Photos: Will Weisz / Ski Bluewood

The northernmost section of the Blue Mountains extends from Oregon into southeastern Washington. Here, a massive southern expanse of Washington state turns from rolling wheat fields back to a rugged, densely forested mountain range. Nestled in that northern tip is the appropriately named Bluewood ski hill, which has been taking skiers and snowboarders up its chairlift since 1979.

Next year, mountain bikes will also get a ride on the chairlift at Bluewood. Crews at the mountain are working on a high-speed quad lift and four trails. And that will just be the beginning, with more than 10 more trails in the works.

A new bike park at Bluewood

“Right now, we have four trails planned for the initial offering,” Will Weisz, Marketing Director at Bluewood, told Singletracks. “They will be top-to-bottom trails with approximately 1,100 feet of elevation change.”

To be clear, Bluewood doesn’t expect to open trails for at least another year. Weisz mentioned fall 2027 as their goal, which would leave only a handful of weeks to ride before they need to shut down to prepare for the ski season. He also said that the “soft opening” could involve up to six trails, with the other two coming during the 2028 riding season.

The trails slated for the soft opening will be a mix of family-friendly green trails and some intermediate blue trails. “The goal is super flowy and fun,” Weisz said. But he also mentioned that the area benefits from quality PNW dirt. While the initial builds will lean toward beginner and intermediate riders, they expect to provide options that make descents fun for more advanced riders, too.

Weisz said that once the four new trails are on the ground, the Bluewood trail system will total over 20 miles. And this will essentially only be “phase one.”

At the base of the mountain, Bluewood is thinking about riders of all ages. They plan to add a gravity-fed pump track for the littlest riders, complete with its own conveyor belt for a lift back to the start of the track.

Bluewood contracted with Craig Piefer of Tamarack Trailworks to build the trails. Weisz said that while Piefer will be new to Bluewood as a builder, he has worked for them as a ski patroller for the past few years. Before moving to Washington, Tamarack Trailworks built singletrack in Colorado.

After the initial launch of the new bike park, Bluewood plans to keep expanding. Weisz mentioned that they expect to grow the network “to 10-plus trails, including uphill routes and a mix of flow, technical, and park-style terrain.”

Adding riding opportunities where there weren’t any before

Bluewood has operated since opening day in 1979 with the same chairlift, the Skyline Express, a fixed-grip triple lift. In the nearly five decades since, the mountain has added two more lifts, although they don’t go nearly as high as the Skyline Express, which reaches 5,670 feet of elevation.

“Under current ownership, Bluewood is entering its next chapter,” Weisz said. And a new chairlift to replace Skyline Express is a major part of that next chapter.

First, the new lift will get skiers up the hill much faster. Bluewood is replacing the Skyline Express with a high-speed quad, which will significantly reduce lift ride time. And it allows one more person per chair.

The new quad also provides Bluewood with an opportunity to expand its summer activities to include mountain biking — and lift-served DH riding, at that.

“It is a focal point of Bluewood’s expansion plans,” Weisz told us. “The ability to efficiently move guests and bikes uphill created an opportunity to introduce lift-served mountain biking — something our guests have wanted and that this area of Washington doesn’t currently have immediate access to.”

In fact, it is something most of Washington doesn’t have. Currently, the state only has two lift-access bike parks — Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass. Both are located relatively close to Seattle and are surrounded by dozens of other trail systems. After dropping over to the eastern side of the Cascade Mountain Range, there is quite a dead zone until Spokane and northern Idaho. Some trail systems are located in northeastern Washington, near the Canadian border, but much of the eastern side of the state remains fairly barren.

While trails may be sparse, people are not. Areas like Tri-Cities in southeast Washington have populations of over a quarter million people, many of whom are looking for places to ride their bikes. Starting next fall, a chairlift bike park will be less than two hours away.

How much will they pay? We’re not sure yet, as it seems that Bluewood is in the process of nailing down lift ticket and season pass prices.

Weisz said that Bluewood also plans to offer lessons and provide rentals, but likely not until after the “soft opening” next year. We can expect full operations to come in the summer of 2028.

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