Crystal 2/16 - Big Crowd, Cold Leftovers

It was my biggest mid-week crowd of the year. New snow, promise of sun, and a 3 day week-end ahead all added up to hordes. The line on Chinook in the morning was particularly long because they only loaded the chair from the left side, so the line went up the hill a bit. And then, they didn't start loading until 8:50. Ski patrol was busy with injuries today and the chairs stopped a lot due to loading snafus. At one point, the line in Green Valley was 15 minutes long, and almost as long on FQ. REX never had much of a line on it which was weird given the crowds on Lucky Shot all day.

The east winds kept things cold and blew in the occasional cloud, more consistently cloudy after noon. Also we were watching the trees on 410 both up and down as large branches were crashing down on the road.

As for skiing, everything in Green Valley was the best in bounds (although I didn't head up C6). But the lines and slow running chair drove us away. Front side was variable, but OK. Doors were horrible. Outer Ferks from the Big Shot entrance was the best for REX. Lucky Shot and Ferkberg got skidded down to ice within an hour or two. On FQ, Cisco and all the runs in the woods from that entrance were good and not many people skiing it, so I did several in there. Some of the trees were marked, so I'm wondering if there is going to be more clearing in the woods to the right of Cisco this summer which will make for some very nice gladed skiing.

Other big news, the yurt at the base of REX is possibly opening this week-end if their liquor license got approved today. They were shoveling the deck. Good thing as I think it's going to be a busy week-end. Today, lots A - E, plus H all full to capacity.