WHAT’S BREWING THIS SEASON AT CRYSTAL
Fire pits, food halls and brewpub colabs to feed all your food & beverage cravings
Temps are dropping, stoke is building, and change is in the air. Our big news last week was the transportation initiative, but we’ve also got a ton of new developments on the hill and in the base area brewing for this season. From smoothies and hop huts to a two-brewery outdoor bar at Campbell Basin, we’re fired up on our new on-hill offerings. We’ll have more firepits in Discovery Meadow—plus a food hall, smoothie bar and quick stop market on Quicksilver!
For nearly six decades, we’ve been drawn to the uplift of the alpine, the escape from the grind and the charge of a powder day with views that take our breath away. We’ve found community on chairlifts, in parking lots and around fire pits. We’ve truly realized what a valuable resource the mountain is for all of us. Throughout the years, the team at Crystal has stayed true to being a place focused on providing the premier ski and snowboard experience in the Pacific Northwest.
As we reflect on our past—which started in 1962 with two double chairlifts, a T-bar and seven rope tows—we’re excited to reveal our plans for the future. Over the next five years, we plan to bring $100 million in infrastructure investments and service advancements, starting this summer with a redevelopment of the base area. This groundbreaking will kick off the biggest capital investment ever made at Crystal Mountain, with a focus on more access and more space for everyone.
Dedicated to the spirit of our community, Crystal’s new Mountain Commons will center a redevelopment of the mountain’s base area facilities beginning this April. Headlined by the construction of a new 25,000 sq ft lodge, and surrounded by new outdoor space to eat, gather, and enjoy the mountains, the Mountain Commons will be a huge first step in Crystal’s expansion plans.
The open-concept space will optimize the arrival experience from grabbing tickets to a cup of coffee in the morning, as well as offering increased capacity for everything from restrooms to retail. The $26 million project will also provide visitors with new dining choices making it easier to find seats at lunchtime, offer expansive beach-front outdoor seating to take in the up-valley views, and create a welcoming gathering space for everyone.
Crystal is tucked into a tight mountain valley with access through a National Forest up a two-lane mountain road. That location is part of Crystal’s allure, but it also creates a finite capacity for vehicles—something we all feel when The Boulevard crawls or the lots fill early. Absolutely no one wants to be stuck in a powder day traffic jam or to be turned back to town instead of lapping the gondola or dropping into Northway. At the same time, as snow lovers, we’re all evaluating our environmental impacts more closely now—thinking about how we can make different choices that better benefit our mountain ecosystems.
For those reasons, we decided to tackle our new transportation plan with thought, strategy and consideration, rather than sticking our head in the snowbank and pretending traffic wasn’t an issue. We listened to a lot of impassioned guest feedback, carefully evaluated our options and forecasted for another big winter of visitation after seeing how our population, our community and the outdoors are all booming right now. We looked to other ski resorts that have tackled similar transportation challenges and what solutions best preserved the character of their hills.
