Crystal - 12/14

Aaaahhhh a casual Monday!  As has been noted don’t have to waste hours standing around to get First Tracks…so be mellow, sleep in, take it easy!  Dang it! Never gonna do that again…Arrived at 8:45 into the front row of the C lot!!!! !!!! Ouch oh me!  Walked through a weekend sized empty pay lot (equally empty when I left), passed by the Gondy – day ticket line very big, First Tracks seasons pass line as empty as the pay lot!  And when I finally got onto the upper mountain via CHex and Rex I was really sad I hadn’t shown up earlier…Nice new 4+ inches of smooth cold snow. Sunny nice up high – at least Campbell Basin and PB early, both very happy sweet.  Doors, Showtime, Sunnyside M-World, GV Bowl, Grubstake!, various lines in off of Chair 6, Bearpits and Lucky Trees all very much fun.  Only problem was my blown out quads – dang not enough wall sitting (and anything else).  Coombas would have been happier with their driver than the BMW’s today.  Swapping between the two sometimes takes some effort for my old brain and body.  Had a lot of fun today.  Had some fun trying to keep up with a Fireman – impossible.  Chased Colin and his nice lady down the front side (great snowboarders and Colin is a weekend lift opp now that he has a real money paying job during the week).

Other – Spent massive amounts of time looking at the Tomato soup at CB lodge, had a good sized crowd in there eating lots of expensive food.  Chair 6 was running pretty slow early, but they finally flipped it over to pure electric juice and it ran nice. 

Other other – Pay lot was not full when I left (duh?), over flow crowd filled a bunch of the C lot and at least back to the shuttle stop in the B lot…so there were a few folks on the slopes…somewhere.  No Northway today and from what I heard that is a lucky thing…apparently pretty nasty on Saturday.  Great day (maybe not BIG), fun muscle building day on some pretty nice snow.

Everything ddk said. I was amazed at the crowds today for a Monday. At one point riding up REX and looking at the hordes on Lucky Shot, it could have been a week-end. Having said that, there wasn't any lift lines and not a lot of people where we were skiing. Reference ddk again. The only other thing to add is the Powder Bowl chutes to the left were very nice and it was great to get into Bear Pits after it was closed all last season. Many laps in there today. Also heard Northway was really good yesterday. Talked to patrol and they said they didn't expect the crowds today so didn't open it. The bossman told them to re-open it tomorrow.

Coverage is excellent.

A WTF crowd of cars in the lot this morning, but no one on the lifts. That meant it took most of the day to wear the boot-top new down to the nice packed-pow substrate. We did a rope-to-rope look and couldn’t find bad snow from Campbell Basin (legs weren’t up for Southback) to Grubstake. Best Smiley Face run was Bear Pits. Been a long time, but it’s back. Woulda done Northway based on good reports, but closed due to….. Wait, read CM’s website, closed today because… we’re not DUDISH enough? Oh man!

DDK, there is an arrival time between 6:30 and 8:45 that works quite well. The ½ hour Gondy load was gone before you got there. And, the Aftershocks, minus BMW advertising, worked great today. Choose a ski and stick with it. I’ve found trying to pick a ski based on conditions has never worked (other than the old rock skis that need beating up).

Ken
+

......DDK, there is an arrival time between 6:30 and 8:45 that works quite well. The ½ hour Gondy load was gone before you got there. And, the Aftershocks, minus BMW advertising, worked great today. Choose a ski and stick with it. I’ve found trying to pick a ski based on conditions has never worked (other than the old rock skis that need beating up).

Ken
+

Ouch again as usual....thanks for your incredible perfect wisdom! You really be the all knowing perfect ski stud! Sorry, you do manage to bring the best out of me...Maybe if you went more than once a week? I also know that the First Tracks lines was gone because you were sitting in the lodge. Yee Haa.....Best wishes and Merry Holidays. ps its ddk lower case...ever notice?