Crystal - 02/28

What a day, early Crystal report, cloudy, a little later cam shots showed clear and pretty, colder temps, had a nice clear drive up with big Rainier, was it a sucker hole promise? Last big straight away out of Greenwater where you can see the Queen – hhhmm definitely cloudy up there, even cloudier by the time we passed Sand Flats area. Grey at the base and even greyer at the top. Very firm conditions every where, groomers were okay, Lucky actually nice fast carveable smooth. With no real crowd on the mountain it held up well till it softened. Early morning I would have repeated the “You should have been here yesterday” – duh? But the vis kept improving, the snow kept getting softer, poked around, not recommended poking area – GV, the bowl was nasty and not smooth enough, some of the lower pitches were pretty much ice balls – skiable but not that nice. Snort Elk bowl was groomed smooth firm and fast. Kellys Gap was not great till down lower, but Lower E was soft enough (and smooth enough) to be fun early afternoon. On a limited option day Lucky was probably the best with IceFerkBerg an improving second on skier left shoulder. Pretty lucky for Crystal they kept HC closed, based on some not so smart folks that required lots of Patrol help on the front side of REX. Ended up with lots of sun late afternoon, warm and soft snow in just enough places.

Other – BIG Souper Bonus at CB lodge, Chick Noodle with more noodle than broth, very good and it forced #1 to suffer watching me eating a bowl. Pay lot not full, 6 ½ buses, some overflow in C, plus cars in B. Very pleasant at the end of the day with a nice drive home. Other interesting info was the DOT filled most of the pot holes on 410 yesterday, nice not having to watch for holes and elk at the same time – bonus

Other report. When I got there the paid lot was overflowing.
Most every run not groomed was heinous. When it softened, Iceberg, Lucky Shot were a zoo with at least a couple dozen young racers all over the place in the afternoon and no practical way to ski by them on teles without being an ass.
Unless your desperate to ski, Given the cold snap we are to experience, It is going to be a great corral reef up there unless some bondable snow fills it in. North facing slopes got rained on so there is no go-to soft chalk on the north faces. And all the off piste is skier chop or rain runneled 
Pretty sad state of affairs, Pray for another round of snow!

Other-There were only three target shooters shooting large loud rapid fire firearms at the Greenwater Elk Habit site today. Maybe that will be DDK's soup tomorrow?

Cant disagree with your report....but I'm still on the half full side of the glass, as many folks know not unusual...did notice all those skin tight bombers more than once in IceFerkBerg.  Totally not the conditions for most powder hound folks for a while...the Sunday forecasts better happen, or it better get warm. Elk Noodle soup might be interesting.

After Thursday backcountry at Sasse Ridge I thought Crystal was fun except for the cost. More vertical than I would normally get snow camping in a whole year. Loved skiing fast without a heavy pack. We were lucky enough to get a really fun run on IceFerkBerg's left side, softened in the sun, when the young racers were all on their course. That made me feel 16 again!! Hoping for better CM conditions by Wed and willing to come in the rain on the old duffers bus.