Reviews for The Summit at Snoqualmie

Read skier and snowboarder-submitted reviews on The Summit at Snoqualmie that rank the ski resort and mountain town on a scale of one to five stars for attributes such as terrain, nightlife and family friendliness. See how The Summit at Snoqualmie stacks up in the reviews, on and off the slopes, from skiing and family activities to the après scene. Read up on pros, cons and other comments in reviews left by fellow skiers and riders. Don't forget to submit your own The Summit at Snoqualmie review! Scroll to the bottom of this page to let other travelers know about your skiing and resort experience.

Reviews for The Summit at Snoqualmie

Total (2.4)
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63 Total Reviews:
5 Star Reviews (10)
4 Star Reviews (14)
3 Star Reviews (11)
2 Star Reviews (10)
1 Star Reviews (18)
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Most recent
So Disappointed
Same as what everyone else says. They are the fast food of ski resorts and want you to be thankful anybody even shows up to work. Been coming here since 2018 with my family as season pass holders. I've slowly come to realize why everyone is willing to drive 2.5 hrs to Crystal or anywhere other than Summit.
Close proximity to Seattle/Bellevue area
It's poorly staffed, broken down or closed lifts, overcrowded, and overpriced.
Aconcerned Regionalskier
Tough to rate without bias. Skied for 35 years all over the continent, Summit is now my "home" mountain being only 30-minutes from my house. The reality is, I just don't ski on Friday-Sunday any longer. The amount (and quality) of people that flood every nook and cranny on this mountain is quite concerning for the overall outlook of humanity. As an expert level skier, there's just nothing to ski here - including Alpental. I know folks will say "ohhh what about International, it's got the best inbound double black on a pow day" ... yea bud, you and 56,000 Seattleites have the same idea. Everything with "pow" gets tracked out by 10am IF they even open the spots due to the extreme avy danger, which is often. For anyone other than an introductory skier, the runs at Central and West are SHORT. Seriously, when you get on the lift note the last person in line at the bottom - by the time you get back around to the line after your run you'll see the same jacket before they get on the lift. East needs to remain the "hidden gem" so no comment.
Usually has snow
CROWDED, extremely short runs
Vanessa Hudson
Used to love this mountain due to the proximity and ability to afford tickets. Also used to have a great ez ski to ride package. Now it just seems way overpriced for true beginners (wanted to take our son here) l, the amount of terrain, quality of the runs (length, terrain, fun), and vibe. I've wanted to get back into it for a while with my partner and our son, but the value just really doesn't seem like it is there. Just seems way wrong. Too bad Stevens and other passes aren't closer. Given all the cons it's seems like we just need to let dreams of old Snoqualmie go and try the many other mountains.
Close to Home
Pricing, Space, Lift Lines/Speed
Lang Rosen
This is a typically understaffed place. However the lifts that they close do to that are usually not vital to the mountain anyway. If you are a beginner go to summit west. And if you are an expert go to east or alpinetal. And intermediate at central. For a local mountain, that is only 45 minutes from the heart of Seattle this is a neat place with ok snow and good terrain if you know we’re to go. The night skiing is one of the most underrated things as well, it has almost everything open at night, and it’s only an 45 minutes from Seattle.
This place is great for beginners.
Understaffed.
Jane Smith
We bought twilight passes that start at 2 pm, but most of the areas on almost all days are open till 3-4 pm. Alpental is closing at 2 or 4 pm, even during school break. Are we supposed to ski 1-2 hours only? What are we paying for? On Dec.26 in the Central, only one trail/slope was open even though other slopes were perfectly groomed, making long lines at the lift, collecting big crowds on the slope thus making it unsafe. The slopes on Silver fir are habitually ungroomed, except under-lift area, and it is done way not enough at the Central. Too often not all lifts are open making very long lines of nervous skiers. The only well groomed area is the West but it is closing impossibly early, that is why this beautiful area is not popular. A great job was done on the Central parking lot repair but in the wintertime it still needs cleaning of ice, big bumps and holes that make its use unsafe for both, vehicles and people. The only good thing is smooth ride of the lifts and very friendly stuff. Each year the cost of passes and tickets is increasing but the amount of service is steadily declining. The strategy of the resort became cutting everything to collect larger crowds. The greed is your logo, not the people's enjoyment! We are not returning next year and will never recommend it to anyone.
Great staff
Big crowds, ungroomed or not enough groomed slopes
Not Available
A pretty good mountain, my home mountain, I am not going to be nice in this review because of this. They have a master plan set in place with snowmaking, much more high speed lifts, and other helpful assets, My ideas, if you want a nice easy run, or a blue, go to west, if you want something that will make everyone happy, go to central, if you want a different experience, meaning the mountain is a different type of setup, and has no beginner lift, go to east “Hyak” and if you want long steep hard runs, alpental is your go to place, be sure to go off the edelweiss chair if you want truly steep stuff! Everywhere has night skiing except summit east and edelweiss at alpental! Happy skiing, or snowboarding!
Good terrain, a whole area for beginners and intermediate (summit west) easy access, usally long seasons, early December to late April early may.
Not the best snow quality, only 3 high speed lifts soon to change due to master plan!
I primarily ski at Crystal, but I've been taking my daughters, who are new to skiing this year, to Summit occasionally. Of the times I have been there, on all but one occasion the only lift open serving green terrain has been Holiday. Just ONE lift serving green terrain. And that one lift is mobbed by people just like me - parents bringing their kids to learn to ski, as well as other beginners hoping to learn to ski. It's absolutely ridiculous. Holiday is not even that great of a lift. It's not dual speed, and, for a beginner, it's difficult to get off of. Therefore, people are constantly falling and the lift has to stop. Attentive lifties would help with this, but that is not the norm. In addition, they have ticket scanners at the bottom, but usually no one is sorting skiers into groups of four, meaning that as often as not, the lift chairs are not full. As a result of all this, the waits are absurdly long - 20 minutes to get to the top easily. I end up freezing cold from doing so much standing and so little skiing. There are 8 or 9 green runs at Summit, but typically Holiday will be the only one open except on high season weekends. My last visit was a Friday night and the place was packed, but still only one green run open. We'll probably continue to go because sometimes we just don't have the 90 minutes to drive to Crystal or Stevens. But with the amount of money they must be raking in - lift tickets sometimes close to $200 for adults!! - I don't see why they can't staff most of the lifts like other local resorts do, and manage the ones that are actually open properly.
Close to Seattle, easy parking
Long lift lines, lifts often closed, lifties not paying attention, limited terrain open for beginners
Jennifer
Our family wanted to like this place. It's so close to Seattle and has decent blue runs for intermediates. However, we kept noticing inattentive lift operators who seemed spaced out/bored/busy chatting amongst themselves and not paying attention to people (even little kids) getting on and off the lifts and not attending to those who are obviously struggling to get on/off the lifts. We've been to many other resorts and there were resorts with more attentive operators than others but we've never seen lift operators as inattentive as the ones at the Summit at Snoqualmie. Very disappointing.
Close to Seattle
Inattentive lift operators
Jack Gallup
Gonna be honest, had extremely high hopes for this place and was trying my best to go at it with a positive attitude when we arrived. The lifts themselves have to be from the 50s and are completely unsafe. The staff was rude (except for the crossing guard). The approx. wait time for EACH lift at Central was 20+ min. The runs were short, moguls on every single run. Snow was decent! Rained the day before which made the snow soft. The parking is a disaster. They have put no money into the i to operation in years. Went on a Sunday at Central, spent all day try and made the most of it while on getting on 6 runs in 3-4 hours. Tried going on Monday, where they apparently closed 2 lifts at Central, ALL the lifts at West, and ALL the lifts at East…due to “low foot traffic and low staff…” If i would’ve known I would have tried to spend my day on Sunday at West to enjoy it there, and then do Central on Monday but of course no information provided readily available on the website. Just got completely bummed when we showed up to an empty parking lot and had to drive over to summit to get some type of worth for the money we spent. We are on a 16 day Ski/Snowboarding trip from Utah, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Mammoth. And this is hands down the worst resort i’ve been to. Drive an extra couple hours to Crystal. Would love a renovation to the entire operation please.
I guess if you live in Seattle and don’t want to drive to a decent ski resort it is close enough.
Staff, Lift lines, Lift quality, Trail Quality, Lack of info on website for hours for each mountain
Tom
This is my first season skiing here (I bought season passes for myself and my grand children). My only criticism is that the resort appears to be understaffed, and that may be a function of covid and the very weird year we are having. The understaffing mainly shows up as as closed lifts. The most modern and beginner friendly lift at Summit Central is Holiday. It is slow and lines (and waits) are absurdly long. The other lifts that can service beginners are only open occasionally midweek (when we ski). This being said, I have no other criticisms. The staff have been friendly and cooperative and the skiing itself has been pretty much spot on for our purposes. We’ll be skiing there again next season.
Excellent (mostly) for beginners, pretty good for intermediate, very convenient location
Holiday lift, which is the best one for beginners, is nearly always crowded.
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