Dec. 15th Crystal...I'm Pissed

The tram will drop you off on NorthWay Peak.

Not true the tram will start at the base by the Coffee shop and will summit where REX does right now and REX will be lowered one pole so the lines dont get crossed and the Northway Chair will be the same style as High Cambell So yesterday I rode the chair with Scott Bowen ( Number 2 for Crystal behind Kircher) and he ordered the new chair for the northback so our nightmare will become a reality next season

"REX will be lowered one pole "???????????????

I'm not so sure about that. The plans I saw showed the tram dumping off on North Way Peak.

Lower the Rex one pole? That's alot of work for nothing.

From the Record of Decision:

.....The Summit Tram will be constructed at the current location of the top terminal of C-10 (Rainier Express), which will be moved to provide for the tram. The tram top terminal will extend no higher than the current roofline elevation of the Summit House, making the tram less visible from MRNP (see Figure 2.3.3-6, FEIS, Volume 3). The upper terminal will adhere to the Cascadian architectural theme. Development of the Summit Tram will remain visually subordinate to the surrounding landscape, as viewed from MRNP and vantage points along the eastern SUP boundary....

....The upper terminal of Rainier Express will be moved approximately 50 feet downslope (east) of its current location to allow for the upper terminal of the Summit Tram, such that the top of the upper tram terminal will not exceed the elevation of the Summit House roofline.....

Here is an illustration... although, I don't quite get it:  www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/projects/crystal_ei...tal_mtn_mdp_ar13.pdf


Maybe the Rex isn't being moved down, just back a bit.

I dislike trams.  In my experience, (Jackson, Snowbird, Heavenly & Europe); you cook at the bottom, sweat while inside then freeze getting off at the top.  Added bonuses:  Seemingly poor hourly capacity (long lines or reservations required) uncomfortable to stand in, plus you get to ski alot of forgettable stuff, run outs, base area crowds, rain at the bottom, etc...   I'd rather just stay bundled on my chair(s) of choice in a fairly consistent temperature.  Well, I guess trams are sometimes ok in Europe where you don't tend to yoyo because alot of the runs are so long and there's alot of vertical to get up.  Anyway....

More important, if they lower the REX will you still be able to get to Snorting Elk cat track to access the North Back?  If not this would be stupid.   From the description it sounds like a boondoggle, (no disrespect to the Chair 4 icon).  Unfortunately there is tremendous precedent for stupid lift layouts:  Reminds me of the idiot that designed the first lifts at Telluride.  As I remember it took 4 highly overlapped (low speed) chairs to get to the top, (~30 minutes!).  We'd get so frustrated we'd just hike the couple hundred feet to bypass one (or maybe it was 2) of the chairs to get to the highest lift.  I think they changed the chair layout sometime back to reduce this lunacy.  I hope someone at Crystal is reading this and taking note.  Whew, I feel better now

I just looked at Trotters link to the illustration, should have noticed that first. The view is looking west and it looks like the REX will remain high enough. The tram will be a convenient way to the top but I wouldn't wait in a long line for it. I'd rather the money be spent on a couple chairs to open up other terrain and spread out the crowds.

The top of REX will be at the spot where you get on the top of Ice berg ridge or traverse over to Lucky Shot so you would not have access to the Snorting Elk Bowl

From the Crystal site:

N E W S R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release For More Information Contact:
November 10, 2006 Tiana Enger, (360) 663-3012

tiana@skicrystal.com
www.skicrystal.com

[size=10pt]Crystal Mountain Orders New Chairlift for the Northback Area[/size]

Crystal Mountain, WA- A new Doppelmayr chairlift was recently ordered for the North Backcountry area of Crystal Mountain. The North Backcountry is a large area of terrain along the north side of Crystal Mountain’s designated permit boundary. The lift will provide access to approximately 1,000 new acres and increase Crystal Mountain’s 1,300 acres of lift serviced ski terrain by 77% to 2,300. This is the first new lift serviced terrain that will open in the state in almost 20 years.

The probable new name for the chairlift is “Northway” and it will deposit skiers at the top of Northway Peak after a ride of just under 10 minutes. From there, skiers face an amazing choice of skiing Snorting Elk Bowl, Northway Bowl, Paradise Bowl and Bruce’s Bowl, following Right Angle Ridge to a variety of expert glades and chutes or heading farther north to drop into places like Morning Glory Bowl and Brand X. Several new trails are to be constructed that will feed into the bottom of the new lift.

The lift equipment itself is unusual in these days of high capacity, high speed detachable lifts. Northway is a double chairlift that will move along at a faster-than-standard rate of 550 feet per minute but will limit skier capacity in the new terrain to 1,200 people per hour. This will increase the existing 19,110 people per hour lift capacity to 20,310. “It’s about the skiing.” said Crystal Mountain General Manager John Kircher. “I’m sure people appreciate the big high capacity lifts that we have on the front side of Crystal. We have a job to do handling the crowds here but we all see how fast the snow gets tracked out. The new lift in the Northback is designed to provide access but keep the snow quality higher.” The new lift service will also serve to spread skier traffic out.

The addition of the Northway Chairlift was approved with the Master Development Plan (MDP). Crystal Mountain received the Record of Decision (ROD) in August of 2004 from the U.S. Forest Service. The ROD came following an in-depth review of the Draft Environmental Impact Study issued in August 2001. The MDP, along with 6 alternatives, was originally submitted to the Forest Service in 1999.