Crystal - 12/07

The way to early report....Very Cold Day…and for #1 and I a ultra short day…arrived early to prime free parking and blue bird skies…sun would help the perceived temps, but by 10am the swirling clouds from the east started to filter the sun and the winds just kept blowing. Riding FQex was cold the groomers over there were in fantastic shape – but to cold. So we did REX (wind from behindish) and GV and a long run down Lucky to the base…ride the bucket? Or go? #1 was frozen even with all the cloths she was wearing and even I was. But the snow conditions were good where we went (lots of w’s) and looked good everywhere I wanted to go…oh well…more warmer days to come.

Other – No soup report (heard that there was no soup at CB lodge yesterday). Pay lot empty, some cars in B and the very front of C…fair number of cars driving up when we left. Full on sun by the time we got to the sand flats area? And a very nice sunny drive down 410 – with snow getting blown off the trees. Nice social at Wapiti and had a nice late breakfast at Charlie’s! Very good.

The cold temps have driven the elk lower. We encountered three herds on the way up, the first below Greenwater. They have little ones (actually quite large) with them. Pay attention driving up.

Pulled into the lot at 8:15 and the thermometer in the car had the temp in the parking lot at 12 degrees. Fog was rolling over east peak, but with the Bluebird skis over Crystal, the 5 degrees up top felt tolerable. As ddk said, that only lasted an hour before the clouds made their way over to the west side. Not enough to affect visibility, but enough to add additional chill as the sun became blocked or filtered. All the groomers were in great shape and most of the gravel is gone on the cat tracks. Off piste is getting a little funky with big pillows of heavier powder interspersed with firm pack. Just kinda inconsistent making the front side, Bear Pits, and doors all a little tough to get a rhythm. The entry to door 2 is still a rock garden. The valley continues to ski great, so the run of the day was valley, Ferkberg, and when too cold, down Bull Run for a warmer gondie ride back to the top. The gondie was warm enough to warm the hands, but did little for the feet. After a 3/4 day, our popsicle feet made us pull the plug. On one of the gondie rides, we heard Northway had been groomed from the top of Paradise Bowl all the way to the lift. Oh, pay parking had four kinda weirdly spaced rows when we left. There was room for 16 - 20 rows.

spot on Boys, I too pulled into the bucket and stepped into the Darksides, but not before having a short chat with Steve the man Ferks, he told me it was 6 degrees, it was squeaky snow for sure, a few laps down the gut of GV to enjoy the groom and the filtered sun and no crowds, I poked around the cut up snow a bit and then decided to go North, I found un tracked snow in Spook Hill, I was surprised to find this stash, but there it was, a few young bucks lefties going to their station at the bottom of North also found my stash, I returned, but the long ride up was not much fun, so I gapped out to the Elk for one IPA and slow sit by the fire to end my day. It's still thin out there, but the next set of storms to come will help out. saw a few Red Coats doing the pads lifting and Boo slepping, they looked like the new Red Coated Pro's, all in all a great day in the hills, looking for some storm skiing soon.