OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — You can spend, oh, $400 to take your family or friends skiing at Stevens Pass in the Cascades east of Seattle, or you can have a quintessential Olympic Peninsula winter experience right here at home.
“We have good snow, bad snow, steep stuff, mellow stuff,” said Craig Hofer, manager of the Hurricane Ridge Ski & Snowboard Area, 17 miles up from Port Angeles.
There’s a bunny hill, an intermediate hill and, if you’re up for it, some 800 feet of vertical gain — all draped in sparkling white.
The Ridge opened for downhill skiing Monday — about two weeks later than last season’s, said Hofer, who’s worked on the Ridge since the winter of 1975-’76.
This Saturday and Sunday, the ski area will be operating from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Hurricane Ridge Ski School is scheduled to open Jan. 28.
“We skied on Monday on 18 inches of Idaho-Montana-type powder,” reported Joe Gladfelter, a longtime volunteer with the Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club.
A great value
To him, this particular mountain is one great value. The snow and the terrain are spectacular, and they’re only about 45 minutes from town.
An adult beginner can ski all day on the bunny rope-tow for $12 or do both the bunny and intermediate hills for $24.
When the T-shaped overhead Poma lift opens, skiers and boarders can grab hold of it or the rope tows for a total of $32 for an all-day pass.
If you’re in fifth grade, you get the best deal: free skiing all season.
The ski area’s program, aimed at attracting kids with parents and siblings in tow, requires the fifth-grader to show proof in the form of a report card, school identification card or teacher’s note on school letterhead.
Ridge prices are in high contrast, predictably, with the $62 per adult, plus gasoline for the 350-mile round trip from Port Angeles.
Of course, resorts like Stevens have the big chair lifts and lots of amenities, while none of the above exists at the 54-year-old Hurricane Ridge Ski & Snowboard Area.
But Gladfelter, who likes to go up with his wife, Becky, and sons, Jack, 7, and Jason, 8, believes the Ridge has its own kind of charm.
‘Sense of community’
“There’s a sense of community,” since you’re likely to find yourself skiing beside somebody you know.
It’s a small place with big snow — 400 inches annually — that doesn’t get overrun by resort-scale crowds.
Hofer estimated that on a busy day, about 200 people ski or board the Ridge.
The Hurricane Ridge Winter Sports Club website, www.HurricaneRidge.com, has prices, abundant details and a link to the club’s Facebook page. There, fans repeat the unofficial slogan: “If you can ski Hurricane Ridge, you can ski anywhere!”
The Gladfelters’ boys have had a good time proving that.
They recently got to go up to Whistler, B.C., “and they were all over the mountain,” their father said.
Hurricane Ridge, when you get down to it, has what you need to ski: equipment rentals available in the lodge, the two rope tows and, after some more snow falls, the Poma lift.
Hofer said another 2 to 3 feet of snow will need to cover the gullies around the Poma before he can start running it.
Meantime, rope-tow holders are advised to wear leather gloves or glove wraps.
Ski school
For the newcomers, next weekend is a good one to go to school — the Hurricane Ridge Ski School, which offers hourlong classes for 4- and 5-year-olds and 90-minute lessons for children age 6 and older.
The program runs for five consecutive weekends starting Jan. 28. The cost for the whole course is $125 for preschoolers and $150 for students 6 and older.
Ski school is for “whoever wants to sign up,” Hofer said, adding, “We’ve had a lot of older folks.”
The older kids, he joked, know a whole lot more than the instructors.
His granddaughter, Cori Sue Holmes, 10, learned to ski when she was about 7, simply by watching everybody closely.
“By midseason, she was going up and down those hills,” Hofer said.
Private lessons are also available for $35 an hour. Details and tips are plentiful under the “Lessons” link on www.HurricaneRidge.com.
Conditions at Ridge
By Thursday morning, the Olympic National Park sensor indicated 67 inches of snow on the Ridge, but Hofer said the ski area averages about half that.
The morning mercury hit 29 degrees Thursday, a considerable warm-up after Wednesday’s 10-degree low.
Hurricane Ridge Road was expected to be open most of the day Thursday, but the road was described as extremely snowy, slick and icy.
Conditions can change quickly, so before you go, get updated conditions on the road and at the Ridge by phoning the park’s hotline at 360-565-3131.
This place has weather as dramatic as its scenery, Hofer said — and that can mean sunshine or wind and whiteout.
“When it’s snowing and blowing, the last mile of road before the parking lot fills up really fast” with great swaths of powder.
But then there are the glorious days, the days when you can look up through crisp, clear air to Olympics so sharp they could stop your heart.
“It really is a beautiful place when you can see all the mountain peaks,” Hofer mused.
“A lot of times, it’s snowing or raining in Port Angeles, but it’s sunny up on the Ridge.
After all, “you are up above the clouds.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
