Without lodging at its base, Stevens is a day resort, drawing heavily from the Seattle-Everett metropolitan area, via U.S. Route 2.

[4] The original lodge was constructed in 1937, burned down in 1939, and was rebuilt the next year by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a federal New Deal jobs program.

[9] Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vail Resorts implemented a pre-reservation requirement to control crowds at Stevens Pass and mandated the use of face coverings and social distancing for the 2020–21 season.

[12] An online petition was started on Change.org, which garnered nearly 40,000 signatures in two weeks, and over 80 consumer complaints were submitted to the Washington Attorney General's office.

[14][15] A new general manager was hired from the Heavenly Mountain Resort in California ahead of the 2022–23 season, which opened with full staffing and additional capacity in employee housing, as well as pay raises.

[18] The avalanche occurred in an unmaintained back-country area known as Tunnel Creek, which was described as "ski at your own risk," after three feet (0.9 m) of fresh snowfall.