Crystal - 04/26/14 First Spring Day

Kinda a late report - Interesting day, big day, a skiing day with lifts paying the uphill dues! Arrived incredibly (ouch) early since the Bucket ride was the only way up, nice early morning social, line really was not to bad when the Bucket started loading – perfect timing got us a four person ride. Great vis in GV early, maybe not so good on the REX side. Lucky was nasty icy bad vis on the first run down, but vis improved, MiddleFerkBerg was better – and got a lot better all day till I left. Only negative was the lower elevation cloudy snow storm most of the day at the bottom of REX kept things more firm than I would have liked (other neg REX was pretty pissed off about having to run today – one very nasty 3 hr stop ( well the lift opp said it was only 10 minute! Still felt painful)). How was the snow? Top 1/3 pretty incredibly smooth nice and high speed fun….the rest made me a better skier today and Oh have I ever mentioned my COMMBAS! Lordy I really like those ski, they might have been happier than me – Not!. Day – perfect sun breaks at the right times in the right places(Mid Doors), nasty vis early, looked perfect when I left way to early this afternoon. Lower half will not be happy unless the big dump happens – hhhmm – oh well.

Other – No Soup anywhere. Not much food anywhere! The total free A lot was full, overflow towards C and cars in B.

...yep, day 1 of the re-up...snort, right angle, green, front side, lucky shot and bear pits were the only options on the menu in a tightly controlled opening...chairs were uncrowded...grooming was good enough to get you around the mountain...off-piste was definitely of the pay attention type...variably crappy conditions were abound so we simply poked around to find the goods...a few inches of freshie atop 6-10 of unmovable crud was the norm for the morning...in some cases we had to pound out the lines for those who followed...but as the sun peeked out, the mountain began to soften and it was hit or miss...gully gully was skiing slushy nice (actually quite easy) at 3:15...skied out past chair 4 (quicksilver aka the chair from hell) and took several pics of history...a crew had taken a dozen chairs off the cable and was carting them down the hill via snowmobiled (2 cycle) sleds...after chatting a bit it seemed like management has decided that the bullwheel for the top of the new c4 would be down the hill a 100 feet from its current location, effectively creating a hike up to the boondoggle gate...it seems odd to me that the re-purposing of the c4 area to a beginner's zone conflicts with the install of the used fixed grip quad from deer valley....but it is what it is...coverage was very good today and being able to turn into late april is always a good thing...lunch at the summit house was efficient and quite tasty...very little amenities, no shuttles...the stairwell between the locker room and restrooms was gated off this morning -- somebody dropped the ball big time...hmmm...heard i missed a warm sunny day back in seattle...