Jeff's Corner - Mission Ridge, Washington

Mission Ridge is a mid-sized ski area on the east slope of the Cascades a few hours east of Seattle. It looms above the working class town of Wenatchee. This is the start of the high desert plains of central
Washington. Though not far from the crest of the Cascades, this area receives much less snow than, for example, Stevens Pass, an hour to the west, but the snow it gets is much lighter and the skies are much sunnier. This area is famous for its orchards and its Columbia Valley appelation wines.

Mission is one of my favorite ski areas. The variety of terrain here is good, considering the relative size of the area, it's rarely crowded, and on clear days the views to Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams, both distant dormant volcanoes (Rainier tops 14,400 feet) are inspiring.

From the base area, Chair 1 serves uninteresting beginner terrain. It's mostly a conduit for getting to the Liberator Express. This high speed quad, installed a few years ago, once operated at Winter Park, Colo. It serves a huge bowl full of mellow cruisers, hike-to rock lined chutes, and steep runs. The hike-to chutes, AKA Bomber Cliffs, are accessed off of intermediate Boundary Road. They are in my opinion some of the most aesthetic chutes in the west -- sunny and lined by black rock. They raenot
especially steep. The majority of the runs are massive open groomers and are great. I liked Ka-Wham, Bomber Bowl, Sunspot and Hidden Valley, all on teh looker's right. Looker's left are a handful of short double diamond runs. Windy Ridge offers easy hike-to short bowl and chute runs. These runs mellow
somewhat as they proceed downhill and into more shady north facing runs.

Much of the mountain has a "Mission" theme, you might notice. A WWII-era B-24 Liberator, a four-engine bomber, crashed on the mountain several decades ago. Pieces of it can be seen at a display near mid-mountain.

From the midway area, Chair 3 serves more than a dozen cruisers, with a few expert and double diamonds thrown in. This side of the mountain is usually in the shade.

Back at the base, Chair 4 serves a handful of intermediate runs and some huge glades. This chair is not always open. I found the terrain down here to suffer from a bit of a lack of snow, especially when compared to the beautiful conditions on the upper mountain.

There is a rope tow adjacent to Chair 4 serving a small beginner hill.

Though this is not destination ski country, I highly recommend Mission.

Mission is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays and open for night skiing with limited operations on Saturdays.

All services are available in Wenatchee, a 20 minute drive.

Jeff Schmerker
Waynesville, NC

The upper chair at Mission