Dec 15, 2009, Crystal

Probably better for the large lunchtray riders and the wide, floppy shovel skis, rather than my long, skinny ass skis. A great thigh workout, for when the real stuff hits.

My floppy lunchtrays liked it.
Your description dead on.
I was still skiing pretty untracked stuff at 3:00 .

Lots of TAYers up at Crystal today looking for their powder fix

Lets re-phrase that: TAYers ravaged Crystal is more apt. The onslaught was limitless, from 2&3 member posses to gangs of 10 or more, there was no escape . Even SnowBell, Kieth Henson and Kyle Miller showed up. Scotty would soften-up a hapless skier or 2 then the mongol hoards would descend enmass. Chair 6, West face, left angle, Northway TAYer's were everywhere ! Seeking solitude and meditation I skulked towards Left Angle trees late in the day and found myself surrounded. It was enlightening to meet so many new faces (to me) and to match said faces to names. Conditions ranged from moderately heavy, wind affected in spots to downright treacherous. Joe described it well, the only way to go was fast and subtle. My take is the brief warming will further consolidate the last three layers as temps cool. Patrol reported lots of sluff but few slabs in the usual areas.Need to rest up before pounding it on Thursday. What's for lunch ?

Thanks for the info re: High Campbell lift Bandit.

I was basing my assumption on the ~15 start-stops of the lift and the extended stop periods on our last ride up. We were on the 10th to last chair they uploaded.

Is that common when the wind picks up? I've never experienced it before in my half-dozen years at Crystal.

I've been to Crystal on deeper, colder, less crowded days, but today ranks up there on the "best ever" list for me because I got to share it with others who LOVE TO SKI!  My days at Crystal are mostly solo, so it was fun to (somewhat) unexpectedly run into a number of friends all excited about the new snow, even if it was a bit heavy.  A highlight for me was when I hooked up with Scotsman and joined a group of about six others who I'd never met before.  The entire group dropped into Left Angle, leapfrogging through the trees and hootin it up in the deep new blanket o' pow!  Topped it all off with friends, new and old, raising a glass in the Cellar.  All smiles.  No one really seemed to mind that it was raining outside.

I was also in attendance today and agree with condition assesments. I honestly thought that the new stuf would be a bit lighter given the 1000 ft snow levels. Oh well, definately got some great exercise and there were some extremely fun lines to be had that were conducive to charging with wide turns and speed. West Face held the best snow on the hill IMHO, seems to do that more days that not eh? Definately enjoyed the ice and wind blast while waiting for Campbell to finally get me up there. Usually Xtal days generate some sort of bad feelings towards managment, but today I felt that they did a great job getting everything open etc.

Thanks for the info re: High Campbell lift Bandit.

I was basing my assumption on the ~15 start-stops of the lift and the extended stop periods on our last ride up.  We were on the 10th to last chair they uploaded.

Is that common when the wind picks up?  I've never experienced it before in my half-dozen years at Crystal.

There is a safety feature installed on Ch 6 when winds hit 30 mph. When the winds gust over 50 mph the chair will shut down.

The problem wasn't the lift, but rather the mis-communication between the lift ops. Sorry for the delay. I was one of the lift ops.


We try our best to load the riders in the most efficient and safe manner as possible. We may have errorred on the side of caution. I'm just glad everyone loaded and unloaded safely.


Thanks to everyone for their patience.