Looks like the lift lines have been cut and Doppelmayr (Which apparently is now German?!) will be building both the detachable and fixed quads in 2010 at White Pass.
White Pass Expansion Begins
Video here:
http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/40990172....deo=YHI&t=a
Story Published: Mar 9, 2009 at 5:43 PM PDT
By Steve Wellman
It's been a local winter playground for decades and the increasingly popular slopes at White Pass are often over-crowded with skiers and snowboarders.
But after years of court battles with environmentalists, a major expansion is finally taking place. In a vast swath of pristine terrain behind the current resort there will be a lodge, two new chair lifts and new slopes tailor-made for the joys of winter sports.
So what's it like to be in this paradise right now?
To find out Steve Wellman hitched a ride with a survey crew from Dopplemayr, the German company that'll build two new ski lifts. Accomplishing that won't be easy because no roads can be built into the new area.
"It'll be challenging," says Randy Henry, a construction manager for Doppelmayr. "The logistics of getting the equipment out back will be challenging."
Kevin McCarthy, General Manager for White Pass says "You can't build a road but you can drive equipment over snow out here."
As we drove into the areas where the lifts will be built, in places we hit snow so deep the snowcat had a hard time getting through it.
McCarthy says all construction will be done using snowcats, snowmobiles and helicopters.
In a little less than two years the now-empty back country will be a playground with the ground left unscarred.
McCarthy gestures down the mountain. "What you're looking at is down the lift line toward the base of the detachable. It's about a 1000 foot drop."
For a preview of these runs we drop off two White Pass Ski Patrollers with a camera. They take off on a fantasy run to the bottom in untracked virgin powder.
"There's so much new terrain back here...over seven hundred acres, " says Steve Wellman. "13 new named runs and many others not even named yet."
Some pioneers have been hiking the area for years and having it all to themselves. But at least one veteran backcountry skier, Phil Gallagher says he's happy about the new lifts: "For guys like me it just makes it closer to get to the places we want to go."