Stevens Pass is located farther away than Snoqualm...

Stevens Pass is located farther away than Snoqualmie, but makes up for it in more favorable snow quantity. That isn't to say you'll always find fresh pow, though. If you get here early enough you can make first tracks on the backside, which can be absolutely stellar, but later in the day you'll be competing with plenty of other skiers and snowboarders. If the snowfall the previous night was particularly good, you can find relatively undisturbed lines through the trees on the backside all day; otherwise, there are usually too many hard chunks to make this type of exploration worthwhile, and the marked runs on the backside tend to get icy since the backside faces south. Seventh Heaven also tends to get pretty mogully and skiied out over the course of the afternoon I would say the best day on Stevens rates just under the best day at Crystal, and you can find great deals on lift tickets at Costco (around $44 last time I checked). Last but not least: if you want to avoid horrible traffic (thanks to a single lane road and traffic lights in Index and Gold Bar), leave at around 2pm before the crowds do.