Crystal - 02/01

Very nice day, lots of sun, big views, screamer groomers early and a lot of PB/BP hamster runs today. Powder Bowl by far had the best snow and most off piste traffic of the day – especially this afternoon. Fairly warm and no winds made for a pleasant day. Fairly good sized crowd, but only noticed a few short blobs of folks standing around the bottom of REX or FQex. Only skied a few different runs today – GV Bowl/UpperFerk/IceFerkBerg/Plunge/Lucky/Bearpits/PowderBowl and I cant tell you how many times I did PB, but it was a lot. Fun day again. Some rocks in some of the top slots into PB, but not to bad yet.

Other info – Soups: Clam Chow and left over LBP (yesterdays report). Pay lot very big and not totally full, B lot had widely spaced rows that made it look like a lot, C lot pushing full (so it was a pretty good crowd).

What was the snow like in PB? Any idea what Southback will be like?

What was the snow like in PB? Any idea what Southback will be like?

Where I skied in PB was the most skied out lines, nice soft cut pow in the middle of the bowl kinda like skiing a nice groomer. Places that have not had a lot of traffic have 6+ amount of "stuff" that might be soft might be a little firm, big boy skies and strong skiing can slice through that...front side of The King? Looked nice, might have a inch or so of breakable crust over some pretty nice quality cold snow...some of the southback guys gotta have some info they are willing to part with?

A few silly speed groomers out of the box (well actually 4 turns in Green Valley confirmed the off-piste was nasty) got things rolling. A short foray onto Hamburger didn't pan out. Powder Bowl into Bear Pits was great on the first run and just got better throughout the day. Don't know how to describe the snow, but boot-top ground up breakable crust with a smooth, fast, firm underlayment might do it. Round tripped PB-BP from 10 till 2.
Re: Southback. Avalanche Basin and the King looked awesome. The trick will be if the breakable crust will support you. We found very few places where you could ski the crust without breaking through. Powder Bowl was good because the crust was ground up down Main Chute and the center. Partially broken up areas were terrible. Ski Patrol said South will open tomorrow but will likely close when the temps rise, as slides are expected when it warms up.
+