January 28, 2008 Crystal - WOW

Jill and I were starting a short road trip to Oregon and decided to spend a cruiser day at Crystal. The 5am telemetry read 1" new. The drive to Enumclaw was OK and we met Rob and took his 4wd to Crystal. The road was compact snow and ice and it was a slow 35-40mph trip. At 9:30 we got one of the last parking spots in the upper lot and I was surprised that they had not plowed the parking lot. There was about 6" of light powder in the lot. Then we realized the new snow arrived after the lot had been plowed on Sunday.

It took about one minute to realize that it was going to be a surprise powder day. It was snowing hard but there was no wind. We were riding the lift by 10 and I noticed only one track on lift line. We started one of the those epic powder days when you have no expectations and things just come together. The temperatures up top were in the low teens and at the base the low 20's. The snow was the light variety we had a couple of weeks ago. Although the ski report and telemetry indicated 4", there were fresh lines everywhere with 8-12" of dust. It was enjoyable watching Jill and Rob get face shots and ski with big grins. At 11:30, we skied lift line and there was still only that one track we saw at 10. Around 11:30 the sun broke out and provided a clear view of the remaining lines off High Campbell. Then the clouds moved in with some light snow showers. While skiing West Face, I started a small slough that rolled towards the cat track. By 2:45, we decided to head back to Enumclaw, pickup the van and save some quads for Tuesday. We are sitting in the van at the Crystal RV lot and it has been snowing heavily. I need to stop thinking about how good Tuesday will be.

We were there too. HOLY CRAP!

I had my 9 and 7 yr olds and lovely wife, and the powder was so light my little guy could float through it even on lower angle pitches. He couldn't see or breathe, but he skied the daylights out of it and the brothers spent all day searching for more fresh lines which were indeed plentiful.

What a blast to watch the little kids rip the powder, and what an amazing day.

What an amazing couple of days. Yesterday was a nice surprise and today was even better. As I was cruising down Upper E today, face shots every turn, I thought for a moment I had died and gone to heaven. The snow quality is amazing right now. Looks like it could be this way all week. High Campbell and Southback were closed today so imagine how good it will be tomorrow.

I'm betting that the high lifts will be closed for the better part of the next two days due to the high winds being forecast. I'm bettin' on friday! Wait...aren't you the girl from the marketing department?

SnowGirl, come clean.

When I grow up I wanna be Zap.