Three Summits
Overview
Twenty lifts is a lot of hardware for a mountain with a 383.6-meter vertical drop, and that density is the first thing worth noting about Three Summits, the name given here to the connected base-area cluster at Snoqualmie Pass that Boyne Resorts itself markets as three distinct Summit sections tied together by crossover trails. Fifteen chairlifts and five magic carpets spread riders across 103 mapped runs, a run count that outpaces most resorts of comparable vertical by a wide margin, and the trail network stretches to 42.98 kilometers between an 799.6-meter base and a 1,183.2-meter summit.
The terrain mix tilts heavily toward the middle of the difficulty scale: 24.83 kilometers graded intermediate, well over half the mountain’s total distance, with advanced and easy terrain nearly matched behind it at 9.0 and 8.89 kilometers respectively. That’s a profile suited to skiers who’ve moved past beginner runs but aren’t chasing the steepest lines, though the near-even split between the harder and easier categories means there’s real terrain at both ends too. A small remainder, 0.26 kilometers, falls outside the standard grading and likely covers connector or access trails rather than dedicated pistes.
Operationally, this is Boyne Resorts territory, run out of an address on WA-906 at Snoqualmie Pass alongside the separate, steeper Alpental terrain and a summer bike park that uses some of the same lift infrastructure in the off-season. Away from the alpine runs, the site also supports snow tubing and Nordic cross-country skiing, giving non-downhill visitors something to do without needing lift tickets of their own. No multi-resort pass currently lists this specific area as a partner in the resort’s own data, so anyone planning a visit should expect to buy tickets or a season pass directly rather than relying on an outside pass product.
The pass proximity to Seattle is arguably the bigger draw than any single statistic on the mountain: Sea-Tac International sits just 67.5 kilometers away, with Boeing Field barely farther at 67.9 kilometers, meaning most Puget Sound residents can be on snow within roughly an hour’s drive. Renton, Kent, and Bellevue, three Seattle-area suburbs each with over 100,000 residents, all fall within 64 kilometers, which helps explain why a mountain this size supports twenty separate lifts. It’s built less for destination trips and more for high-frequency weekday and weekend traffic out of one of the country’s larger metro areas.
The lift-to-run ratio here is worth dwelling on: twenty lifts across 103 mapped runs works out to roughly one lift for every five runs, a density more typical of a resort minimizing lift lines for a high daily visitor count than one built to maximize terrain per dollar of infrastructure. Trail-map resources for the area, including listings on SkiMap.org and OpenSkiMap, catalogue the layout across the three connected sections in more visual detail than a simple run count conveys.
Key stats
Official website — Last checked 2026-09-13
Lifts by type
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| chair lift | 15 |
| magic carpet | 5 |
Runs by difficulty
| Difficulty | Distance |
|---|---|
| easy | 8.89 km |
| other | 0.26 km |
| advanced | 9 km |
| intermediate | 24.83 km |
Maps
Official trail map: see summitatsnoqualmie.com
Run & lift overview
Three Summits: 239 runs, 20 lifts. Reflects OpenStreetMap's run and lift mapping for Three Summits, not the resort's own trail map graphic. © OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenSkiMap (ODbL).
Typical conditions by month
Monthly conditions data for Three Summits is not yet available.
Lift tickets & passes
Three Summits has no multi-resort pass affiliations on record.
Getting there
Nearest airports
- Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (SEA) — 67.5 km straight-line
- King County International Airport - Boeing Field (BFI) — 67.9 km straight-line
- Seattle Paine Field International Airport (PAE) — 85.7 km straight-line
Nearest cities
- Renton, Washington — 61 km straight-line
- Kent, Washington — 61.8 km straight-line
- Bellevue, Washington — 63.3 km straight-line
Also covered by
Where to stay
A dedicated lodging guide for Three Summits is not yet available.
Nearby resorts
- Alpental — 5 km straight-line, 701.3 m vertical
- Stevens Pass Ski Area — 44 km straight-line, 561.3 m vertical
- Crystal Mountain — 52 km straight-line, 717.8 m vertical
- Mission Ridge — 77 km straight-line, 663 m vertical
- White Pass Ski Area — 87 km straight-line, 620.1 m vertical
FAQ
- Why is this area called Three Summits?
- It corresponds to the cluster of connected base areas at Summit at Snoqualmie, which the resort itself describes as three distinct Summit sections linked by crossover trails, separate from the resort's standalone Alpental terrain. Skiers can move between the three sections without buying separate lift tickets for each one.
- How many lifts serve Three Summits?
- Twenty: fifteen chairlifts and five magic carpets, an unusually dense lift network for the 383.6-meter vertical drop it serves. That works out to roughly one lift for every five mapped runs, well above the ratio typical of resorts this size.
- How much terrain does Three Summits cover?
- 103 mapped runs across 42.98 kilometers, rising from an 799.6-meter base to a 1,183.2-meter top elevation. The run count is high relative to the vertical drop, pointing to a wide, sprawling layout rather than a small number of long, continuous descents.
- Is Three Summits mostly beginner or intermediate terrain?
- Intermediate dominates by a wide margin at 24.83 kilometers, well over half the total trail distance, with advanced (9.0 kilometers) and easy (8.89 kilometers) running close to each other behind it. A small 0.26-kilometer segment falls outside the standard grading, likely connector terrain.
- Who operates Three Summits?
- Boyne Resorts, which lists the address as 1001 WA-906 in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, and also runs the adjacent Alpental area and a summer bike park at the same site. Boyne operates a portfolio of other regional ski areas as well, including Pleasant Mountain in Maine.
- Does Three Summits have activities besides downhill skiing?
- Snow tubing and Nordic (cross-country) skiing are both offered on-site, in addition to the lift-served alpine terrain. Both operate independently of the alpine lift tickets, so non-skiers in a group have their own options.
- What airport is closest to Three Summits?
- Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, 67.5 kilometers away, edges out Boeing Field at 67.9 kilometers as the nearest option, with Paine Field near Everett as a third alternative at 85.7 kilometers. All three sit within a roughly 20-kilometer band of each other, reflecting how close Snoqualmie Pass is to the greater Seattle airport corridor. Renton, Kent, and Bellevue are the three nearest listed cities, each with over 100,000 residents and all within 64 kilometers of the resort, underscoring how tightly Three Summits sits within the greater Seattle metro area.
- Is Three Summits covered by a multi-resort ski pass?
- No pass partnerships appear in current resort data for this specific area, so ticketing runs through the operator's own system rather than a shared multi-mountain product.
Data sources
Last verified: 2026-09-17
Base facts from OpenSkiMap (ODbL), OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata (CC0), OurAirports (public domain) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). See /data-sources/.