Snow is finally falling in the Cascades, but with the resort still closed, businesses at the pass are stuck in limbo.
SNOQUALMIE PASS, Wash. — Winter is finally making an appearance at Snoqualmie Pass, but the delayed start to the ski season is taking its toll on businesses.
Snow is dusting the evergreens, coating roadways and slowly blanketing the mountain. It’s the kind of scene that typically signals the start of ski season in the Cascades. But on the ground, the reality is starkly different. Chairlifts remain still. There are no skiers, no boots clipping into bindings, no early-season rush.
For businesses that depend on that winter traffic, the wait is taking a toll.
“It’s looking bright, hopefully,” said Taylor Gale, the HR and operations manager at Dru Bru, as snow fell outside the brewery’s doors. But hope alone hasn’t been enough to offset the impact of a delayed season.
“A lot less people,” Gale said. “We’re all definitely hurting.”
The Summit at Snoqualmie remains closed because the snow base is still not sufficient to open. That delay has stretched what business owners call “shoulder season,” a slower period that typically wraps up by late November, well into mid-December.
Without lifts spinning, traffic through the pass slows to a trickle. Fewer cars stop. Fewer people walk through the door. And every sale matters.
“Every beer poured definitely counts,” Gale said.
The challenges compounded on Wednesday when an overnight storm knocked out power around 4 a.m. Only a handful of businesses were able to stay open, the ones equipped with generators.
“The only thing you can do is be positive and check the weather every ten minutes,” Gale said.
Down the road, the phone is still ringing at the Summit Inn and Pancake House just not with the calls owners want to hear.
“In this span of time, no snow is there, we got so many cancellations,” said Mr. Singh, who runs the front desk at the Summit Inn and Pancake House. “They change their dates depending upon whether snow is there or not.”
He said, so far, five to 10 reservations have been canceled this month alone, a period when rooms are usually filling up ahead of the holidays.
“They might not come,” Singh said. “They might cancel.”
The uncertainty has left businesses watching forecasts closely, hoping the next storm delivers enough snow to finally turn winter into a season.
The Summit says that if the resort operates fewer than 100 days this season, passholders would receive a proportional credit toward the purchase of a 2026–27 season pass, based on how many days the mountain is unable to operate.
For now, businesses at Snoqualmie Pass are prepared and waiting. Staff is ready, lights are on where they can be and everyone is holding out hope that the snow falling tonight is the start of something that sticks.
