1/30 - Crystal

A very nice, fun 3.5 out of 5 day.

Sunny with bluebird skies most of the day. The ridge top winds kept the gondie spinning half speed most of the day and kept C6 on wind hold, so a .5 deduction for wind. 1.5 out of 2 for weather.

The groomers today were smooth, fast, and carvable all day. Off-piste was variable, but GV Bowl was very nice as the 3 inches of new snow blew in there and filled it nicely. About 11:30, some of the front side went off with the more tracked areas skiing well until 2/3 of the way down. Chairline was the best. But, our go-to run was Valley right to Ferkberg. Finally got some decent vert with the easy skiing today. 2 out of 3 for snow.

HELP NEEDED: Parking. Today, the absurdity went over the top. They have now declared the old helipad 4 person carpools only and at their discretion, along the road below A-lot and the front of C-lot. Which, they were enforcing today. At 11am, the entire A-lot had 60 cars and 5 busses in it. Yes, I counted them while on the gondie. Even on a big mid-week peak-season stoke day like this past Tuesday, B-lot was only 3/4 full. There is simply no reason to enforce carpool parking Monday - Thursday. And, we all know a Subaru CrossTrek with 2 people in it, has a lot less than half the carbon foot print of a Ford Expedition with 4. So, it's not even a good makerting ploy for Crystal to claim they are going green. Please send your feedback to gservice@skicrystal.com and Sales and Marketing at teanderson@skicrystal.com and let your voices be heard.

I believe ddk simply drove back home...when told as i was ...that there was no parking available for long term pass holders within 5 blocks of the chair....I believe all business in the U.S.A. should consider this model 4 parking .....that is make your customers park 5 blocks from the door ,then hire a lead foot kid to drive a large diesel truck around all day to pick them up....Genius. While this may seem ridiculous at Crystal. Just think how much plastic waste could be removed from the environment if Wal-mart tried to make even 1 customer park 5 blocks away....this visionary environmental leadership is why Crystal mountain management deserves consideration of at least a noble prize in marketing ......what other team that directly caused a massive traffic problem has so effectively solved it my making people park further away....there by using less fuel.....problem solved.......

Skiing was really good.....some of the best groomers in sun of the year....but what do I know about groomers....the Powda out da gates was bomb , too bad south didn't open ....cuz it would of rocked....skiing toward the river was near perfect
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At 11 am, the entire A-lot had 60 cars and 5 busses in it.  Yes, I counted them while on the gondie.

Picture

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/581fc3a359cc68aad204e1a7/1580493961586-WH2EJR58HB23P8RHK1R5/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kOfmh5k-M0OTeKsea5rDOakUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYxCRW4BPu10St3TBAUQYVKc5Anrr1fi3Hm8EHf_f3qXe0N8XvxYB6OMZ6eqg5xQ5QiGqcYocnqtcDhSdZcqMWjr/IMG_5800.jpeg?format=750w

great picture I can clearly see the spot i was kicked out of at 8:30.....empty

Where do backcountry skiers park these days? It's been a long time since I've skied Xtal, and this year is clearly something entirely new, too.

Upper C lot