Winter Van Life: 49 Degrees North Mountain Resort

When We Visited: February 2022

49 Degrees North is located in the northeast corner of Washington state and within 100 miles of five different Canadian border crossings in the Colville National Forest.

The local city of Chewelah has less than 2,800 residents, and they’ve managed to keep their small-town charm with its absence of fast-food chains. Check out this excellent article about why their town is weird written by the Chewelah Valley newspaper, The Independent.

What we love about 49 Degrees North…

2,325 skiable acres. 49 Degrees North offers the most terrain of any mountain in the West and Rockies regions on the Indy Pass, except for Powder Mountain (and not considering Canada resorts).

It’s uncrowded. We showed up just before noon on a Sunday, and there was plenty of parking and no lift lines anywhere on the mountain. A few inches of snow fell in time for our second day, a Tuesday, and there were fresh lines to be found most of the day.

Plan Your RV/Van Life Road Trip to 49 Degrees North

ski49n.com
3311 Flowery Trail Road, Chewelah, WA 99109
(509) 935-6649

Pass affiliation: Indy Pass 2023/24

Lift hours: Typically 7 days per week. Check their Operations Calendar for any changes in their schedule.

Mountain Stats

• Total patrolled area: 2,325 acres
• Vertical drop: 1,851 feet
• Average snowfall: 301 inches
• More stats

Driving to 49 Degrees North

Flowery Trail Road from downtown Chewelah to the ski area is about 10 miles and 15 minutes. There was a lot of hard-packed snow with tire ruts during our visit. The road east of 49 Degrees North feels very desolate with limited or no cell service. The closest town with a significant population for this corner of Washington is Newport (60 minutes) with just over 2,000 people.

For more information, see their Getting Here page.

Parking at 49 Degrees North

If you need to buy tickets, you’ll want to park in the main parking lot closest to Little Calispell Lodge. You do not want to park at Sunrise Basin as there are no ticket services there. As you enter the ski area, stay to the right.

The Sunrise Basin parking lot is small and not meant for RVs. Our Winnebago Revel at almost 20 feet in length was fine, but anything longer is probably not recommended.

Tips on How to Ski/Ride 49 Degrees North

Angel Peak is not open all days of the week. If you want to see this part of the mountain, check the mountain’s operating schedule.

You might find the double blacks are more like single blacks or blue blacks, especially if you have experience at places like Kirkwood or A-Basin. I found Upper Peacemaker to be the steepest, but the entry isn’t obvious. Follow Silver Ridge past the Tombstone Run. You’ll want to stick to the left edge and keep looking down into the trees until you spot the Peacemaker sign. It won’t say “Upper” Peacemaker, just Peacemaker.

My favorite runs on a semi-powder day were the advanced and expert runs accessible from Silver Ridge and Huckleberry Ridge.

Working Remotely at 49 Degrees North

Sending texts and emails worked fine on AT&T and Verizon from the lot closest to Little Calispell Lodge. We were even able to stream Super Bowl. However, the signal was not strong enough to reliably participate in online video calls. We didn’t try using our cell booster.

Cell service works great in downtown Chewelah.

Where to Sleep in Your Van/RV

49 Degrees North offers overnight RV camping for a fee on a first-come, first-served basis. See their Amenities page for more information. You must purchase a permit from the ticket office at Little Calispell Lodge during business hours.

Electric-only sites are available in the parking lot closest to Little Calispell Lodge. We last paid $22. Dry camping in the next closest lost was $12.

Note: Due to snow buildup, we couldn’t back up our van all the way to the electric pedestal. Our power cord reached, but I imagine this could be problematic for some people.

I’m unsure if the restrooms were open in Little Calispell Lodge overnight. I waited to go until the resort staff arrived in the morning.

49 Degrees North recommends Chewelah Motel & RV Park if you need a dump station.

Chewelah Motel & RV Park – 10 miles / 20 minutes in Chewelah – This RV park is not aesthetically pleasing. Sites are very close together, snowy, puddly, and muddy. The bathhouse looks like a shed from the outside. However, the owner was extremely friendly, and the showers were clean, although rustic. We really needed to shower! If we are in the area again, I’d consider getting a motel room as the reviews are decent, and prices are affordable.

We last paid $59.53 for a full-hookup back-in gravel site.

We had a hard time finding our sewer connection in the snow, so we used a different site to dump our cassette toilet. 

Our site also had a big pile of hard snow. Fortunately, our Revel had just enough clearance to avoid bottoming out.

There were two toilets, a sink, and one shower on the women’s side in the bathhouse. I imagine the setup was similar on the men’s side.

AT&T and Verizon offer reliable service here. The RV park provides WiFi, and the owner claims it is the fastest around, but we didn’t use it.

Chewelah City Park – 10.2 miles / 20 minutes in Chewelah – The city park was a nice, quiet place to spend the day working and an evening sleeping, even though it is adjacent to the main road through town. The site we chose was next to a creek.

We had the place to ourselves aside from the occasional car that would park nearby. Locals on work breaks?

We last paid $10 cash. Self-pay envelopes are provided with a secure place to drop your money. There are no amenities during winter. The electric and water are turned off. It’s just a place to park.

AT&T and Verizon worked great without a booster for texting, emailing, streaming entertainment, and online video calls.

Tip: We almost missed finding the RV sites as we circled the park. The park will appear on your right if you’re traveling north through town on Highway 395. As you pass the park’s northern end, turn right onto S. Fork Chewelah Creek Road, then make an immediate right onto E. Park Lane. The RV sites will appear on your right as the road veers left.

Conveniences Near 49 Degrees North

Chewelah should have everything you need and is about 20 minutes from the ski area.

We liked Safeway (Colville Ave) for grocery shopping and their water refill station.

Otherwise, the Spokane area is about an hour south if there’s something more that you need.

Closest Ski Areas to 49 Degrees North

• Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park (Freedom Pass 2023/24) – 72.9 miles / 90 minutes in Mead – On a clear day, you can see Mt. Spokane from 49 Degrees North at the top of the Northern Spirit Express #1 chair and as you ski/ride down Silver Ridge. Look southeast or to your right.
• Schweitzer (Ikon Pass 2023/24, Loveland Ski Area 2023/24) – 74.1 miles / 2 hours in Sandpoint, ID
• Silver Mountain Resort (Powder Alliance 2023/24, Indy Pass 2023/24) – 114 miles / 2.25 hours in Kellogg, ID

Sightseeing

The International Selkirk Loop – If you continue east of 49 Degrees North on Flowery Trail Road, you’ll run into the Selkirk Loop in the town of Usk. We recommend doing the loop to Schweitzer, one of our favorite ski areas in Idaho.