parking on a powder day likely has you, at best, idling with some tunes playing, with an elevated heart rate and spiking cortisol levels. For wintertime backcountry enthusiasts, the parking problem on Washington’s Snoqualmie Pass recently became more complex. The Summit at Snoqualmie, which owns and operates four ski areas on the pass, Summit West, Summit Central, Summit East, and Alpental—all separated by ~ 1 mile of state interstate—announced a new, more restrictive parking system for the 24-25 season.
Here are the basics according to the company:
- Parking permits will be required in all lots between 7am and 2pm daily, from Nov. 18th – Apr. 30th.
- Permits are “free” for pass holders. Season pass holders receive a parking permit. (Each pass holder can use up to two vehicles/pass/parking permit)
- People purchasing “flex-pack” passes receive parking permits.
- Ikon Pass holders pay $5/day for parking.
- Day-use ski ticket holders pay $5/day for parking.
- For Uphillers, parking is included with the uphill pass, with some restrictions. The ski area’s documentation adds, “Peak-day parking restrictions still apply and parking in the wrong lot will result in a citation and fine.” An uphill pass costs $45 for the season. Uphill skier parking is limited to specific lots on peak/weekend days.
Otherwise, if you park in one of the many lots administered by the ski areas, be ready to pay $55/day for parking.
The Summit—ski area parking on Snoqualmie Pass.
Snoqualmie is the closest access backcountry terrain for those living in the Seattle region. Zip up I-90 West on a low-traffic day, and you could be touring an hour’s ride from the city. With such proximity to a major population center, parking at the pass (also called Snoqualmie Summit) is an issue in winter.
Not lost here in the discussion is that the parking lots in question sit on US Forest Service (USFS) public land leased and managed by The Summit at Snoqualmie under a special use permit.
Maybe a story for another time, but legal rulings at the Federal level have generally given ski areas a wide berth regarding how they restrict access and/or manage their leased land under their respective special use permits. So, charging a fee for parking lots they maintain for their customers is likely not a legal issue. (Perhaps it is an equity issue, though.)
The new parking restrictions are also broad in application; permit pricing does not fluctuate according to peak/non-peak days or real-time availability. The $55 price tag is also among the nation’s most expensive rates for ski area parking.
For Backcountry users in the region who are neither season pass holders, uphillers, nor long-term planners, the “where will I park?” question could be vexing. Snoqualmie Pass is a classic and tight V-shaped valley with limited public parking. Accessing public land—read as excellent alpine backcountry terrain—beyond ski area boundaries often means parking in a ski area lot, slapping on skins, and tapping into the day’s backcountry zone through a USFS winter trailhead.
Although several Sno-Parks are in relatively close proximity to Snoqualmie Pass, none offer easy access to trailhead or winter recreation access points. The Hyak Sno-Park sits near to the Summit East portion of the ski area and is popular with xc-skiers and sledders (the non-motorized kind). According to a local ski tourer, this parking area is a few miles from decent terrain. The Gold Creek Sno-Park, a large parking area in the central portion of the pass maintained for motorized winter access, is not a viable recreation access point due to an ecological restoration project near the lot. The closure is estimated to be in effect for 5-7 years.
The Seattle Times ran a story on Oct. 15th quoting Tess Wendel, a Board member from the Cascade Backcountry Alliance, a regional backcountry advocacy group. The paper quoted Wendel as saying, “We’re hoping this will spur the Forest Service into having a little more urgency for winter recreation management planning… There’s a lot of public land up there and this is a big reduction in access.”
The article noted Wendel’s reference to a need for wintertime access to the Kendall Katwalk trailhead on the pass. The trailhead remains unplowed/unmaintained in the winter, sits a few tenths of a mile off the pass’ westside exit, and accommodates approximately 50 cars, with the possibility of accommodating overflow parking.
Well said. Another challenging element of the access in the Snoqualmie Backcountry is the inconsistent parking enforcement from the WSDOT. Some of the most popular zones in the Pass historically have seen users park alongside State Route 906. This past winter, the WSDOT has begun issuing parking tickets to skiers/hikers who have parked along 906 next to the Kendall/PCT/Commonwealth trailhead, further pushing backcountry users to utilize resort parking lots. The result is a volume and crowding issue created by mismanagement between the ski resort, the USFS, and the DOT.
Tess’ comments are spot on. Every time I travel to ski, I am shocked at how many winter use parking lots are available in basically every state but Washington. I can’t help but imagine a world where you can access somewhere in the pass without having to use a ski area parking lot…
I moved from WA to OR about a year ago and it’s wild how much better the access is here, even though snopark passes are a fraction of the cost. Obviously places still get crowded, but not to the same degree.
Unfortunately, the skiing around here is not as fun as in WA 🙂
This is the question I am now trying to answer——why is there a lack of parking available for backcountry users in/around Snoqualmie (or Washington, more generally)? Sure I’m certain, like elsewhere, the USFS acts in good faith, but operates at glacial speeds. I’m hoping to learn more.