snoqualmie pass skin up policy

The Pass-wide policy summary is that once that day happens (tomorrow) at Alpental.  There is no uphill travel allowed within the permit boundary unless the resort is OPEN for business, YES - OPEN and loading lifts -AND, you must also make pre-hike contact with the patrol so they can try and accommodate your goals and help you choose safest route for us both. Once you have completed your uphill hike - all normal ski area rules still apply, like run closures and our back bowls policy.  For getting further afield - even though "technically" you might be skirting along and somewhat through our permit area, we do not preclude you from heading up the South Fork valley towards Source Lake in order to access points beyond our operating area.  ie   Great Scott, The Tooth, Chair Peak, Kaleetan, etc.  But the savvy traveller must be aware that all of the left hand slopes are avalanche prone terrain and may in fact have very happy little triggers riding every feature.  Natural and human triggered slides have often endangered and trashed those commonly used up-valley skin and snowshoe routes.  We ask that you stay trail right when on the groomed return trails and once those peter out you should make your own way rather than following the downhill ski area return tracks.  VERY hazardous high speed (sometimes less-skilled) oncoming traffic will be on those tracks.  There are definitely alternative trail routes that avoid all but the largest slide hazards if you stay valley bottom or even a bit right in key places.  One of these days a good project for a motivated and wise group would be to truly establish the best such winter route and we could all adopt it into habit.  Beyond the waterfall though, slides from the Chair Peak basin are a threat throughout, and Hazard Assessment skills become very important.  Sorry for digression, I could talk about Alpental all day, and all of these policies have been developed in an attempt to keep the resort user from causing harm to the recreationalist, and vice-versa.        For the rest of the Summit terrain, the rules are quite a bit more lenient.  We do allow uphill travel at all hours, open or closed, at West, Central, and East.  Everyone seems to have their favorite spot but I’m sure it’s EZ to recognize each has it’s own best practice.  We “generally” prefer that any uphill traffic stays well to the side of any run or open slope so as not to encourage collisions with guests, but at West; for example, neither edge contains an appetizing route – so we ask that you choose the least traveled zone and clearly try to avoid becoming a problem.  It should be pointed out that these policies are to facilitate shared use of public lands and not trying to monopolize all the slopes. It should also be clear that the most common primary use of these slopes are for ski area customers sliding downhill.  If you choose to do the opposite and increase the hazard to both you and the traditional users, our legal system might conclude that you could have some increased responsibility towards any potential accident.  In short, if you climb a busy ski run and someone hits you – a “reasonable” judge or jury might conclude the fault lies with you – fair warning.  Our job is to try and protect our guests and still try to allow you reasonable access to the same public land.  I’ll also say that even though quite a lot of Summit Central is actually privately owned, in the interest of making it as simple as possible, we apply the same policy to all across the Summit Slopes – with the above described exceptions at Alpental.  Watch for snow machines, winch grooming cables, and please stay away from the lift machinery, but if we all try to get along I’ll bet we can. Thanks for listening.  I didn’t know I had that in me!