Crystal - 02/10

Arrived at the Crystal parking lot to rain. The half hour we sat in the lodge before the lifts opened, we saw rain, sun, wind, and snow. The first three runs up top, it was snowing moderately with some wind and fog making visibility tricky. However, mid-morning the snow and wind let up and the fog lifted. Crystal telemetry showed 1 inch new overnight, but there was easily 4 - 6 inches new. 3 - 4 inches on top of a nicely groomed Iceberg and 6 inches in many of the off-piste areas. As long as you stayed away from areas that were skidded off to the ice below, the mountain skied great. Northway, Green Valley, Iceberg, Memorial, Sunnyside, Lucky Shot trees and Campbell Basin all good. I couldn't tell if Powder Bowl was good because a cloud blew in just as we were dropping in and the lack of visibility made it difficult to navigate. We didn't go back up for a round trip because FQ chair was running at 75% (?????) and C6 was running way slow at maybe 60%. The lift op told us they were having trouble with the chair and didn't run it full speed any more unless there are crowds…they're trying to save the chair until they can replace it (still several years away in Crystal's grand plan). Too bad as I love the terrain, but man it was slow today.

They did a good job on the pay lot as it only extended down to the Snorting Elk bridge. Very light crowd today. Sorry DDK, no soup report.

...and C6 was running way slow at maybe 60%. The lift op told us they were having trouble with the chair and didn't run it full speed any more unless there are crowds…they're trying to save the chair until they can replace it (still several years away in Crystal's grand plan).

It is my understanding that approval has been granted to replace C6 with a fixed grip quad not to exceed C6's current uphill capacity rate. So the permitting process has been finished. But then management paints the towers last summer -- and looks like a new cable and seat cushions to me. So perhaps the quick fix is in -- for now. My theory is that C6 continues to limp along by exhibiting variation in how it reacts to power fluctuations and bad weather (bad for the lift = good for skiers and boarders) and that management continues to play poker with the NPS.

Expected to ski in the rain for an hour and go home. A change to fog and light rain at Rex was just in time. And a change to patchy clear-between-the-fog spots was just in time for an extended round of Northway runs. Best snow faced north and was covered by mid-boot pow. East and South aspects had huge bumps and some icy underpinnings, but fluff on top lasted through the day with the un-crowd.

Any snow refreshment overnight will be great tomorrow (other than below the 5,500' rain level of this morning assuming it freezes the rain crust overnight).

It's gonna be a long wait for a C-6 fix, as it was brutally slow today. They said 70% speed, but I think that's 70% of last year's 70% speed as 50% was more the feeling. The plan was at one point to replace Six in the summer 2012, obviously didn't happen. The painting was a bad sign, and now the talk is of C-4 and Discovery replacements coming first.

I parked in the parking lot, walked to the lodge, never ran over a rodent, saw no soup, and followed other cars on the way home.

Ken
+