Crystal - 11/19/20

Day two of the "New norm".  Decided to go back to a very old norm when the mountain was not as busy and parking
was easier and also since we a have A lot permit -didnt arrive till 8:30. Still not to far back and it ended up 
being in the middle of all the cars allowed into the A lot.  Walked up to the lodge and saw the lineups for the
Bucket and CHex. Get ski boots on and ready to ski and line on CHex was gone (not so for the Bucket).  New snow
late yesterday and overnight greatly improved the quality, it was snowing hard when we arrived and most of the
morning.  Groomers were a lot nicer with Queens for #1 being the best, plus for me on our last run to the base
the left side of Chair 4 - boot top deep and mostly untracked.  Didnt get to do much since I was "supper" 
nice to #1, but it was fun and probably good for my whimpy quads.  Noticed Chair 6 running and finally opened and
it had the biggest lineup I noticed - plus some very nice lines being laid down in Campbell Basin!  Mostly grey with
snow showers early, but sun breaks and nice mid day.  Since it was #1's first day and no nice warm indoor seating we
left early. Lot of things are still in the works and the learning curve for both Crystal and the public is a 
work in progress.  All in all a very nice day and way better than last years start.  No rocks on the main runs.
Other - Food? Homemade breakfast and lunch sandwiches...getting tired of the extra labor all ready, gonna be
a long season.
Other Other - Pay lot had more cars today, as did B and C.  But there havent been any lift lines and we
always had a chair to ourselves.   The big question will be how things will work out when the crowds do try
to show up.

The pay lot was ridiculously huge, it took up all of A lot and was at least half empty.  C lot was full way past the shuttle stop B lot was 2/3 full.  There was no line when we boarded CEX at 9 o'clock.  Hardly anybody in the bathroom at 8:45. We picked up our local seasons passes at the ticket windows and they were sorted alphabetically, easy easy.  We took two warm up runs on Forest Queen and it was as good as it ever gets. About 3 to 4 inches of nice fluff over edgable packed powder on the groomed.  The Green Valley Gondy face was nice semi cut up powder, very reasonable to turn in.  West Face was more of the same. It was beginning to look like a real powder day.  Snorting Elk was good as were the Grub Sake trees, and Ann,s run. The line in Green Valley wasn't too bad considering you could only load singles, people you rode with, or two people on the four person chair.  They maxed out at about five minutes and we're only in the mid morning, after that nothing.  REX and Forest Queen had no lines.  Chair 6 had about a 10 minute line when we did it It wasn't bad, and there were about 1/3 to 1/2  singles.  Powder Bowl main shute had some hidden rocks. There were surprisingly few rocks at the top and along the ridge. In fact the top of Powder Bowl is in mid season form.
Ddk got the visibility right.  All in all it was a great opening day for my brother and I, and a great second day for CM.  The legs are trashed.

Leave the rock skis at home.

An odd ski day, brain issues, and weird snow. Crystal is doing a good job and all the right things to deal with the requirements of the new world. They are also way behind in setting up for the said world. The outdoor sitting and eating area was just being started to be built today. They’ve taken the only covered area and restricted it to food buyers. No place to sit and buckle your boots or change. Unless you have a 600$ locker or are Ddk. They wouldn’t let me in and it costs 10$/day to store your shoes. The bag/ski check advertised a month ago is non-existent. I do like the new parking spot *checks wallet - it’s quite empty*.
Not to leave TAY out of the fray. I couldn’t get a new password for TAY 2.0 to use my old account (many requests and no response. Support, no response. Got an odd email saying I requested my user name, didn’t, that was no help), so added a 2 and new email, and will carry on. Must be advantages to being Platinum Ddk.

Brain issues limited my first 5 runs. 11 months since my ski day ended in blackness and severe pain. So, started over as a scared intermediate in the low visibility morning. Suddenly, vis improved and I got my first without-thinking run. Then, enjoyed the soft new snow over sometimes ice. Above 6000’, below was thick and crunchy. As the day wore on, the snow got heavier, thickened up, and packed down. When the required energy level increased, old muscles complained more. There was no way to tell which aspects would be soft, which would be heavy, or which would expose the icy rain crust. More snow needs to be ordered, but the best coverage in recent memory for Crystal’s opening. Rock skis not required. Ken