Avalanche @ Crystal Mountain, WA Destroys #1 Chairlift in PNW Yesterday

A large, explosive triggered avalanche destroyed the High Campbell Chairlift at Crystal Mountain ski resort 4:45pm yesterday.  Specifically, the bottom terminal and towers of the chairlift were destroyed.

The avalanche was triggered by a 40 pound explosive and traveled from the start zone of The Throne, down the Campbell Basin, destroyed the High Campbell chair, burying the chair’s wreckage in 6-8 feet of snow, and continued onto Queen’s Run.  It’s being reported that the avalanche knocked the two story motor room off its foundation and destroyed two lift towers.  Powerful stuff, huh?

The High Campell chairlift will be replaced this summer and will be obviously closed for the rest of the season.  Queen’s run will be closed this week as crews work on clearing the avalanche debris that accumulated there.

Crystal published a video of an enormous, tree downing avalanche last week and this latest chair destroying avalanche likely wasn’t any less powerful.  Weak layers in the snowpack combined with heavy snow and rain have created extremely unstable avalanche conditions in Washington state this week and last.

We have previously ranked the High Campbell lift as the number 1 chairlift in the Pacific Northwest.  It’s a huge bummer that it’s been destroyed but we’re excited that they’l be able to replace it over the summer.

The High Campbell chair is the best chair at Crystal for freeriders as it allows access to Crystal’s most challenging terrain. 

Breaking news! Huge avalanche takes out bottom of High Campbell chairlift. It was triggered by an explosive on the throne around 4:45 pm. The area was closed and nobody was hurt. We are taking the instability in the snowpack very seriously and will continue to mitigate risk and close terrain as necessary. – Crystal Mountain, yesterday

As you may know by now, an avalanche destroyed the bottom terminal and towers of the High Campbell lift today. A lot of you are asking about getting on the list to buy one of these chairs, we will announce a plan for this soon so please stay tuned. In the meantime, just be thankful no one was hurt and that our ski patrol is looking after our safety. We plan to build a new lift this summer similar to the Northway chair. – Crystal Mountain, yetserday