Indy Pass partner White Pass Ski Area is dealing with an influx of crowds and wants to make two major facility improvements to address it. The ski area is located just outside of Mt. Rainer National Park in Washington, and sent a proposal to the Forest Service to expand their High Camp Lodge, and build a new Guest Services Building at the base. The High Camp Lodge expansion would include new seating spaces, food options, and more restrooms. The Guest Services Building would include a coffee shop, rental shops, ski school, ticket shop, and restrooms.
According to White Pass, the reason for the High Camp Lodge expansion is because “lines for food service and restroom use on busy days reach from one end of the building to the other. Insufficient seating capacity results in some guests choosing to make a 2.5-mile glide to the base area for seating in the Main Lodge or yurt, if available. There is a need to increase seating space, food service availability, and restroom access in the High Camp Lodge area to better serve ski area customers, and to better serve the needs of Paradise Basin guests. Constructing an addition to the High Camp Lodge would allow WPC to address inadequacies of the existing, under-sized building by providing additional food service seating and restroom space.”
For the Guest Services Building, White Pass elaborates that “the building would house ticketing, rentals, ski school, with additional restrooms and an area to purchase “grab and go” items. This building would be a two-story structure that provides indoor and outdoor stairs, as well as an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible elevator from the elevation of the Main Lodge to the elevation of the chairlifts. This would improve the experience of both the guest service visitors in the new building and the food service visitors in the Main Lodge. The new Guest Services Building would not provide any formal food service seating. The building would include a coffee stand, which could allow for short-term seating for up to 20 guests. This base area building would be a two-story building with a 5,000 sf footprint (Figure 5).”
The comment period for the expansion closed on September 30th, so we’ll know the next steps on the process rather shortly. It’ll need approval from the USDA Forest Service to move forward towards the construction phase.
You can view the proposal here.
Image Credits: White Pass Ski Area
