Crystal - 03/27

Short report – New snow… more than expected in many places, lots of to warm sun made southern facing slopes go from nice deep spring new to nice deep cut up mush off piste and nice soft spring on the groomers (MIFB!). Steeper slopes were very slide prone – had a nice slide next to me down PB and BP’s when I did them in the 9am hour.

To many words report – Arrived way to early and got front row cheap parking with a fairly small Pay lot (which was pretty empty when I left…but the wasted space in the rest of the A lot between rows was even worse). Snowing early, looked grayish, but the sun came out for most of the day in most places. Lots of bombs going off out South and the tracks off the King looked pretty nice. Got prime spot on CHex and top of REX… but the Bucket was running faster today…Still got first untracked line down GV Bowl – which was surprisingly nice to a very high speed happy smooth with new MIFB…next up my fav line in the Doors – sweet and deep, to PB/BP’s for deep untracked…to pushing my boundaries all the way out North to deep EH run that went from pretty nice to heavier and heavier spring pow…at that point I was wishing the Coombas were not at home in the garage…BMW’s worked great today, but…the Coombas would have been happier.
Spent mid day cycling PB/LS and Valley/MIFB….and finished an early day out Kelly’s Gap to a nice and soft and big bump Lower E.

Other – Another nice Chicken Noodle break at CB lodge…gonna get fat. Broke a ski pole at the bottom of Lower E – if the bottom of the pole with the basket is still there in a week I’ll pick it up….Got new poles at the base…Pay lot not full, lots of wasted space in the rest of the A lot, cars in C that should have been in the A lot…fast easy driving up and down with lots of Elk at Camp Sheppard area.

Other other – last local report for me for a while…best wishes all after a too short of a day!

Excellent on the north and east faces. Got sticky elsewhere fast. Great run on Hourglass but hobbled off with what may be a degenerative meniscus. Probably the end of my season- for the first time bought insurance on next years pass. Had a really good white bean and meatball soup at CB. Everyone know that there won't be an extended season after April? I just found out- pity with this snowpack- the new/old management seems to be sharpening the pencils. Signing off this thread, I'm afraid.

It’s spring and you know what to do. NW pow was great till 11:00. Especially Campbell Basin in the sun. Head out and when you see untracked drop into excellent boot-top new. (Note: Excellent means northwest skiers only) First run Chairline Right, last run Avie Basin Ropeline. When that was tracked, Upper K2 was ski-only-the-untracked heavy, but fun. Later it was T2Bs. Rock Face slid after the cat track was groomed making the traverse to Berry Patch interesting. But B-Patch was the best groomed snow on the mountain. Lower E was a hoot all day. Memorial showed the thick potatoesish possibilities and Iceberg was the first no-go groomer. Stuck with some GV to Lower E runs till the flats got sticky and then made an early exit.

Ken
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Every place we went was pretty good. It certainly wasn't boring. The Stoke meter  definitely got off the peg. The traverse out to hamburger on chair six was as good as it ever gets. It was a good visibility day with only a few exceptions. The lower mountain had a good spring conditions the couple runs we did down there. It was certainly nice getting off the groomed.

the end of my season- for the first time bought insurance on next years pass.

Sorry to hear you are out for the season.

Going through the "insurance" process with Crystal regarding Amigoette's february 6 injury.

Note: After march 1, your "insurance" gives you zero refund. The "insurance" refund is based on when you tell CM you are out for the season, NOT when the injury occurred. Amigoette was injured on 2/6, saw the doc on 2/7, and he said she should be back skiing in 2-4 weeks. But, after 4 weeks, a hard to schedule MRI said she was done for this season. It took another week to get a doctors letter and put the paperwork together to ask for an insurance refund. Guest Services* said no go. Written into the insurance paperwork, in vague language, the date of CM being notified, not the injury applies. Unfortunately for her, it took 4 weeks to actually evaluate, schedule, and determine when she might ski again. So, CM gave us the big FU. Although we've elevated it, I don't expect a change of heart. If we had told them on Feb 6, nothing would be different as far as her pass usage goes. Read the fine print (actually, the fine print from last year is no longer available). Next year, I'll be going into "Guest Services" anytime I take a fall/big hit/get a twinge of pain, and having them put in on my pass just in case.

* No customer service, logic, or compassion actually invovled

southern resort customer service is a unicorn.