January 12 & 13, 2006 Crystal Mt.

Upper mountain closed both days. High winds. Heavy, wet , wind buffed snow to plow through. Took out The Big Stix 106 to crush the wind blown, crust over, mashed potatoes and gravy only to find grandular powder in the trees. The wind protected areas were sweet. A good day to search and destroy. You had to be aggresive to survive. Passive skiiers got eaten up. The heavy mank swallowed many a victom. The power went out and didn't come back until 3 a.m.<br><br>Mt . Baker was totally shut down Friday. At least Crystal was open. Bombs went off all day to try and get control of the upper mountain. Should be great this coming week. 2,000' snow levels for the extended forecast.

I was at Crystal on Thursday and the upper mountain was open. ???<br><br>It was my first time at Crystal. The snow was pretty choppy, a little unpredictable mixture of powder, deep tracks, and something solid underneath. Relaxed carving was forsaken, and guarded hop-turning ruled the day. The visibility was pretty bad by the afternoon and winds were quite strong. Things shut down when the power went out.<br><br>It's pretty amazing how so much terrain could get tracked out mid-week.

On Thursday REX was late getting started but eventually cranked.  However earlier in the week wind hold and money hold, yup money hold was in full effect.  Money hold...WTF!  Greedy bastards!<br><br>Username things at Crystal sure do get tracked out quick but with a little lift line and hill management one can attain oneness out in the storm.  And like Bandit mentioned a search and destroy mentality helps. You weren't on skis were you?