mm 2468.7 Here you may be able to catch glimpses between trees, across US2, of the Yodelin Lodge. The Yodelin ski area was short-lived, operating from 1969 to 1974. It opened to the public on December 27, 1969, with a lodge, rope tow, and a 1,800 ft double chairlift that started at the lodge and ran east up the mountain.
Owned by Nason Properties, the operation also developed the 114 homesites of “Yodelin Village” along Nason Creek (you will see this from the PCT just north of here) despite continued warnings from the state of how avalanche-prone the area was.
The two miles of PCT north of Stevens Pass are on the original 1893 railroad route. The old coal-burning locomotives would frequently start forest fires that would burn up to the peak west of you. In the 1960's this entire hillside was clear-cut. The bare state of this mountainside set the stage for a catastrophic avalanche that destroyed two cabins and killed four people, January 24, 1971.
Despite the disaster, development continued and in 1972 a second chairlift, 1,600 ft, was installed. Unfortunately, this expansion was insufficient to sustain Yodelin and they closed in 1974. In 1976 Stevens Pass Ski resort purchased Yodelin Ski Area. The chairlifts where moved to become the No 7 "Tye Mill" lift, and the other sold to Crystal Mountain (near Chinook Pass) becoming the Chair 6 "Upper Campbell chair".
Today Yodelin is still a popular destination for backcountry skiers who enjoy the deep snow and the space between the trees.
The Yodelin lodge
The bare mountainside 1969
One of the crushed cabins
1926 where Yodelin Village is today
Yodelin Village lot map
Yodelin village actual
