January 18, 2007, Crystal Mtn

Thursday - Normal Crystal Mtn. weather is back!   

First, the snow was in good condition, but not the huge fresh pow that it has been.  Still lots of snow up there.

The big thing today was the freezing fog, especially on the upper mountain.  And visibility problems.  This fog was freezing on everyone's goggles... needed windshield wipers.   The faster you ski, the more ice you get on the goggles, faster.  Got a thin layer of ice on my coat and when I got to the Snorting Elk for lunch, I had shield of solid ice on the front of my helmet.   There was a big temp change lower down, so it wasn't so icy after I got down below Luckyshot.

One of my ski partners skied right over the side of the Luckyshot cat track... almost ended up on Highway 410....     He just went over the side and had to climb back up.  This was a visibility problem and he was hotdogging down the track.  After we got him back up... another partner went over the other side of the cat track on purpose to catch some pow above Luckyshot and lost a ski...   eventually found it.    But I was thinking.... gee, these guys are pushing it for such low visibility.    I just about totally lost visibility at the end of the cat track from the bowl effect and the fog.   For a few seconds I was in a total la la land of whiteness.

Chair six was open, but I don't know how those guys could see anything up there.

Got stuck on the Queen chair for about ten minutes.  A ski partner told me by radio that a braking mechanism at the top got stuck in the braking position.  I was thinking we would all have to rope drop off the chair.   Fortunately, they got it fixed. 

All in all, a fun day with our crazy ski bus group.

I skied at Summit Central Thursday night with my son. (Mom was having The Girls over--Dad and Son were invited to scram.)

The freezing fog was epic! Goggles required constant cleaning. Parkas were so caked that we felt like big glazed donuts. (Kind of fun, really.) The skiing was good where people kept stirring up the snow, but if you wandered into the rough, there was a nasty ice crust.

Back at the car, the temperature was high enough that the glaze was beginning to melt. I hope this crust gets melted, otherwise it's going to make an ugly layer for the next snowfall.

I saw you guys climbing back up. I thought maybe you guys did a run down that West Face and decided not to go all the way to SR 410.

It was a tricky day for visibility.

I know this is kind of off topic, but wanted to know if anyone new about a good route down to 410. We camped there with our kids last weekend and saw a number of people heading out 410 to pick up their vehicles. Said they had come from Crystal. I've been studying the maps and reading backcountry routes, but nothing really stands out. Any suggestions on how to get more info?

And don't worry, I'm only curious and do not intend to do this route unless fully prepared, skilled and accompanied by others.

I know this is kind of off topic, but wanted to know if anyone new about a good route down to 410.  We camped there with our kids last weekend and saw a number of people heading out 410 to pick up their vehicles.  Said they had come from Crystal.  I've been studying the maps and reading backcountry routes, but nothing really stands out.  Any suggestions on how to get more info?

And don't worry, I'm only curious and do not intend to do this route unless fully prepared, skilled and accompanied by others.

My dangerous reply is to hike up to Green Valley Rim at Crystal and ski down the backside - not seriously recommended without a serious guide.  Seems to me there could be some serious Avalanche issues.  Once you are on the back side, you are in Mt. Rainier Natl Park.

You should take this topic out to Random Tracks to get better responses.

Most of the drops down to 410 are not worth it less then halfway down you have to tromp through old growth forest which takes forever to navigate and when you are near the bottom you have to watch out for cliffs and huge steep enbankments another thing is they are huge Avi slide zones so you are taking a huge risk heading in that direction.. As for the run you did Its way smarter to just bookpack back up once you hit the flat spot