On Friday, Indy Pass partner 49 Degrees North opened for the season and debuted their new high-speed quad: the Northern Spirit Express. This follows a mild weather period that delayed openings for various ski resorts in the Pacific Northwest. The chairlift is now officially the longest chairlift in Washington and is only surpassed in vertical feet in the state by Crystal Mountain’s Mt. Rainer Gondola.
According to KREM2, other offseason improvements included expanding their retail shop, building a new equipment and maintenance facility, and making their lockers smartphone compatible.
The video below from Youtuber Ben Eminger charts the ride up the lift. The ride time comes out to be about six minutes and forty-five seconds and covers nearly nineteen hundred vertical feet. Compared to the fourteen-minute ride of Chair One, it’s a vast improvement.
Image/Video Credits: 49 Degrees North, Ben Eminger
