Jan 5, 2009, Crystal

I went to bed last night with dreams of 17-23 inches of fresh powder based on the forecast. Sadly, when I woke the telemetry indicated only a foot had fallen.

I debated whether or not to go given the meager snowfall. Then I realized how spoiled I've become since moving to Seattle from Minnesota. Back in my Midwest days I would have killed for 4 inches of snow on top of glare ice at the impressive 350 vertical feet that is Afton Alps.

The road up to Crystal was littered with fallen trees for the last 20 miles or so. Nothing that was totally blocking the road, but some creative lane changing was required. The road itself was in good shape and traffic was super light.

Patrol was bombing away when I hit the parking lot at about 8:30. Chinook Express and Forest Queen opened promptly at 9:00. Temps were near freezing at the base and winds were light. The foot of snow that had fallen wasn't like the previous couple weeks. It was more akin to the heavier Pacific powder we usually get and not the blower powder that we've been spoiled with.

REX opened at about 9:45, High Campbell at about 10:30 and Northway at about 11:00. After a couple laps on the front side of REX I spent almost the entire day on Northway. Crowds were as light as I've ever seen at Crystal and there were endless fresh lines at Northway until my legs gave out at 1:30.

In terms of avy conditions there were lots of small slides (sluffs?) that patrol had kicked off with the bombing earlier in the day. No big crowns that I could see, but enough debris was created by the bombing to trip you up if you found yourself in a debris field. I kicked off several small sluffs while riding, but nothing that gave me much concern. The Northway area was blanketed by clouds most of the day and rime was forming quickly especially toward the top of the lift where all the trees had good layers of rime.

I'll be interested to hear how things were over on High Campbell and Southback since I didn't make it over there.

I'll be interested to hear how things were over on High Campbell and Southback since I didn't make it over there.

High Campbell was Good 
South Never opened

I went to bed last night with dreams of 17-23 inches of fresh powder based on the forecast.  Sadly, when I woke the telemetry indicated only a foot had fallen.

Crystal always ends up getting about 70% or less of the forecasted dumping; but a no sense in boo-hooing over a foot of fresh- it was a great day up there?  I'm almost ashamed of how many face shots I took

Crystal always ends up getting about 70% or less of the forecasted dumping; but a no sense in boo-hooing over a foot of fresh- it was a great day up there?  I'm almost ashamed of how many face shots I took

Its because we are in the shadow of Rainier sometimes it sucks but times like today its a good thing.