Crystal 3/5

So nice to have no traffic and no crowds. Quite a change from last week. Weather was cold with off and on sun breaks. No fog, so visibility remained good (some occasional flat light) all day with an early 1pm quitting time due to other commitments. The mountain was surprisingly beat up. While coverage was good due to all last week's snow, the week-end crowds and yesterday's sun did little to help conditions. Good news is, the groomers were wall-to-wall and skied great. Even Ferkberg remained good while we were there. Some of the north facing off-piste was good, but some was not. Very surprised the Northway Bowl from the top was a non-repeat. As was Grubstake, C3 chairline, and lower Exterminator. They did groom Sluiceway and Berry Patch, but lower E was tough and the coverage on the cat track by-passing it was not so good. So, no-repeat on Kelly's Gap. Outer Ferks was fine as was all of FQ. On TB's suggestion, we found the new steep glade skiing in the woods to skiers right of Rolling Knoll. Coverage was kinda sketchy in places and we ended up coming out of the woods below REX. More exploration is needed. Drive down was fast and I paid no attention to the parking lots as there was no need to judge the non-existent crowd.