February 13, 2011 Crystal Mountain

After anxiously watching the snow pounding on Saturday night we committed to test driving the "first tracks" breakfast that Crystal offers to give you early access and a good meal for a small fee. The program is well worth it! In actuality the storm only dropped 6ish inches leaving some places really fun and others pretty sketchy. We ended up getting 5 great runs in Green Valley before they opened up the mountain for everyone. We hit a few runs on the frontside which were hit and miss, but Powder Bowl was by far the run of the day. Southback was in good shape and skiing great, but we only took one run out there (southeast face).

It's been a while since there was a day worth bringing out the helmet cam...here is a little footage from the sunny day.

We were down there too and really enjoyed the fresh snow. But what was going on with the lifts today? We got stuck on REX for 20-25 minutes and things were pretty spotty all day long. All in all, though, it was a fantastic day.

They were on backup power because the power was out due to the wind storm.
Very sturdy trees were dropped all over the mountain from what I could see.

I would not call a $20 breakfast a small fee, but it could be worth it for freshies on the right day for those who can afford to dish out the cash. I know that by the time I got up to the summit, and I was in the 1st wave, Green Valley was pretty much tracked out.
IMO-To small of a mountain to have a 1st tracks program on the weekends, kinda in your face for those who get up early with families to hit the hill. I just think the program separates the economic classes a little more, not all skiers are trusties. So parents with two capable skiing kids shells out another $80 for breakfast and a privilege...I know people will sell out, but it's a little bogus...IMO.
Might as well blow off the early mornings if I'm just going to get sloppy 2nds for being 1st in line.

Everybody had their powder Jones on today and the place was a zoo. Plus the new snow was on a bulletproof base. The snow was sparkling in the sun, but a gnarly coral reef lurking beneath the surface. As Ritalin said, alluded to that there were runs that were decent and ones that were heinous, but both required no laziness.

I think a run or two for the first tracks tracks breakfast folks would be fine but five runs? Green valley was completely tracked out when us regular skiers got up to the top. Another example of Crystal mountain catering to the privileged.

My lamenting does no good without some action so I will send a letter to Crystal about my concerns with the program. I encourage others to follow suit if it bugs them. If they could get 6 open right off the bat that would help to give us purchasers some relief or as suggested cut back on the time that skiers are released into GV. I saw that Bananas was skied and it was 9:15am usually that does not even get skied till later on when other stuff gets tracked out. >

To whom might one send a note oif concern regarding the early ups?

Also, had a bizarre experience on the traverse from the Throne to the Throne/King saddle with some of the blueshirts. Upshot was they had a class and one of their less suave members was freaking out at people passing the class. I waited at the start of the traverse for the clog to clear at that first turn going around the back of the throne when said member skied into me and then started bitching me out for stopping on the traverse. I pointed out that I was waiting for his class to clear the traverse, he got more verbally abusive with both me and others. Really bad form for a representative of CM as well as a "leader" for the kid class.