Where are your secret stashes at Crystal? :)

Several powder hungry skiers from the faraway land of Oregon are contemplating making the pilgrimage to the holy land of Crystal sometime this month. What general strategy advice do the noble readers of this forum have to those who have one or two days to explore the entire mountain? Assuming the full mountain is open, what should our plan be so we can maximize sampling as much of the best terrain as possible? What area of the mtn should we not miss? North Country looks like it has a long shuttle to get back, should we plan to do this as our last run of the day? I've skied Crystal just a few times and I'm not that familiar with the mtn. All advice appreciated.<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Jeff<br>

All the aspects depend on the conditions.<br><br>Southback is pretty straight forward on what to ski if there is good visibility-open terrain, bowls chutes on a long ridge traverse with a couple of spur hikes.<br>North has more trees, some open bowls and rolling fall lines in tree runs and cliffs-many routes of entry-more stashes for the curious.<br>The shuttle run is good if the conditions are good to 3000 feet.<br>Look for an email from me. I would rather share the stashes with you personally, rather than on the world wide web. <br>Joe

If nothing else, pick up the "Crystal Backcountry Map" from Greenwater Ski & Tune. I've been all over the Crystal BC but seeing it laid out on that map, along with humorous yet appropriate guidance e.g. "Don't even think about it", is worth the 5 bucks.<br>When it runs correctly (not screwed up by massive overload of parking and road) the Northback shuttle is not so much a hassle that you have to reserve it at the end of the day; in fact the shuttle that does run end of day is most likely to be off-scheduled by hassles getting thru the parking lot. It doesn't take any longer than the hideous I-5 traverse does, particularly if coverage bad or on snowboard (gasp!).<br>Note also that there are various Southback things further out that don't get done too often via lifts because the hiking is a bit longer and perception that there might be hiking at bottom.

Great info. Thanks Joe & Wolf!