Crystal 1/14 - weekend warrior report

As described by the former workers this week, the snow is less than perfect but good enough for a fun day. Bluebird skies helps a lot too. Best runs: FF (2x), Exterminator (2x - thanks for the tip kkz), NW (Paradise B, Bruces . Second tier: PB far right. Need skier traffic but doable: Grubstake, Breakover. Pretty fun on the groomers too with fast snow and not many folks on the hill all day. That was a surprise as A-E lots full and F about 1/3. Lots of racers and later Seahawks fans in the lodge. Zero lines even on FQ. I kept my speed up to make the far side line only to find about 20 people milling around and got right on.
Traffic report: Not much, a 30 second delay from 1 way detour while a big tow truck hooked up to an even bigger delivery truck on the Blvd, another 30 second delay for one elk posing on 410 at Crystal Village. Even downtown Seattle was a breeze.
Pat myself on the back report: I took a pedestrian up the Gondy at the end of the day. Later put her back on, clicked in, took lazy E run with one 30 second stop to breathe, battled through a CMAC pack on lower E and arrived just as she was getting off the Gondy.

Great report BB.
Took one run up the Gondi and looked at the carnage that the retirees had wrought and diverted and went up East Peak for some fresh turns. Not a square foot of Crystal had escaped their notice.
This is how they repay us while we are rebuilding their infrastructure and topping up their Social Security fund.

Mrs Scotsman arrived at 1:00 pm for the afternoon on-piste session after we had skied pretty good snow down from the summit of East.  She's taken a rather worrying liking to pints of Elk Frost so after four T2B's on sun warmed snow we retired to the Snorting Elk were I watched her guzzle down a couple of pints.
Lovely day.

Big congrats on very nice reports on what sounded like a great day….had a feeling based on early morning views….but lucky me had a great day in another happy place with #1…walking in the cold sun enjoying life! Yee Haa all! Hopefully tomorrow will be sunny – enough! And the snow god will bless us this next mid week (with at least Cascade pow). Thanks again!

I regret to report that the spectacular conditions of this past Wednesday have vanished.

That being said, we arrived at 9:00 am to clear blue skies and a slight breeze.  Parking lot telemetry indicated a 6 degree F inversion. JB, my partner for the day, is a weak advanced skier who told me flat out that his wife made him promise not to ski trees with me!  Oh well, no problem to be a friend and show him around safely.

To begin, we skied through Kelly's Gap only to find that the meadows under Rock Face had all been groomed -- but in a crude, uneven manner that was reminiscent of years past. Next up were variable turns through Willie's run and West Face. Not very crowded here. I was able to build JB's confidence up some by keeping him out of trouble.  

Eventually, we dropped into lower Paradise Bowl via Autobahn.  Here in Northway we found enjoyable conditions.  Not very crowded here. I was able to play in and out of trees while JB kept to the main trail.  I had hoped to get into Pucker's gulch (fantastic on Wed, hard to find) -- but no way would JB be able to handle that adventure.  So we skied all of Autobahn again did before moving over to a sunny run down Chicken Shot and Lucky Shot, which were very crowded.  I skied into lower Bear Pits around noon where there were decent turns to be found -- nobody there.

We skied past a mob at Forest Queen and over to chair 4 -- where we skied Boondoggle three times. With JB keeping on the wide, main trail, I found great snow in Elizabeth Creek and was grinning widely -- especially since I recognized my tracks from Wednesday's powder fest.  Nobody here either.  Then a run up Gold Hills where we sneaked back down between dualing CMAC courses.  Lots and lots of folks learning the sport at the lower mountain -- but still no lines at Chinook -- just the hassle of herding through the rope lines and getting your ticket or pass scanned.

Udan with beef was terrible -- that has never happened to me in the 3 or 4 years that they have offered that fare -- way too salty and overdone noodles. Bah.

After a late lunch I sneaked up C6, slipped through the ridge rocks and found nice turns via SignLine Right.  By 2:00 pm, a warm Bear Pits had now set up -- well on the way to Sunday morning death cookies. By this time, JB was skiing green -- so I managed a final 3 laps on Chinook: right side of Deer Fly, right Side of Bull Run, and right side of lower E -- here the inversion of the day had kept the snow here very acceptable!

The ride back to Seattle was uneventful but was marred by the radio broadcast of the Seahawks playoff loss to Atlanta.  So clearly we made the best choice by getting out in the sun.  Saturday night everything will freeze -- and here we are  now in January with a sloppy storm heading our way Mon-Wed.  Hmpgh.