Crystal - 03/16

Short Report - Well it wasn't yesterday...felt cooler with some easterly winds which slowed some hoped for spring softening, crowd was bigger but not bad, more clouds blew in slowing the thaw even more, groomers good early, and I skied a lot of groomers...coverage is still very good.

More Words Report - Brain was kinda tired today so even the North facing slopes (GV Bowl and PB) required more effort today. Lucky and MIFB did ski nicely (and heard the Plunge skied very nice). No lift lines noticed. Quit ultra early today when it was apparent that no big sunny warm up was gonna happen to fire me up. Lots of slides happened late yesterday adding even more snow boulders to a lot of the south facing slopes under REX and HC....might be awhile before some of those slopes recover.

Other - Soup at CB lodge was Vegy Ministrone (I think), had a simple pizza. Pay lot was weekend big and end of season weekday not anywhere near full. C was maybe ¾ and B was maybe a 1/3. Easy fast drive up and down....time to take an afternoon snooze....

Crowds were light, but not as light as yesterday; still a 1. Visibility was good all day, but a lot more high overcast instead of yesterday's bluebird; also a 1. Snow is a little more difficult to rate as coverage is excellent even at the top of C6. However, it wasn't yesterday. I'll give it a.5 because today was definitely a 2.5 when compared to yesterday's perfect 3.

Bruces Bowl and right side of Paradise bowl skied OK, but with more effort than yesterday. Campbell Basin under the throne was about the best snow on the mountain. Powder Bowl OK, but a bit more effort. And, I actually skied the Plunge and it was icy hard, not as nice as MIFB which just got harder as the day went on.

Less stick-heads on the drive down today.

My fav was Bruce's Bowl-Bruce's Trees and the bumps from under The Nose all the way to the chair. The Northway groomer cat has been beached on the side for over a week, and that's keeping the nice soft bumps in prime shape. As DDK always says, the nice snow in Campbell Basin is a long bumpy traverse for a few really great turns, as only the all-day shaded aspects stayed soft. Powder Bowl has some good snow, but more skier grooming will really help - too many deep snow intermediates traversing the bowl. Upper groomers started great and then ground down to the impenetrable rain/ice layer from 2 months ago. Below Rex on the way out, it was perfectly soft 37° smoothness. A fun day skiing the 10% of the mountain that's good snow.

Ken
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