Crystal - 12/20

I wanted to report it was a really big day, but I can't unless reporting on the size of the crowd. Arrived at 8am to parking in the C lot. Figured the pay parking must be huge, but it wasn't...actually quite small. Hordes at the ticket windows. By the time the lifts opened, the gondie line went past the sun deck and up the hill. The line on Chinook equally huge up the hill. Exacerbating the problem with the very large crowd were chairs running on diesel, absolutely no line control (not a rope in sight) on REX or GV, and sequencer problems on REX shutting it down frequently. Not good. Once up the mountain, the snow was deep and heavy. Great for coverage, but any one track packed it down and turned it into a difficult mess. Because Lucky Shot was groomed before the majority of snow fell, it was also a lumpy mess. Add to this fog and freezing fog on the goggles, plus man made snow blowing hard at the bottom of REX to further mess up your goggles, and vis was an issue. My worsening arthritic knee was not having fun with the heavy snow, so with all things considered, bailed at 11:30. Just a really off day for me and disappointed.

I'm sure there will be more positive posts from others later in the day. Hopefully, things will calm down for tomorrow.

I wanted to report it was a really big day, but I can't unless reporting on the size of the crowd.  Arrived at 8am to parking in the C lot.  Figured the pay parking must be huge, but it wasn't...actually quite small.  Hordes at the ticket windows.  By the time the lifts opened, the gondie line went past the sun deck and up the hill.  The line on Chinook equally huge up the hill.  Exacerbating the problem with the very large crowd were chairs running on diesel, absolutely no line control (not a rope in sight) on REX or GV, and sequencer problems on REX shutting it down frequently.  Not good.  Once up the mountain, the snow was deep and heavy.  Great for coverage, but any one track packed it down and turned it into a difficult mess.  Because Lucky Shot was groomed before the majority of snow fell, it was also a lumpy mess.  Add to this fog and freezing fog on the goggles, plus man made snow blowing hard at the bottom of REX to further mess up your goggles, and vis was an issue.  My worsening arthritic knee was not having fun with the heavy snow, so with all things considered, bailed at 11:30.  Just a really off day for me and disappointed.

I'm sure there will be more positive posts from others later in the day.  Hopefully, things will calm down for tomorrow.

8am....funny.

Other words about today.....Short Report - BIG! Biggest pow day of the short season. One of the Biggest crowds of the season. Biggest change in skiing conditions in just three days...Dang just BIG!

Wordy Report - Arrived extra early, but not rely enough to get first chair on CHex....by the time the lift started loading...the line up was mid winter weekend big, for both CHex and The Bucket....Next stop was the wait for REX...no lift lines set up led to a mass of humans Euro style....Got third REX chair...but since it was running on diesel...ouch! The first Bucket got to the top first...No problem...center Valley Big and untracked...Helli quality - Ouch! Did another run in Grubstake Trees (primo) to Anns area (also primo)....and then bailed out of the Valley before the real hoard showed up...Heard the GVex got a little busy do to the limited exit options. BTW - did I mention the lifts were all running on DIESEL again today do the the massive snow gun operation on the lower mountain? Kept me away from REX till after the morning rush had finished...did a couple of runs on FQex to the base - QS slopes were not prime (do to the quality snow making - variable from ski grabbing to icy crust to ?....some good sections). Did a very early lunch at CB lodge ( great pizza and beer..no soup today) before the mass of humans showed up...Just in time to go back to REX for no lines time...But the foggy conditions got worse the freezing mist on my goggles (what?) kicked in for a few runs...plus the added bonus of skiing thru the snow guns spewing even more nice goggle mist (plus grabby crappy snow)....But oh well, coverage improved a thousand percent since Sunday. Skied a couple of happy runs in left overs on SunnySide...bumped into a Fireman that said BP'S was skiing pretty nice....couldn't keep up with him...but I did repeat BP's cause it was skiing very happily. Snow quality was great early and was bumping up very nicely...vis was in an out, never perfect, but mostly good enough.

Other - As noted no soup at CB lodge, but the base had Tomato Bisque. Pay lot was smaller than normal (?) and totally full - I'm sure those folks complained today. Rest of A through C was full, B had very wide spaced rows...and full, cars in D and E....So it was one of the busiest days of the season as expected....and not surprisingly Crystal was not really actually ready for the day....AND I WISH THEY WOULD STOP MAKING SNOW DURING THE DAY AND RUN THE LIFTS ON PURE CLEAN PSE ELECTRICITY! Lift lines would be shorter....

Yes, today was BIG. The snow was deep, but barely powder, and fit into the list of Heavy descriptions. Heavy traffic, heavy crowd, heavy snow, heavy fog (of the freezing kind), and first of the year lift lines. An opening run on top in 12-18" of untracked snow showed potential if you found steepness to compensate for the thickness. Not to be, as, by the second long line wait, it was tracked into big heavy lumps you couldn't see in the heavy fog. And then freezing fog. Some OK snow on Downhill/Rolling Hole was quite skiable whilst blind, but pretty low on the invigorating list.

Don't know what Heli conditions ddk is talking about (wait, I think I've been on every helicopter ddk's been on, and then some), but today was not it. And they'd never be flying in today's thick freezing fog.

To add insult to blindness, Crystal had all their "snow' guns going. So, wait in line while freezing water coats your goggles. Then ski through the guns on the way back to the line to get another good coating. And, run the chairs/gondy slowly on diesel so you can afford said electric "snow" and make the lines are longer. As they opened the Frontside, it had already been poached into heavy, setting up lumps. A few places condensed the crowd and showed the potential of being skied out into loosely packed "pow".

Crystal was really understaffed today. No line control, nothing groomed above the bottom of Luckyshot, Rex's sequencer crashing and stopping the chair, and it took all morning to take the closed ropes off clearly skiable runs. Left early to let the horde finish skier grooming the snow for tomorrow.

Great base building!

Ken

While much of the above commentary is true, my day 10 had me smiling as my new boots (1 size smaller + 4 trips to Dr Happy Feet) had finally gotten dialed in. Today was a big improvement over just a few days ago where there was nothing but dirt on south facing slopes. We are witnessing Crystal history with all the snowmaking! Bah humbug if the goggles got a tad icey. Cough cough at the diesel. Attentive mechanics tending to deny REX derailing. GV chair had ropes; REX got ropes in the afternoon. Elizabeth Creek drainage skied very well, as did Bear Pits despite having to >>squeeze<< between the trees just inside the top gate skier's left. Good practice for 360 falling angels LOL. The sun came out at 3:45 pm with a top to bottom Ferk's on the 188 Soul7s powder-corded to happy feet.

Driving up in the morning darkness was a tad weird on the year's shortest day. Arrived 8 am, parked up close with amigos already in line. That cost me beers! An upside down SUV in the ditch at the 410 flashing elk light at 4:30 with EMT and power truck on site. Pizza and African Amber at Frankie's, as usual.

Loaded Chex @ Noon:30. Skied 9 Lucky Shot and the
3:30 PM Valley-Berg to Winter Solstice early closed FQEX.
Quick Silver was good. Dodged the snow guns a few times, so never
had goggle rime, but the viz was never awesome.
Praying they will use some of the diesel in the cats for grooming as my old
legs did not enjoy the surprise bumps.