Summit at Snoqualmie Sold to Owners of Crystal Mt.

The Seattle Times has a quickie little snippet about some ski resort ownership swapping, namely that Boyne USA has bought the Summit at Snoqualmie from Booth Creek. At first we were a little concerned, namely because Booth Creek has a great track record from a customer service perspective, especially when they extended our season's pass for free after the disastrous winter of 05-06. But after a little more research, we're very excited because this is excellent news for mountain bikers.

Wha? Yes, we're talking ski resorts, but ski resorts aren't just for snow any more, as Whistler has rather famously demonstrated with its world-class mountain bike park. While resorts all over Canada have busily been turning their summer slow seasons into year-round income generators by using their lifts for bikes, the US has been concomitantly obsessed with litigation and personal injury, lagging pathetically behind in blazing any bike trails down the slopes. But Boyne owns Cypress resort just outside Vancouver, BC, which recently opened a small set of downhill lift-accessed mountain bike trails (though they may close down until after the Olympics), and Boyne Mountain in Michigan has downhill mountain biking as well. So Seattlest welcomes Boyne USA with open arms; and those arms are willing to build them some mountain bike trails if they're interested.