Crystal Mountain Lift

The Crystal Mountain lift options are quite varied, making it easy for skiers to get around the resort and check out its many different trails. The Crystal Mountain WA Resort has a long history of great slopes, trails, and backcountry terrain, and as the ski area has grown, the number and speed of its chairlifts have grown as well.

When the resort first opened in 1962, there were two double chairlifts, Miner’s Basin and Iceberg Ridge. The following year, the Green Valley lift was the first double lift installed followed by the Quicksilver double chairlift in 1965. Several years later in 1970 came the Campbell Basin double chairlift and in 1976, the Bullion Basin lift was installed becoming the resort’s first triple lift. The first high-speed quad lift was added in 1988, and the Chinook and Forest Queen Express lifts were installed in 1998.

The ski area underwent a major expansion in the summer of 2007, adding Northway to the list of Crystal Mountain lifts. The Northway lift is in what was once the North Backcountry, and adding access to this part of the park increased the developed ski terrain to 2,300 acres, 70 percent more than what had been available. During the summer of 2010, the Mt Rainier Gondola was constructed, which travels directly from the base area to the summit of Crystal Mountain and has beautiful views of Rainier.