Leavenworth Looks Like a Beautiful Holiday Film
Although spoiled for ski choice in Vancouver, with any of three local hills reachable within 30 minutes and North America’s largest resort less than two hours away, I am using Google Maps to navigate a nearly four-hour, cross-border drive to a small ski resort in Washington’ Cascade Mountains that’s one-eighth the size of Whistler Blackcomb. After a long spell of pandemic travel limitations, a change of scenery is reason enough, but, as my travel companion and I would discover, Stevens Pass Ski Resort and its kitschy neighbouring town of Leavenworth take novelty to another level.
The drive there is arguably the ideal road trip. It’s long enough to classify as one and short enough to warrant scores of unhurried pitstops—the Trader Joe’s in Bellingham or the outlet stores along the I-5. Turning onto Route 2, the strip mall scenery shifts to country towns with quirky roadside attractions, including a personal-sized Wayside Chapel and an espresso “chalet” with a four-metre-tall wooden Bigfoot. As the road winds up into the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, Mother Nature unfurls the misty. Skykomish River before opening the curtain on angular, icy Gunn Peak. After passing through the imperceptible town of Scenic, snowy mountainsides studded with fir and hemlock dwarf the road and the elevation gains quickly. Rounding a corner and reaching the summit, Stevens Pass suddenly comes into view: the vertical black lines of its front-facing chairlifts and the coloured specs of descending skiers. We admire it and keep driving because, save for one hostel-style rustic cabin privately run by The Mountaineers, a Pacific Northwest outdoors club, there is no resort-side accommodation. The nearest are vacation rentals 26 kilometres back in Skykomish, but we’re staying a farther 56 kilometres east.
Posting up 40 minutes out from a ski resort on a ski trip isn’t a typical recommendation, but this isn’t an ordinary town. I’d heard about Leavenworth, and entering town, I see why—it is Bavaria come to America. Before any Bauernhaus-esque architecture is spotted, signage tips off that something is delightfully amiss. Civic signs, gas station signs, even the Starbucks sign are all written in gothic typefaces such as Fraktur and Blackletter. We pull into the parking lot of our hotel, the Bavarian Lodge. Adorning its white façade are wooden balconies and hand-painted architectural frescos known as Lüftlmalerei. Inside, there are similar murals on the elevator doors, vintage ski photos on the walls and old leather ski boots perched beside the fireplace, making what could be a Holiday Inn significantly more charming.
Across the street, Alpine folk music plays in the park that fronts rows of German farmhouse-inspired buildings. Along with biergartens, year-round Christmas stores and a 9,000-strong Nutcracker Museum, there are also Washington winery tasting rooms and not-Bavarian restaurants to cleanse the palate of hops and bratwurst. We kick things off quintessentially with schnitzel, spätzle and Pils at Andreas Keller, a family-run restaurant that’s been serving traditional fare here since 1989.
The town wasn’t always like this. Home to the Wenatchi, Yakama and Chinook peoples, it was Icicle Flats in 1890, when European settlers arrived looking for gold, fur and timber. A railroad followed, which led to a logging and sawmilling boom. When the railroad was rerouted in the 1930s, it decimated the economy. Bob Rodgers and Ted Price, Second World War veterans who came out as a couple later in life, are credited with shaping Leavenworth into a little Bavaria. On fishing, camping and skiing trips to the area, the two would stop at a café halfway between Stevens Pass and Leavenworth. In 1960, they bought the restaurant and, inspired by Bob’s post-war time stationed in a Bavarian Alpine village, gave it a similar look, named it the Squirrel Tree and built a Swiss chalet-style inn next door. Ted pitched the town on the theme and a tourism-based economy. To show their commitment to it, they sold the restaurant, bought property in town and remodelled it. Other business owners joined the cause and a Bavarian village based off Bemalte Fassaden, Leipzig and Munich was born.
The concept works because of the geographical similarities and existing ski culture. Formed in 1928, the Leavenworth Winter Sports Club hosted its first ski jumping tournament on a hill north of town on January 10 of the following year. In 1937, ski budThe concept works because of the geographical similarities and existing ski culture. Formed in 1928, the Leavenworth Winter Sports Club hosted its first ski jumping tournament on a hill north of town on January 10 of the following year. In 1937, ski buddies and business partners Bob Kehr and Don Adams started what is now Stevens Pass by clearing some trees and putting in the first rope tow using an old Ford V8 engine, which makes it the oldest operating ski area in Washington State. My visit over April Fools’ weekend happens to coincide with the mountain’s 85th anniversary season, so there’s an extra sense of occasion. With Vail Resorts now running the resort, I also make broader use of my Epic Pass.
Friday morning, we arrive at the base 30 minutes before opening and easily find parking—naturally, weekends are the busiest but there are 2,800 spaces and they’re mostly all free. To get a feel for the mountain, my friend and I take a guided tour with Wendell Kruse. The 65-year-old instructor first learned to snowboard 29 years earlier while in the US Navy. He taught himself to ski 15 years later and now teaches and guides both. As someone who also started snowboarding in my thirties, that fact immediately puts me at ease. Another instructor, Robyn, joins for fun and to even the skier-snowboarder split.
Stevens Pass’ 455 hectares and 500 vertical metres of mostly intermediate and advanced terrain comprises a frontside and Mill Valley backside between two major peaks, Big Chief and Cowboy mountains. Cooler easterly air drifts into its Cascade crest location, contributing to drier snow than the dense Pacific Northwest average. The frontside is a full meal deal of chutes, bowls and tighter tree sections to tuck into, and with the way the two faces meet, all roads lead to the base which makes it particularly first-timer friendly. Over on the backside, it’s a glade oasis with evergreens spaced out like constellations, and runs named for them too—Aquarius, Orion, Pegasus, Gemini. On a powder day, this is where I want to be. As our morning tour wraps up, we take Showcase back to base and Robyn points out that we’re skiing over part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
We’re tipped off to arrive early the next day. Before the mountain opens with 20 centimetres overnight to Saturday’s crowds, 91-year-old Cay Heitman and her family are taking a run together. The nonagenarian has skied Stevens Pass since 1945, first with her brothers and later with some of her six children, 16 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Foot surgery stopped her a few years back, but upon telling a granddaughter, “In heaven, I’ll be skiing at Stevens Pass every day,” the family and the resort coordinated to get her back up one last time.
After taking her first snowmobile ride from the parking lot to Daisy chair, Heitman weaves gingerly down Promenade flanked by her kin. Reaching the bottom, when asked how it was, she says, “Aren’t I lucky.” Reflecting on my weekend, one filled with more steins and memories than a few paragraphs can convey, I think the same. Even when it comes to the designed-for-convenience resort, sometimes the effort of staying in one place and skiing in another is worth it, especially when stepping into Bavaria and back in time requires neither a trans-Atlantic flight nor rope tow.
If You Go
Leavenworth is located 344 kilometres southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia and 240 kilometres south of Osoyoos, BC. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is 225 kilometres west.
Discover more information about Stevens Pass at stevenspass.com and Leavenworth at leavenworth.org.
This article originally appeared in the Winter 2023 issue of Explore Magazine. Subscribe now and never miss out.
