XC ski areas near Seattle

My family is thinking about spending the time between Christmas and
New Year's Day in or near Seattle. I'm mostly interested in spending a
few days at a decent xc ski area. Does anybody know of a place within
an hour or two of Seattle that's likely to have snow and at least 25k
of good groomed trails?

Many thanks,
Onno

There's really only one choice, and it's
my home area :
see -
http://www.summit-at-snoqualmie.com/winter/nordic.html
It's part of a downhill area that is 1
hour east of Seattle. There are a
couple of trails at the base that aren't
much, frankly. The upper trails I think
are very good, and are reached by riding
downhill chairlifts. Your trail pass
gets you 2 rides up the chair, which
basically means that you can come down
to the lodge for lunch. You come down on
easy downhill slopes, or you do the 'big
tour' and go the long way around Mt
Catherine, which can be pretty nice,
especially later in the season.

The grooming is usually pretty darn
good, but sometimes we get a dump of a
couple of feet , and it takes a day or
two to pound that down. We should have
pretty good snow coverage by then, but
we got a late start last year - think
snow!

There are a couple of hotels serving the
downhill area, but they certainly aren't
just next to the XC slopes - you'll need
a car.

There is one other option, actually.
There is about 25K of fine trails a bit
further east, about 80 minutes east of
Seattle. This is called Cabin Creek,
and it's not a ski area, but a system of
trails established by the Kongsberger
ski club and groomed by the State of
Washington. There is no charge to use
these trails, but you must have a $40
parking permit that you can buy at most
sporting goods places in Seattle, like
REI, which is a must-visit place for
outdoory out-of-towners, IMHO.

Cabin creek, when groomed, is great, but
you can't count on the grooming
schedule. Some skiers drive to Cabin
Creek, and if the grooming isn't good,
head back to the Summit. You can see a
map of the trails at
http://www.kongsbergers.org/.

There is no lodge at Cabin Creek other
than the Kongsberger lodge, which is not
open to the public. Bring food and
water.

There are other options with longer
drives, including the superfine Methow
Valley, which is about a 5 hour drive.

If you have more questions, I'll be
happy to answer.

Erik Brooks

----- Original Message -----
From: "Onno Oerlemans"

To: "Multiple recipients of list
NORDIC-SKI"

Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 7:47 AM
Subject: XC ski areas near Seattle


My family is thinking about spending
the time between Christmas and
New Year's Day in or near Seattle. I'm
mostly interested in spending a
few days at a decent xc ski area. Does
anybody know of a place within
an hour or two of Seattle that's
likely to have snow and at least 25k
of good groomed trails?

Many thanks,
Onno