Thursday started out beautifully, with a orange/pink sunrise as we drove toward the mountain across the Enumclaw Plateau. Light traffic on 410, parked in upper part of C lot and waited only a few minutes for a shuttle. Overcast skies but the top of the slopes looked promising with clear blue skies. We weren't expecting great conditions since it hasn't snowed in awhile and Wednesday was windy. It was a little warmer up on the mountain than down lower and the snow was surprisingly good our first few warmup runs on Forest Queen. Visibility was great with some blue skies and sunshine. Headed over to Green Valley and found the best snow on the mountain on the Gondy face. Soft, chalky in places and easy smooth moguls. Snorting Elk bowl was OK but not nearly as good as the bowl. Grubstake trees a little crunchy for our tastes. Lucky Shot was in fine shape, well groomed, soft and smooth. A few rocks sticking up here and there. Iceberg was non-groomed and a little icy in places but not too bad. Rocks were starting to show up there as well. Had to hop on Chair 6 after watching several skiers doing pretty well on Hamburger. The traverse was murder with rocks everywhere. The run was pretty good once you made it there but not worth the effort. We won't be back up there until there's more snow. We were planning on trying Powder Bowl but bailed because of the rocks. Didn't see anyone in Powder Bowl all day. All in all it was a fun day -- mostly groomers but great visibility and pretty good snow. Lines weren't bad all day. Maybe Crystal has figured out how many tickets they can sell without becoming overcrowded.
