Where is Crystal Mountain Washington?

Crystal Mountain Ski Resort is located in the Cascade Mountains in the northeast corner of Mt Rainier National Park, 84 miles southeast of Seattle (about 2 hours drive) and 208 miles northeast of Portland Oregon. The town of Enumclaw is 41 miles away.

Crystal Mountain Washington is a little further away from Seattle compared to Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie, but it’s worth the extra drive.

Crystal Mountain WA should not be confused with Crystal Mountain in Michigan.

Gateway Airports

The closest gateway airport is the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport which is only 75 miles away.

Or if you were to combine Crystal Mountain with Whistler Blackcomb, you might consider the Vancouver International Airport which is 215 miles (346km) away.

Driving to Crystal Mountain WA

The traffic near Seattle and anywhere along the I-5 can absolutely suck sometimes, so travel times can vary substantially. Due to road closures in winter, you need to drive to Crystal Mountain via the town of Enumclaw and past the little settlement of Greenwater, and not from the south. From Greenwater onwards, it’s reasonably well sign posted to Crystal Mountain Boulevard.

Crystal Mountain Resort has massive parking lots and zoo train shuttles take you up to the base area (future lift developments will connect some of the parking lots). Some of the closer parking lots are ski-in.

Bus

There is a raft of different snow buses that connect nearby cities with Crystal Mountain for day trips, with lots of buses from Seattle to Crystal, especially on weekends.

Getting Around Crystal Mountain Ski Resort

For overnight guests staying at one of the Crystal Mountain Hotels, it’s easy enough to walk around the small base area because it’s a maximum of about 0.1 miles between any of the buildings. If you’re staying in a vacation rental up on Gold Hill, you’ll need to time your movements with the operation of the Gold Hill chair lift, or have access to over-snow transport such as a snowcat or snowmobile.

Other Ski Resorts Nearby

Major ski resorts in the area include:

• Stevens Pass – 151 miles by road, to the northeast
• The Summit at Snoqualmie (made up of Alpental, Summit West, Summit Central and Summit East) – 97 miles by road, to the north
• Mt Baker – 210 miles, north
• Mt Hood Meadows in Oregon – 266 miles
• Whistler Blackcomb in BC Canada – 296 miles