April 3, 2005, Crystal Mt. Resort

I also posted this report at NW Ski Reports. Also see somebody's report for Saturday, April 2nd at www.nwsr.com/reports/CrystalMountain.shtml

04/03/05 Getting up skiing was made a little interesting by the switch to daylight savings time. Someone set the the clocks back instead of forward. That's ok, when I saw daylight at 4:30am I knew that wasn't right. Crystal has lots of snow, but it's not accumulating at the base. I didn't measure it but there seemed to be a big temp difference with altitude. The ski racks at Campbell Basin Lodge were totally buried and with a real weekend crowd, there were skis laying all over the place at the lodge entrance. The lifts were operating very well. Snow was fresh unpacked in the morning and skier packed by closing. Made the obligitory run down Queens, snow was velvety smooth. Down McGoo, I glided through deep fresh, very nice. This was a day where the wide skis really helped to bust the fresh chop and glide over what we would have to take as powder. Busted down the fresh chop on Rolling Knolls. Headed up Rex. For the first time this year, I saw Green Valley Bowl completely ready for skiing. Moguls were already forming on the bowl and I busted my way down. Of course the 'top' was gusty and cold. With the wind hitting me squarely in the chest, I got a natural speed control on the cat track to Lucky Shot, which had lots of real snow on it. I was surprised at the length of the lift lines at Green Valley chair, but I don't normally ski on weekends. I hit Snorting Elk Bowl, dropping off the traverse down through the trees. What a nice smooth ride through some untracked snow! However, where Snorting Elk narrows into kind of a gulch, it got real crowded. I have never seen so many people in Snorting Elk Bowl before, but it was a weekend. I was impressed how folks were all over place, off the groom (or what would have been groomed). The weather did everything. It snowed, fogged, sunned, dripped at the base. Sometimes the wind was just ripping the snow off the trees in a mini-blizzard. Weather is extremely variable by the minute right now. Food at Crystal is in short supply. I waited in line for 55 minutes to get a cheeseburger at the outdoor bbq set up at the base. Other food joints were closed. Folks said there were also long waits at Campbell Basin Lodge. If you are planning a trip to Crystal, check out the food situation. Take some snacks. The Campbell Basin Lodge shut down the food line at 2:30 and the lifts closed at 3:00. - Rux

I was one of the members of the weekend crowd too. Of course since I don't live too far away that helps. But my main purpose was to get some mileage on my new AT setup which consists of K2 AK Launchers with Freeride bindings. Given the soft and snowing conditions that Rux mentioned they were right at home.<br><br>Several places did get a bit mogully as the day progressed. Combined with limited visibility at times, I managed to pull off a couple unintended "hucks", happily landing feet first each time. Overall considering the winter that we had earlier conditions were great. By days end the base area was looking pretty thin.<br>