Crystal - 12/06

Short report - Sunny (BIG), Views (BIG), Winds ridge tops (BIG), Crowds (little), Lift lines (none - even the bucket was lift line tolerable). Groomers (LS - yesterday, FQex main runs) corduroy pool table smooth (and yes nice), ROCKS - yes, but not were I ski....Bumps - baby small still and perfect to turn on top of (keeps you out of the icy skidded troughs where the masses ski)....all in all a very fine private ski area day.

More words...Parking early front row with a small pay lot, nice weekday quiet lodge in the morning, folks on the mountain were happy and having fun...#1 had another good day. Felt air temps warm, but the winds at the top of the Bucket were blowing hard and not a place to stand around and admire the big views from Hood to Baker and everything else in between. Rocks are out there, but if you pay attention and use them like slalom gates they work nicely.

Other - CB lodge was open...no soup today and the pizza oven was not warmed up enough to cook pizza while I was there - #1 did get a glut free burger though ( thanks Cubby (sp?) new head cook at CB lodge that was cooking and working the cash registers). Crystal is laying off most of the bottom tier of employees till the season really starts...or folks start skiing and buying tixs and food. Pay lot was not full rest of A lot was full with a little bleed towards C. Very happy Hamster day in the mini bumps with the ROCK COOMBAS! I do luv those skis....

Lots of very low angle december sun couldn't win the battle with the cold east wind. Anticipated softness was held at bay. That means another day that Luckyshot will survive. Even more limited terrain today. You got your Valley Bowl and a few variations of firm bumps to C-3. You got your icy sliders and rocky recoveries on Luckyshot. And, you got some smooth groomers on Forest Queen that have only the occasional ski grabbing gravel spot. And, you got your ski gang to chase around, commiserate about the bad spots, and keep the day in the fun zone. Wohoooo!

4 turns on Gandy's softened late in the day and foretold the future story of Luckyshot and other areas in instant dig up dirt turns. Can't see how Crystal can stay open if the forecasted warmth materializes with 10 days of no new snow.

Tastiest run of the day was a piece of pizza from the very-slow-heat-up Campbell Basin No-Wood-Involved pizza oven. Guess what conditions are like when The Gang stops for lunch. Pizza or Previously Cooked Burgers are the only offerings if you're thinking of stopping by.

About 5 people have laid tracks in Powder Bowl and another 5 to Campbell Basin. Some nice turns, but nobody ventured into today's firmness. Didn't see tracks in Southback.

Ken

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Not sure what to make of these reports, with our eternal optimist ddk getting me all excited about going up, while debbie downer Kkz makes me want to stay home.  Perhaps ddk has some sweetheart deal with Crystal Marketing that Kkz wasn't offered.  Sad!

Guess I need to head up to verify myself, and who knows I might get lucky and get some nice though gritty spring snow!
RB

Not sure what to make of these reports, with our eternal optimist ddk getting me all excited about going up, while debbie downer Kkz makes me want to stay home.  Perhaps ddk has some sweetheart deal with Crystal Marketing that Kkz wasn't offered.  Sad!

Guess I need to head up to verify myself, and who knows I might get lucky and get some nice though gritty spring snow!
RB

Personal checking out the conditions is always the best option...I should be so lucky to get some deal from the marketing department , but if to many folks show up the bucket line will become unbearable...

Late report for me. RB2, knowing both KKZ and DDK as well as skiing yesterday, I'll summarize. Weather was beautiful, enough runs were open to be fun, they need more snow, food options are limited, and there are no crowds, making the area feel like your own private ski area. We all went Monday and had enough fun to go again yesterday. I'd encourage you to go, but do it before the week-end crowds grind down anything that's left on Lucky Shot. Or, at least get up there early Saturday if you have to go on the week-end. Waiting longer will just make the thin snow worse, unless you ski FQ which had great coverage and excellent groomers.

I concur with CD's excellent summary.

Moderate groomers were very nice (Lucky shot has several sections with rocks mixed into the snow by the groomers like chocolate chip cookie dough and some exposed rock).
The steeper sections of the groomers were VERY firm hard pack.
Off piste moderate angle slopes were OK, steeper slopes need more coverage.

Here are a few photos from Monday
www.flickr.com/photos/11723786@N06/albums/72157688089848142

As for soups-
The Chili was not very warm and gave me heart burn.