Crystal - 12/01/2023 Opening Day

Short Ski Report - It was skiing on a ribbon of snowmaking stuff with 4 inches of fairly nice new. Felt good to be on skis again. Better and worse than expected.

To Wordy Ski Report - Broken clouds before CHex opening...then cloudier and cloudier with increasing snow fall and very not pleasant wind blowing up Disco Flats...pitch at the top of CHex and section from bottom of FQex to bottom of Slow Silver nice enough for carving turns with the 3 to 4 inches new...flat sections pretty much a pain. Very old rock skis worked fine.... snowing hard and windy when I bailed out of the A lot. Only did 5 runs which was plenty for the wimpy quads...ouch! I arrived ultra early as usual for opening day...saw a fox running around begging for food by the Right Angle shop...apparently a recent regular per some employees. Twas a good day to break in the legs and the BMW's that had not been out of the garage for a few years (after I spent some time removing the rust from the edges?) .... tomorrow might be big if the snow keeps falling before the big Sunday rain event through next Tuesday.

Other saw a few folks I sort of know and a lot of other folks I should almost know, otherwise it was a very very light crowd with folks showing up as I was leaving...never any lift line with the new CHex wireless gates which seemed to work mostly fine...Crystal still had folks helping when problems occurred...New paver blocks between the new building and the old are already starting to chip around the edges, but they are at least snow free. The condom at the base was warm when I looked in and still smelled okay with the new crushed gravel floor. Rode up the Bucket to check out conditions up top and saw patrol out setting up rope lines and boo...Heard rumors of maybe FQex and GVex maybe tomorrow? if enough snow falls by then.

Other Other - Special folks parking was half full, Pay lot was maybe a 1/3 full...Crystal installed mostly permanent signs in the A lot about the preferred direction of travel through it plus where the Special folk's area is and also where the A lot permit parking is....hhhhmmmm...saw a snow plow driving around in circles in the A lot early this morning. B lot was full to the toilet station and C lot maybe a 1/3 full. Drive up this early morning was very painful...dark, snowing hard, very slow driver a couple cars in front of me...but we all got to the ski area alive! Drive down was much more pleasant.