February 24, 2009 Crystal

Finally, a powder day !

The report was 5" at the base and 8" on top and the wind created deeper pockets in the sheltered areas.  Perlin and I arrived just before 9 and the parking lots were rather deserted.  We lapped lower Ferk's and Deerfly a few times while REX was closed.  Around 9:30 REX started loading and after the initial line there was never a wait to load any chair on the mountain all day.  Sunnyside was roped off as the coverage was minimal. There were fresh lines for hours today without hiking or skating.  High Campbell opened around 9:40 while we were cycling around Right Angle and Kelly's Gap.

The upper mountain was powder and the lower mountain from about Lower Exterminator quickly warmed and was heavy around 11am.  Intermediate terrain was ideal and you could not feel the firm base. Steeper terrain would slough and you would feel the firm surface.  Ridges were wind affected and Grubstake was wind hammered. But then I'm 205lb and penetrate a bit deeper then my light weight ski buddy. 

Northway opened aound noon and we descended gate 7 in shin deep powder.  As we descended lower the crusty moguls became more evident until the final mogul field above the lift base became "no fun".  At 1pm, we took our final run in untracked powder and quit on a high.

It was a wonderful day. 

Here's some video footage from today. 

Ahhhhh -powder !

I second Zap. We went all over today. Green Valley back door, bear pits, throne chutes, grubstake, green valley face, northway peak, morning glory bowl, etc. All was deep and mimicked powder well, still a little heavy, but hey this is WA. Heres some pics. First pic, morning glory, seond pic snorting elk same as the third, and yes he is in there somewhere, just the first 20 cm of ptex visible though. Pretty much how the day went for us!

It was by far the best resort day Ive had in Months