Ski season is around the corner and the operators of the Tri-Cities’ nearest slopes are gearing up for it – and other improvements that will benefit visitors in seasons to come. 

New to Bluewood this year is a pizza trailer that will be set up outside the lodge. The setup will allow skiers and snowboarders to grab a slice on their way to the ski lift or the lodge, said Pete Korfiatis, Bluewood’s general manager.

And he’s been cooking up bigger plans beyond pizza for Bluewood. 

Snowmaking equipment could be in place as early as this season, helping to stabilize Bluewood’s opening date.

The ski area often runs into the problem with a “snowline … about 50 to 100 feet above the base lodge,” he said. “We’re hoping that with this snowmaking system, we can take advantage of these November cold snaps and make our base area snow depth prior to the big storms that come in and get us open.”

Korfiatis hopes that the opening date could be the first or second weekend in December, and this year it may be Dec. 12. If there’s enough snow before then, Bluewood can always open earlier, he said.

2025 season

The 2025 season promises another exciting upgrade: a new high-speed quad lift to replace the current Skyline lift. The upgrade will shorten lift lines and travel time up the mountain, allowing for more time on runs. 

The lift replacement project is about capacity, Korfiatis said. The Skyline lift currently in place “could run for another 30 years,” he said, but “it just didn’t have the capacity that we need to be able to move the people around our mountain effectively.”

Currently, about 60% of Bluewood’s traffic is from the Tri-Cities and 30% is from Walla Walla – areas which Korfiatis said are undeniably growing. 

“If the development doesn’t continue with them, then that’s what I think starts to hurt everybody,” he said. 

Three of Bluewood’s five majority shareholders in the ownership group are Tri-Citians. 

He said that while some may be concerned about overcrowding caused by a new lift, the mountain itself has enough capacity for visitors. There are nearly 400 skiable acres, according to Bluewood’s website.  

The high-speed quad will help keep lines down on the weekends by getting more people up the mountain and on the slopes.   

It takes 13 minutes to ride the Skyline lift to the top of the mountain, and the lift can move about 1,100 people per hour. Korfiatis noted that due to stops and slows, the lift probably only moves 900 people per hour.   

Installing a high-speed quad doubles the capacity. The new lift will be able to move 2,200 people per hour, and a ride up the mountain will take eight minutes or less.

Korfiatis said the intent is to give visitors value for their money.  

“If they’re spending all day trying to crank out 10, 15 runs a day, and they can’t get that, then they feel like they didn’t really get the value,” he said. “I want our people to leave going, ‘My legs are cooked. We had an awesome day on the mountain. I didn’t have to wait around in line.’” 

The 2025 season promises another exciting upgrade at Bluewood: a new high-speed quad lift to replace the current Skyline lift. The upgrade will shorten lift lines and travel time up the mountain, allowing for more time on runs.  

| Courtesy Bluewood

Both beginners and experienced skiers or snowboarders get on the Skyline lift, Korfiatis said, and that can cause stops and slowdowns as riders get on and off the lift. 

The high-speed quad will detach at the loading terminal, enabling it to move slowly enough for riders to get on. Then, it reattaches to the cable moving more quickly up the hill.  

This slowdown period as riders are trying to get on the lift will not only help newer skiers and snowboarders, but it might enable increased mountain access during the summers. Mountain bikers, for example, could get on the lift with their bikes at slower speeds. 

Summertime activities

For Korfiatis, the new lift unlocks Bluewood’s potential to host more summertime activities. He envisions an adventure center with rock climbing walls and activities for kids, a small summer concert series, a wedding venue and a series of tiny homes for overnight rentals at the top of the mountain. 

Those plans are a little farther in the future than the ski lift, with plans to build some of the tiny homes in the summer of 2025 at the earliest, and a few mountain biking trails in 2026, Korfiatis said.  

Awaiting approval

But before any plans can be put into action, Bluewood needs approval from the Umatilla National Forest, where the ski area is located.  

“Specialists from the Walla Walla Ranger District have been working with contractors to accomplish the required environmental analysis for these projects,” said Andy Steele, recreation staff officer, Walla Walla Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest. “The Walla Walla District Ranger plans to sign the final decision in November 2024, after which time Bluewood will be authorized to conduct work on the proposed activities.”

Bluewood has already purchased a lift from Austria, which will get to Bluewood around Aug. 1, 2025. If the forest service’s approval comes in time, excavation for the new lift’s bases can begin before the 2024 ski season kicks off. The rest will have to be dug the following spring.  

About 60% of Bluewood’s traffic is from the Tri-Cities and 30% is from Walla Walla.

| Courtesy Bluewood

A timely approval also would allow for the installation of snowmaking equipment prior the 2024 season.

Should the approval not go through, Korfiatis said that they could pause the lift’s April shipment or even sell it elsewhere.  

But Korfiatis said that the forest service has been responsive and wants to work with Bluewood.  

“The Umatilla National Forest’s goal is to improve Bluewood ski area for the public to enjoy all year around,” Steele said.

Korfiatis said that “we want to get Bluewood on the map and become its own sort of regional powerhouse, because we believe in the experience at Bluewood, we believe that our mountain, though small, is quite mighty.”