February 21, 2008, Crystal Mountain

Thursday - Somewhat smooth, frozen snow.

The best part was the last two hours of skiing and the drive home.  The sun came out...  On the drive home, we had clear blue sky and sun!

Most of the day was high overcast, bowl visibility problems.  Everything was groomed. The snow was frozen... a little different than ice.  So this was great for carvers... sharpen those edges.

Some skier shavings and sluff made it nice on lower CMAC, the Burn, lower Bull Run.  I think the lower slopes were pretty skiable.  Lucky Shot not too bad.

Green Valley Bowl was nice and smooth.  Ice Berg was smooth but frozen so I made these big sweeping, wide, sideslipping turns.  I didn't want too much speed on my wide pow skis.

Skiing off groom didn't work for me.

Some kind of school break... so half as bad as a weekend.

About 2:00pm the sun finally broke through, but I was already getting tired.

The good - everything was smooth.  The not so good - somewhat frozen

Plenty of snow... but we have had several years with fresh snow in March... maybe.....

Gold Hills was running... I don't get to do Gold Hills too often. Today it was a nice cruiser.

Oh yea... they cut a real cat track across the top of Snorting Elk Bowl... nice cat track... but skiing back there was so-so..  frozen.  I really like that cat track after following ruts across there all season.

Beer and french dip at the Snorting Elk.  They get the best Black Butte Porter.

Just wanted to thank you, Larry. I really appreciate your beta on how the mountain is skiing, and the number of hits your posts get shows that I'm not alone. It has everything to do with my decision re: taking a day-off - or not - during the week, and spending it at Crystal.

When I don't get up there over the weekend, as was the case last weekend, it really helps to fill in the blanks. Please keep the "snapshots" coming. Thanks!

Yep,I agree with cardog100 , thanks for the beta Larry.Keep em coming.

Thanks, I am sorry to say that I won't be skiing next week.

Until we get some fresh snow, I would recommend watching the temperature stats on the Crystal site weather page. If below freezing... then think about using carving skis. I find it hard to switch skis... just like my pr's too much But without superb edging, I have to watch my speed more.

The surfaces were so smooth today that I was able to ski fast enough to get to that wind resistance point. Could make nice carved turns down Rolling Knolls. However, sometimes I wonder what is the point of sideslipping down Ice Berg?

I want to try to be carefull about describing snow as being frozen. Because it was so smooth and skiable, I wasn't sure if it was frozen or just crisp. However, when I ventured off groom, it just seemed frozen. Loose cookies and chicken heads, can be a problem if they get nailed down.

Some slopes were just a lot of fun... like the burn, cmac, lower bull run, and Gold Hills was nice. Green Valley was nice and smooth.

I was imagining that the snow was softening after lunch. In reality it was different in different places and with altitude. Think carving for fun.