Crystal - 12/18

A great day skiing, a not so great day standing in line.  Day started overcast with some flat light, but as the day went on, we got some sun breaks which really helped with the light.  Snow was really nice with runs down GV, GV to Kelly's Gap to Lower E.  REX front sides over and over. And my personal favorite, Exterminator from the top.  Still a few rocks out there and never made it up C6 or out to Northway where there are more rocks.

By 11:00, we found ourselves standing in 15 - 20 minute lines all chairs we were skiing.  Forced us to split up and take the singles line which was still 5 - 10 minutes, but then a wait on top to regroup.  When we left at 1:30, every lot was filled to capacity including F lot.  Ski patrol told me they limited today's reservations to 5,000.  How can that be with parking completely full?

One other interesting tidbit.  At 8am, we got stuck in a string of 50 cars going up the blvd at 5 - 10 mph and taking 30 minutes from 410.  Pulled into the pay A-lot only to find the back third of the lot already filled with cars from the early arrivers.  Guess since A-lot's not filling up and they anticipated a monster crowd, they parked cars in there.  Would they have done that if they really thought only 5,000 skiers were coming up?

Drove through The Claw at 7:10 and got into a line that stretched as far as we could see in front and filled in behind as far as we could see. Arrived 10 minutes earlier than Wednesday, and parked 2 rows further back. Luckily, we are pretty quick and got several runs in before the lines went…. From the front of the line, the people in the back looked really small. 32 minutes to get from our T2Bs back to the top.

But, the snow was greatly improved and responded well to throwing down some power. Then, get lethargic standing in line. The Off-piste was uncrowded if you took the gnarly lines and CD nailed the call on the good spots. By day’s end, aka the sun going down behind the fog and the light getting really flat, the snow had been skied out and the firmness was coming through. Below 5500’, it was packing solid and ready for a refresh, if it doesn’t rain sunday.

Ken

The Gondy line was a COVID infestation waiting to happen. Didn't start that way but groups of teens started cutting the line, many not wearing masks. They were packed in to the extent most were a  foot, maybe 18" apart and we went  from 7 - 8 th. in line to probably 20th gondy. Completely out of control and the lifty's didn't do anything to spread people apart or stop the cutters. I had to call it on "COVID breath" and he didn't like it it, as well as tell some line cutters to knock their bs off.  I leaned as far over the gate as I could to distance but it was useless and this  lasted for 30 minutes. A picture of that sent to the Gov's office might be enough to shutter the place. Skiing was nice early but lines didn't take long to develop. Off to some prime side-country which was excellent. South-back eventually opened & took some of the pressure off but I suspect another over-sell occurred.

It's for the very reasons you stated that we don't ride the gondola.  Even with long lines, you can get to the top of the mountain faster riding Chinook and REX in the open air with good line control and lift operators patrolling the lines and yelling at people not properly wearing their masks.  Let's hope the governor doesn't shutter the place.  Just saw in the Seattle Times this morning that except for Switzerland, most western European ski areas are not open due to COVID restrictions. 

Roger that, first morning we didn't go chair but 7 & 8 were hard numbers not to like when we got there. Hadn't seen anything devolve that fast in all my days in lift lines and they're many. A response I received sounds promising, there will be a presence earlier to enforce their protocols.