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Northway Lift Grand Opening

12.16.2007

After much anticipation the new Northway lift has finally opened

Over 4,000 skiers and snowboarders hit the slopes at Crystal for the opening day of the new Northway lift. The ribbon cutting was delayed until noon due to high wind but the wind subsided and the sun peaked through the clouds bringing even excitement to the already excited crowd. After the first two skiers loaded the lift shortly after noon, every chair was full for the rest of the day. Twin brothers, Lance and Loren Petkovich, were the first two to ride the new lift. “It was awesome,” said Lance. “It was really cool to ride the lift for the first time and check out all the new runs from above,“ he added.

Northway is a double Doppelmayr chairlift that will move along at a faster-than-standard rate of 550 feet per minute but will limit skier capacity in the new terrain to 1,200 people per hour. This will increase the existing 19,110 people per hour lift capacity to 20,310. The lift will provide access to approximately 1,000 acres and increase Crystal’s 1,300 acres of lift serviced ski terrain by 77% to 2,300 acres. Crystal has a total of 2,600 acres, including the South Backcountry, making it the largest ski area in Washington.

“It’s been a long road to get to this day and it was really exciting to see people on the new lift enjoying the ride and new terrain,“said Tiana Enger, Marketing Director at Crystal Mountain. “The new lift really spreads skier traffic out and makes the mountain feel twice as big,” she added.

The addition of the Northway lift is part of the first phase of the Master Development Plan which was approved in 2004.