Crystal - 01/19 Number 2 Pow day of 2015

Check check? - Lordy got a winner right from the start - and the rest of the wordy report - #2 Big Powder day of 2015…just enough new put down in the right places to be pretty fun and all the wet plaster that fell on Saturday and Sunday really really really improved and covered up a lot the nasty’s up high. Arrived extra early to get a good parking spot on a holiday Monday. Jumped into the CHex line to get first tracks of what ever was on the upper mountain…think the early rush was over in 10 minutes. Almost beat the first bucket to the top….then it was pretty much typical racing around frenzy (with out very many hard core folks) to get the “perfect” lines – since most of the hard core folks were missing, it took a lot of effort to track up a lot of lines that might not have been to nice a week ago. Spent the morning in the Doors, then with improving vis headed for HC…should have gotten there earlier, but it was still pretty nice on the Campbell Basin side….then a big fun run down PB…had to do that again later. No lift lines on REX or HC…some linage on GV when I poked down there a few times, but the single line was ski up and jump in. Quality of the snow in lots of places is great, still can find lots of scrappy noisy turns – just got to turn some where else. Did a lot of SunnySide runs early to mid day. Plunge was pretty nice into IceFerkBerg – coverage at the bottom is way better than a week ago.

Other – Soup at CB lodge was the White Bean Kale Meat Ball special? The stuff that kinda looks like Chick Noodle – still don’t know what it tastes like…crowd was to big at CB around noon to make me stand in the “big” lines to either get food or pay for it. Never really saw a lift line. Pay lot was pretty big and not full (as was the bus lot), rest of A was full, B looked relatively full to the shuttle stop and C looked mostly full…so it was a pretty good sized crowd for a Holiday Monday...Fun day, ready for more fun tomorrow.

Good report DDK, I found boot top here and there, it's still not filled in and I was really taking it easy today, this cold in the chest has been hanging way too long, so I thought some good mountain air would help and it did. had a nice conversation with a dad and two kids about the snow pack and was proud to be on a lift with a dad passing on the passion of the hills, as I have to mine, now grown and skiing yet today (son just got back from a weekend in the North Cascades) the groom was fun but the 6 called my name and I enjoyed the new ride up, far right rabbit ears was still fresh and boot top deep, fun run. saw all the red coats training the new ones and it was great to wave at the fee skiing LP on her day off, man she can stand on the sticks. one more run off of six and it was time for old legs to go home. Ran into Mom Backstrum at the base, good to catch up with her, she can stand on the sticks too.......they need snow, Boot top fresh, I call knee deep a powder day, today was boot top good.....They need snow.... no soup for me, a stop at the Naches (cheaper).........The col feels better, but the legs hurt now, a good hurt ThinK Snow

OK, to pile on with a slightly different view.  After 2 inches of rain on Sunday at the base, the temperatures dropped and also dropped 4 inches of new snow…up to 8 - 12 inches in some places.  However, if you weren't in the right place, it was very transitional between skidded ice and piled up powder sometimes within the same turn.  Also, the stuff underneath the new snow could be a little surprising at times.  So, the trick was to find all the places where it was smooth underneath.  And, all the runs DDK called out were it (although I don't know about the doors, as I didn't ski them).  The best stuff was chute 2 and 3 off Campbell Basin, Powder Bowl right side, and most of the front side until half way down.  Then, it was variable good or bad depending on your line.

After surpassing the CD minimum, we started thinking about heading home.  Then a lift op gave us a heads-up they were going to open up Northway after being closed for 3 weeks.  We headed up and got to Gate 1 just as the patrol dropped the rope.  First ones in and first tracks down Northway Bowl.  Amazing.  Actually, first tracks down most of the run until we merged with ski patrol tracks near the bottom.  The last face under the chair is still pretty boney, however.  Ski into line and who's there?  Bossman John K.  I guess owning the resort has it's perks.  Headed up for run #2 and did Paradise Bowl trees left off the top of Bruce's Bowl.  Another great untracked run.  This time we took the cut-out at the bottom to miss the last face and what is normally 30 feet wide and groomed was a single ski track along a rushing creek with a single snow bridge over the creek at the bottom.  Kind of an adventure.  As we were heading up for the third run, the hordes were coming down so we bailed.  Definitely the best runs of the season as well as the highest vert day.

Looks like the next several days we go back to spring skiing.  It sure was nice to see some new snow on the mountain.  

The morning was a 4” mini-dump on rain smoothed ice. Great where it was smooth enough - tough where bumps, rocks, or narrowness drove you down to the ice layer. I did Ddk’s fav, Valley-Iceberg, for an opener which was my worst icy, rocky, bumpy choice of the day in the can’t-see-my-skis fog. Upper Memorial, Lower ½ Campbell, and Lower Powder Bowl were some of the best as we put the puzzle pieces together to link smooth and rock free areas together. Narrowness and snow below 6K feet still sported lots of rock and ice to dodge. Our timing was impeccable. As the supposed hard cores where leaving (myself almost included) Northway provided my 2 best runs of the year. Top-to-bottom boot-top new over a non-icy soft base untracked top to bottom. The buzz lasted through the bushwhacking required to avoid Sphincterville (aka middle creek beds of Northway). But, it’s used up now. Sorry.

Ken
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The morning was a 4” mini-dump

The rigmarole to make a post here is getting ridiculous. How 'bout reverting to the last version of the software?

Well, combining my post with the quote was an improvement over not being able to post. I guess.

Kkz