January 22, 2010, Crystal ran the gamut

Got our free passes at Guest Services as employees of the Summit ski areas and headed for Northway (I think that's what it is called, corrections welcomed by this novice lift skier.)  Sadly we found it mostly shaved ice, due to wind and no recent snow?  And we missed the guide services of Scotsman and Joedebaker, who must have been hiding in their stashes?  No smoke signals sighted either. 

Wind was pleasantly light, so off we went to Chair 6 in search of Bandit and hopefully more powdery conditions.  The slopes between Rex chair and Lucky Shot were soft crust and cut up old powder, nice for the current Cascade situation.  Slopes just south of the chairs of 6 were first wind blown icy, then light crust with chunks, then 6" powder lower down (sheltered from the big winds of the past few days?)   

Encouraged by finding better and better snow, we headed up the King, where we met Kat from ProSki and her friend eating cake in the relatively calm sun.  Pinball and Brain Damage looked smooth, but I was too concerned about what might lie just below the surface, so we opted for the safer Hourglass which was nice and soft by this years standards!  We resisted the urge to ski to the bottom and instead traversed right toward the N (?) facing timbered glades which were even better, OK!   Tried some more trips on Chair 6 on several aspects and met Bandit finally, who was surprisingly bashful about his TAY fame. Again thanks for your daily photo reports!  A run in Powder Bowl was quite variable with chunks, shaved ice, and some soft crust snow, but Bear Pits had nice packed powder.

Two more hikes up gave us Three Kings (a bit late to celebrate their famous Jan 6 date!) and a couple very nice drops into Silver Basin with some wind affected snow high, but 800' untracked boot top powder runs in the trees lower down, the final one at 345PM, so there's lots left for you Saturday skiers.  During the traverse over to the hike up the King we met Kyle Miller, Monica the Rainier NP ranger patrolling the Crystal/RNP border, and even the man himself, John Kircher (I only found out when someone told me later.)  He chatted with me about my ski setup, which is the same as what he uses in the backcountry, Manaslus with TLT speeds.  I guess he must be my boss' boss' boss' boss' boss?  Thank you John for your gift to us Summit employees of skiing at Crystal on quiet days, when we have little effect on the satisfaction of guests who pay.  Actually we enjoyed assisting two of them by carrying their skis up the final part of the hike to the King.

We finished the day with a ride back up to the restaurant (without white tablecloths, maybe the one with stew and crackers?) at 4PM to try out Crystal's Beacon Park.  Turns out to be just like Alpental, running 24/7, solar powered, probes available, randomly selected transmitters each time you press the start button.

Finally we headed down trying to keep up with Chris Cass skiing 70kph on his 70mm tele setup, yikes!   All in all, there was some surprisingly good skiing to be a had if you knew where to look, and even if, like us, you didn't and moved to different terrain after each unsatisfactory run.

Weekenders, I hope you have as good weather, snow, socializing, and fun as we did today!  Maybe it will even help you forget the worries of TAY censorship and not enough crackers with your stew?

Silas,

That guy was an imposter. I was on the Green Valley Chair. Conditions were prime yesterday in the Snorting Elk Bowl area. My favorite run of the day was "Willie's Run"!  I call it wind blown, groomed natural buff, over a layer of firm turnable PNW chalk. With some sunshine thrown in. Can't be beat. See you on the slopes!

Early morning photos on top of the mountain!!

One more photo, then off to work!!

That guy was an imposter. I was on the Green Valley Chair. Conditions were prime yesterday in the Snorting Elk Bowl area. My favorite run of the day was "Willie's Run"!  I call it wind blown, groomed natural buff, over a layer of firm turnable PNW chalk. With some sunshine thrown in. Can't be beat. See you on the slopes!

Aha! perhaps that explains his shyness? Trying to bask in your reflected glory and fame.

Dogonne it, would have been nice to meet you and have north country guidance, plus snow description language training! You have as many words for snow as the Eskimos.

Thanks for the daily dose of inspiring photos.