Many people have heard about the fires in NE WA recently. Sadly, one of the casualties of the fires locally was the Deer Creek (Boulder Pass) ski trails, the closest trails and higher elevation terrain to Altai Skis headquarters. We have been skiing these trails since their origin in the early 1980s. Along with the only groomed trails in the county they offer a lot of great Hok terrain and we have been using them a lot for testing, photos, and tours out of Altai Skis in Curlew. At 4600 ft the pass is the 2nd highest all season pass in the state, and has (had) a great mix of terrain that was heavily forested – much of it old growth – and hard to ski on much else then the Hoks. I took a look at it yesterday and the fire came through with a lot of wind and extremely dry conditions, so the forest is 99.99% torched. Below are some pictures of the area before and after. We will all be sad to see this go as it was a beautiful forest with some really nice old growth fir and larch to ski in. It will be more open now and easier skiing but there is nothing quite like skiing through ancient trees stacked with snow.