Crystal - 03/19

Another nasty crapy day in the Hamster Treadmill…even more than normal since nothing off the groomers was skiable – as expected. Pretty much fun high speed screamers on the very nice groomers today – and there was a lot of them groomers! Some on the shady aspects stayed pretty firm, but the sun baked slopes got nice and happy. Very few of my fav lines got happy soft before I left – way to early again…but how many hamster runs can you do per hour? Got some weird 7 run per hour count? Ouch! That’s got to be pretty sadly Hamsterish! Random survey from folks that had to put up with me on the “again” over crowded GV chair were pretty positive on the Happy-oh-Meter! Kinda cool today which slowed down the happy spring mush factor. Still nice, but way to many high speed screemers!....100mph? Not! 70 mph down SnortElk? Not!...but it was fast for this old brain. Lots of fun. Just enough sun. Lift lines for the single solo folks pretty quick.

Other – Food and soup…no clue. Pay lot small and empty, rest of A lot widely spaced and not full. Fun day? Stupid question!. Twas definitely a high speed groomer day mostly – though it was finally getting happy soft in places as I was leaving – dang. Oh well. Lots of “real” opinions coming soon!

Lots of “real” opinions coming soon!

Thanks for assigning me to the “Real” Opinion page.

Novelty skiing today as mountain conditions really don’t warrant so much fun. Firm frozen groomers changed to soft groomers mid-day. Off the groomers it was either crunchy frozen glop or deep unconsolidated glop. We tried to dig some texture into the groomers and succeeded by day’s end. The mountain looks like a june extended season, but it’s march. The fun felt like we were getting away with something - not like it should be skiable wall to wall. Shaded aspects like Westface remained ice rinks. South facing pitches off-groomed were deep glob. Groomers were standup and straight-line relaxing (aka Old Guy Really Fast). As we dug our own texture into the softness to build some aggression, the fun factor went up. Pick a dry day, some good friends, and get repetitive.

Ken
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Very late report. By 12:30, the bumps on the left side of Green Valley had finally softened nicely as well as Ann's run. So, the run was GV left bumps to the steeper of the two groomed pitches in the middle, to Ann's run down under the chair at the bottom. Would have been better to show up at 10am and ski to closing than to show up at 9 and leave at 1:15. The mind-numbing repetitiveness finally did us in.

On a side note, I wasn't very happy with the season pass discount for next year given to pass holders this year (been skiing at Crystal for 40 years, but only been a pass holder for three years since I retired). Upon analyzing price paid per days skied the last three years resulted in a surprisingly low cost per day skied, even with a quarter season this year. I'm happy.

I spaced. I meant to say I did the cost/day analysis for the last three years of having a pass in retirement. I've had season passes longer than that, just don't have the records to know what I paid for them...

Thanks for assigning me to the “Real” Opinion page.

Novelty skiing today as mountain conditions really don’t warrant so much fun. Firm frozen groomers changed to soft groomers mid-day. Off the groomers it was either crunchy frozen glop or deep unconsolidated glop. We tried to dig some texture into the groomers and succeeded by day’s end. The mountain looks like a june extended season, but it’s march. The fun felt like we were getting away with something - not like it should be skiable wall to wall. Shaded aspects like Westface remained ice rinks. South facing pitches off-groomed were deep glob. Groomers were standup and straight-line relaxing (aka Old Guy Really Fast). As we dug our own texture into the softness to build some aggression, the fun factor went up. Pick a dry day, some good friends, and get repetitive.

Ken
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  Didnt assign you the duty...just expected it...if not for MR CD you'd be at the Gorge already?   Waited 24 hours to see what the report would be..pretty much as expected - totally up beat and postive....hhhhmmm...you should spend some money and go on a road trip!  Like many other pow hungry TAY folks...kinda wish I could...skied a couple lines behind you - nice turns for a "young" guy....Based on your opinions maybe you should take up golf?  Definitely should not do many more days in the treadmill!

Very late report.  By 12:30, the bumps on the left side of Green Valley had finally softened nicely as well as Ann's run.  So, the run was GV left bumps to the steeper of the two groomed pitches in the middle, to Ann's run down under the chair at the bottom.  Would have been better to show up at 10am and ski to closing than to show up at 9 and leave at 1:15.  The mind-numbing repetitiveness finally did us in.

On a side note, I wasn't very happy with the season pass discount for next year given to pass holders this year (been skiing at Crystal for 40 years, but only been a pass holder for three years since I retired).  Upon analyzing price paid per days skied the last three years resulted in a surprisingly low cost per day skied, even with a quarter season this year.  I'm happy.

  Agree I wasn't impressed with the X-Tal bonus for next season...but even with all the discounted days this season (and all the spring days I squeaked in last second season) - other than gas money for the commute...I'd say I've never "lost" money skiing at Crystal...great mountain, one of the best in the West! I've been lucky enough to have the opportunity to ski all the "big" ski areas of the West...and I gotta say Crystal Rocks! (even in a bad year). And since I have a very low pleasure tolerance...its been a great spring season all year!