Crystal - 02/03

An up and down and up and whatever kinda day. Looked to be sunny before the lifts
started loading, but by the time I got to the top of REX in was a fog out, next few
times could see well enough to ski GV Bowl (skied okay when you could see the best
places to try to make a turn). Valley groomers skied very nice. LS skied okay with
icy patches and soft patches and very doable bumps on the right side of the two
steeper pitches. MIFB when I finally did it with some vis was pretty much smooth ice
skiing between some piles of softness. That be pretty much my world today, lazy
hamstering do to wimpy willingness to test lots of places, or do to no vis (9:30 to
10:30 time being worst do to freezing fog on my goggles - Huh? with temps in the mid
teens! Huh? It was cold). Did get better mid day as vis improved and I worked harder on
the bumps I like. Light crowd early and late, never rode a lift with anyone today.
Quit kinda early with plenty of vert and to save some quads for the next few days.

Other - During my worst late morning cold nasty vis period, checked out CB lodge -
warmer than outside, but dont take your coat off cool (not enough humans heating
the place). Soup was the Triple C - it was good and hot, made the skiing afterwords
more pleasant.

Other Other - Got to park in the new and improved A lot today (CD will have more to
say about that). Pay lot was still to weekend massive and weekday empty. C maybe
3/4 full, and lots of cars in B. So there was a few folks on the mountain, but
with everything open it spreads the crowd. Drive up was in a blizzard till Camp
Sheppard (and lucky at reasonable speed), drive down was even better.

I actually liked the snow better today than ddk's report (a first?), but still give the day a 2 out of 5.

Left the house in a snow storm and 410 outside of the 'Claw had snow and ice on it.  One of the more icy days driving up and saw one car in the ditch.  Was glad I had new Blizzaks on the AWD.  Then something weird happened.  Hit the waterfall viewpoint and drove into clear skies and dry roads.  Unfortunately, those clear skies never materialized at Crystal as forecast today.  It was cold and foggy all morning and vis was impacted.  About 11:30, the fog lifted and visibility was better, but never clear.  .5 out of 2 for weather today.

The groomers this morning were silky smooth with cartable base and 1 - 2 inches new on top.  They groomed Snorting Elk, Sluiceway, Berry Patch, Lower Bull Run, and Deer Fly in addition to all the usual suspects.  Made for many fast top to bottom runs.  While the groomers did get firmer as the day went on, staying to the lesser tracked runs was the key.  Off-piste, I only skied GV which had been rain-smoothed and pretty nice with the new snow.  I also skied Lower E which had not been rain smoothed and was not nice.  Ended up staying later today waiting for that clear sky and piling on the vert. 1.5 out of 3 for snow.

Parking - Big kudos to Crystal Mountain.  They have changed their mid-week policy for A-lot.  It is now divided into three sections.  The closest section reserved for those with big-dollar parking permits.  The next section for 4-person car pools, and the last section for general parking, first come first serve.  After all the feedback from last week, I think this is a good solution.  When I was talking to the parking attendant, she was shouting "power to the people" whenever anybody asked about the new policy. 

Can somebody help ddk with his formatting . Very difficult to read .
Not sure what he's doing but me no likey.