Mission Ridge Ski Area near Wenatchee, on the dry eastern side of Washington’s Cascade Range, developed from a small resort that opened in 1966 with two chairlifts into a larger ski area with six lifts serving 2,000 acres. Known for northeast-facing slopes, about 200 inches of annual snowfall, and more than 300 sunny days, it added lifts, night skiing, snowmaking, and later lift modernization. The mountain also preserves a link to earlier history through the September 30, 1944 crash of a Walla Walla-based B-24 Liberator in the basin, memorialized above Bomber Bowl and in the B-24 terrain park. It also trained future Olympic gold medalist Bill Johnson.