Mar 21, 2013, Steven's Pass

Made the mistake of going backside early and paid the ultimate price in the 45+ minute line which had amassed at the bottom of Southern Cross. Mgmt scrambled-up some extra hands and got Jupiter running but not before it was entirely too late. Sloppy work in the morning left many favorite drops into the frontside closed. Not sure I'll be renewing my pass - it'll only hurt more this time next year when the brand-new fancy, schmancy high speed quad back there isn't running midweek to access all their "new" gladed terrain.

Bad execution on top of poor planning, CNL should look to shake things up or get outta that lease before their falls result in uncontrollable slides.

What was closed? We skied fresh untracked open to close:) We saw the line forming on SC after our first lap and went elsewhere. No lines on other chairs. I thought it was a great day at Stevens. Sure, there were lots of people ya just had to go a little bit further.

Shim's gate said closed despite being completely tracked out by the time I got there. The backside mess was totally predictable (I called it when I saw the forecast on Tuesday) and thus easily avoidable by any competent management. I stayed front side when I got to the top of tye mill and saw that juniper wasn't running so I avoided the lines but also lost out on some fun terrain. Pissing off pass holders is par for the course at all ski areas, it seems. (Steven's closed seventh heaven and double diamond / southern pine at 11:30 a few times this year due to insufficient ticket sales). Yesterday though I imagine there were quite a few day ticket holders standing in line for a half hour plus looking at a motionless lift wondering why it wasn't running and reevaluating their sixty some dollar investment.

And yes, the side country yielded fine snow well into the afternoon.