February 26, 2009 Crystal - WOW !

Tuesday was good but Thursday was incredible ! The temps were in the teens and the powder was dusty. I made 10 laps in Campbell Basin in knee deep powder. Being 6'3" my face shot days are limited but today it was coating my nostrils on every descent in Campbell Basin. I met Keith and we hiked up the Throne and had a wonderful powder choked descent. I haven't seen so many smiles at the base of the High Campbell chair in months. Keith should be posting some photos of what it looked like through a lens.

Ahhhh , another powder day ! This is getting addictive.

Anyone heading up tomorrow?

Thinking it might be pretty nice....

Witness!

The snow was unbelievably good! The heavier mid-week dump on Tuesday made for a great base for the lighter stuff today! North Country was super deep! I haven't been back there at all this season, but fell back in love again after airing off the terrain hits back there in Niagara's! It still gets tracked out pretty quick, though.... What the hell, huh?!

The weekend should be nice for those who cant get up during the week. Sounds like the BBGs (Blue Bird Gods) are planing the goods for those folks!

As long as the temps stay cold, which is what it's looking like, the BC should be great for weeks to come...

SOOOOO GOOD! I got to Northway a little late, but hit Campbell hard early on. It seemed like it took the rest of the crowd about an hour and a half to get there because it was deep and deserted for lap after lap until about 10:30. Full on face shots from top to bottom, knee deep with pockets of deeper!

On a side note, does anyone know where they measured the 5" overnight from? That had to be WAY off!

Stellar day. First pic: there's a Zap in there somewhere...

Thursday - Wow! is right.   Lots of snow.

I was a little concerned this morning when I read the temperature reports - between 6 and 16 degrees.  However, I have been a little overdressed with this Spring skiing and today I put on my head sock under my helmet.  So I was pretty comfy even though it was a weather day.

Yes, deep snow, forget grooming today.  I would say about 14 inches most places.  One of my friends who plied High Campbell all day claimed that he had snow up to his crotch... And he was mighty happy about that!

We just had to do steep and deep today.  The groomers were, of course ungroomed, but skier packed.  Had to be careful about speeding down the center of the run and flying into the pow.... that's a mighty downshift.  I was skiing down the far side of Snorting Elk when my left ski hit the deep snow on the side.  Would have spun me around if I hadn't picked it up asap.

It was possible to find some boilerplate on the steeps. On Right Angle I could feel the ice under there.... but the snow was so deep that it didn't slow me down much.  Friend said he didn't hit any ice on High Campbell.  One friend stumbled on an Avy chunk in Kelly's Gap. 

Heard blasting in South Back.

When the dump hits, ya gotta get up there!  There was a pretty good crowd up there.  But they were so dispersed all over the slopes that it didn't seem crowded.  There was quite a migration on the trail to Right Angle when I was going thru.

I often comment on the squirrely cat track across Snorting Elk Bowl.   Today, as I came shooting down the back trail, I became airborne as I flew over a sudden dip at the mountain corner.  I was on the left side of the trail and next time thru I came down the right side and just did a little whoopsie-do instead of taking flight.  I developed this theory that snowmobiles must be making perpendicular cuts across the trail.  But one of my ski partners theorized that the wind hitting the ridge was making cuts.   Hmmmm...

It was a weather day, light wind until I got up on a ridge and caught the wind blowing in from the west-northwest.  Variable snowfall all day.  Variable fog all day.  Sometimes very dense fog.  Sometimes a sunbeam shining through.   The top of the mountain seemed pretty fogged in, so my congratulations to those who got up to the top anyway for the goods.   As I was coming home through Buckley, I looked back at Rainier under blue sky and sunshine and could see a cloud layer further back hugging the mountain tops.  So, it seemed that Crystal had it's own weather system.   Crystal Blvd. was packed snow, but well cleared.   When we hit Enumclaw this morning, it was a winter wonderland  and the road was packed snow surface from about mile 35 on up.  Driving was easy, but it helps to have good tires.

Bottom line is that pow skiing could be got anywhere on the mountain today.  Whooohooooo!!!!!