February 19, 2009, Crystal Mtn.

Thursday - A great groomer skiing day!

.... and not so bad off groom.  Some friends of mine said that Northway was pretty good!

A couple of inches of fresh snow earlier this week kept the dream alive. 

Snow was crisp, but not surface frozen.  Lots of grooming.  I think the grooming has helped pack the snow over the boilerplate.   On the steeps, the new snow gets pushed off the boilerplate pretty fast. so we get clumps of snow on the hard stuff.   I think they must be dumping some snow around because loose rocks... just a few, are showing up.  It is just useful to watch for rocks right now.  I picked a few minor scratches on my ski bases... that's ok, I p-tex all the time.  It was fun to ski on untouched freshies above lower Bull Run and Deer Fly.

It was sunny and cool all day. Great visibility. The snow was fresh and fun to ski on.  Iceberg was a matter of sliding down the boilerplate, letting the light sluff pile up under the skis before releasing for another turn.  Very smooth.  Snorting Elk Bowl was nice, but that cat track is getting pretty strange.  That steep shot straight down Elk Bowl was killer.

Like lower Bull Run last week, Deer Fly was steep plate with islands of heavier snow clumps that got pushed up. 

This sunny weather, makes for great resort skiing!  We just need to keep getting a few inches of new snow each week to keep going!

Larry, you are as accurate as can be. I enjoy your take on the mountain. I skied the daily this week and had nothing but little treats. Groomers today were softer and slower with lots and lots of sun. South Back has been particularly rewarding with great turns between BoxCar Cornice and Three Way.The traverse behind ThreeWay looked a little too bony for my tastes. I did skin up the Norse trail a bit and got up above the old ski runs. Does anyone know what the small building in the gully between East Peak and the Bullion Basin trail is/was ? Keep up the good field work. That is all (for now )

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Feb 21 - Saturday, I took my 11 year old grandson up to Crystal.  He had completed his three EZ-123 ski lessons and today it was my turn to give him a full day of skiing with some "grandpa lessons".    The kid is a natural and will be a talented skier.  He literally progressed over the course of the day into something of a speed demon, under control of course.

Saturday - a glorious sunny, fun ski day.  I didn't get all over the mountain, but the snow seemed to be in pretty good shape, a little Spring like softening was going on.  I noticed that folks didn't take off at 3:00... still hanging around.  So, when I left the parking lot at 4:00 pm, there were still plenty of cars there and.... it was an easy exit.  There was just too much fun going on.

I believe there is some weather moving in for Sunday.  Maybe more freshies!!!

Does anyone know what the small building in the gully between East Peak and the Bullion Basin trail is/was ? Keep up the good field work. That is all (for now )

That is the old lift shack for the Bullions basin chair otherwise known as Anybodies Cabin

I believe there is some weather moving in for Sunday.  Maybe more freshies!!!

Sunday was really fine at Crystal. There was new snow upon arrival (a few inches) and it snowed during the day, i.e., no rain. Visibility was very limited in Green Valley in the morning but things cleared up very nicely in the afternoon--even sunny. The snow was lots of soft packed powder. Very nice moguls. In the afternoon there was even some corn/slush and the surface sometimes got grabby.