The Crystal Conclusion...

I don't like writing over a dead horse as I feel the ink might run. But I agree, talking about Crystal more is getting old, %'s and the price of food has been talked about enough. Private business after all can do what the hell they want. All we can do is let them know what we think and make up our own minds about what to do from there. What I would like to talk about is the topic of opening up more terrain for cross country and backcountry skiing. The National Forest and Mt. Rainier National Park are owned by us the last time I checked! I have attending many meetings with 3 different superintendents Joe and the answer is always the same. I must apologize about trashing all government when the Sno Park program is a good one and we should all support it. It's nice to see they are watching and listening to our issues, they have been very supportive. Here we are once again, highway 410 closed at the Crystal Mountain junction. Great skiing being wasted without good coverage in the Crystal Basin. We need to get together to get MRNP extend the opening of the road to the Chinook and Cayuse passes, Mather Y, White River campground and Sunrise. Why would they allow snowmobiles into this pristine park and not allow us access? Getting to the snow on the north side of MRNP is only possible via the Crystal Mountain road. The sno park at Silver Springs works only occasionally with the rising snow levels. We need the access to go higher! We need an uprising!

It would be interesting to see how the folks out of Mazama or whomever talked WSDOT into plowing the roads 14 miles west of Mazama...they didn't have to but were compelled to for some reason. I doubt we're talking apples to apples but would be intersting nonetheless.

I'll defend Crystal on pricing. I suspect kids' lift tickets are priced fairly relative to the amount of skiing that they do.

And I'll defend the Summit House restaurant. Good sit-down restaurants are increasingly popular at ski resorts. I'm not sure Crystal's customers will support one, nor am I sure Crystal is capable of operating a good anything, but they're welcome to try. Meanwhile, they've got cheaper restaurants at Campbell Basin and the base lodge. Of course the food is more expensive than in town -- all the supplies must be transported in and the places is open only a small fraction of the year, and only for lunch.

The frustrating part is Crystal's nonexistent customer service. One consequence is that they waste a large part of their expensive lift capacity because they fail to manage lift lines. And while I've met some friendly and motivated employees there, most -- especially the lift ops -- are clearly disinterested in their jobs. To some extent management probably knows that they don't have much local competition. But the service is a bit better at Stevens and Baker, and much better at Whistler and other real resorts, and I'm sure Crystal's service causes them to lose some business to those places.

$10 teriyaki is cheap?

Bob,

Concerning the Snopark issue, was there any mention of Suntop?  I used to X-country ski there for many years.  The lower road used to be groomed making it the only place in the White river basin that was.  Because of this it was a pretty popular place on a weekend.  Then the grooming stopped and soon after the skiers left.  Even plowing the road has been pretty spotty of late.  I'm sure I'm like most who just quit buying snopark passes because I wasn't getting much for the price.

I have talked to the Forest Service and local ski shop owners who all say X-country skiing just isn't popular any more which is why they quit grooming.  Funny thing is if folks can't find a place to ski they will either go elsewhere - like the snoparks off I-90 - or they just give up all together.

Bottom line is I find it hard to believe that some can't groom the place considering the snowmobile snopark up the 70 road doesn't seem to have a problem.  It seems to be a catch 22, you must have access to desireable areas to attract folks to continue to support it.

Cross Country Skiing has probably lost it's appeal around here because of limited access to snow. The sno park at the Crystal Turnoff gives access to a road, Hwy 410, that is plowed and has gravel and dirt on it. Your are forced to try and ski the snow banks on the shoulders. If we had a proper Sno Park at the Sunrise entrance it would become very popular. It could provide access for backcountry skiing, sno shoeing as well as a groomed track. Maybe even a skate ski track, what a concept for a winter sno play area on our public land. The Sun Top road is gated at about 2200' elevation and has limited snow coverage making it worthless most of the time. The 70 road is a great area for the snowmobile crowd but we don't need to mix them together with skiers. Let's have 2 happy groups that can co existing in separate areas. Open the gate at Mt Rainier Park and allow us controlled access, give us a place to park and let us have some fun. Maybe the fact that the solution to the problem is so obvious that the government just can't understand it.