Crystal Mountain closing = BS Email Boyne Inc.

Actually, everyone but Baker is closing after this weekend.  ...

White Pass also plans on running thier lifts till the 30th of April.

www.skiwhitepass.com

For a State that has such incredible mountains and prolific snow its ski industry is pretty Ghetto.  I totally agree that most area operators have no imagination what so ever or the stamina to hire some good lawyers and fight back some of the restrictive beurocratic regulation the USFS puts on them.  It boggles my mind that all we have in this state are "brown-bag" lunch areas and no true resort facilities or communities.

I grew up on the East coast where they have to make snow to ski and as long as the ski areas had enough snow to link a run down the bottom past all of the grass & mud patches they would stay open.  Killington makes enough snow every year to stay open until June 1st so WTF...I don't understand why they close here when there is 10-ft of snow on the ground?

From another thread in random tracks

The pool jump is still there though it probably doesn't melt out much before the area closes.  The Alpental used to close the last week of May.  A jump into that pool was a great way to cool off after a sunny hot spring bump session.   Yes I do have movies and you play a promenent role in one scene.  Truely fond memories

I rode the lift up with Paul B. (head of ski patrol and on the full time crystal staff) once this year and asked him why Crystal always closes in mid April, and if it was a USFS issue. He said it has nothing at all to do with the USFS and they could stay open as long as they want, but they make the decision based on business. I always thought it was a USFS issue too, but he was pretty certain in his reply.

Thanks for that bit of info zenom. It is most interesting to note that, although I emailed Boyne Inc. at two different areas within the organization - one being to Julie Ard in PR - I have recieved NO RESPONSE of any kind. I believe that may be all one needs to know to understand Boyne Inc.'s attitude toward us, their revenue stream. We as skiers, particularly those who access this forum, tend to hope that the sport we love might retain some of the integrity it was once known for. I am very much the realist in matters wherein recreation intersects with commerce - I'm an attorney - but Boyne's attitude sucks. If only the people at Boyne were as great as the staff at Crystal or their beautiful and challanging mountain. "Earn your turns" has benefits beyond the obvious when it sends a message to organizations such as Boyne Inc. When I earn my turns, my wallet goes along for the ride. I plan on emailing Boyne Inc. after every off piste foray with the total of what I might have spent that day had I been at Crystal.

Check out this information from the White Pass website today:

(quote)

Date / Time 4/16 5:25 am Weather Snowing Lightly Temperature 21 Degrees New Snow 3" New Past 24 10" Base Total 88" Summit Total 162" Surface Powder & Machine Groom Cords Hours

Open today from 8:45 - 4...

RUNNING QUAD & PLATTER ONLY - MIDWEEK PRICING APPLIES...

Running Quad & Platter weekends (Sat. & Sun.) until April 30th...

(end quote)

White Pass sounds better than Crystal or Stevens- open until 4/30 and midweek pricing today for reduced service.

Did I hear on the news that Alpental will operate until the end of the month? And of course, Baker keeps operating.

It sounds like lack of spring operations is an issue with Stevens and Crystal, the big $$ ski areas in WA, each raking in in the neighborhood of $15 to $20 million gross seasonal revenues while operating on our Forest land. (note-the Snoqualmie areas combined can have more skier visits than Stevens or Crystal, but I view them as separate areas). Oh, I forgot, those managers would tell you that they have profitable businesses because of their acumen... silly skiers, it just does not work to run lifts for less than a big, lucrative mob of skiers... some of these managers seem to think that they provide a product equivalent to Whistler minus the overnight accomodations and therefore should charge premium ticket prices...and no matter what they do profits are made (especially Stevens- always).

Mission Ridge would do well to open for a few more weekends, given the great year and snowpack. MR would need to operate just 2 lifts to open the mountain. However, that new owner has made improvements to MR soon after the purchase that are significant, and the prices are much better than other ski areas'. Those improvements are something that the big Harbor LLC (owner of Stevens and Schweitzer) would not do when it owned MR.

Maybe a visit to White Pass this spring would be fun.

According to the USFS Record of Decision for the CM expansion (8/04), following are the only non-construction activity related conditions imposed by the USFS that would appear to have any impact upon the closing date for the ski season or spring skiing in general:

"...no spring skiing (May 15 - June 30) will be allowed outside of the Green Valley/Snorting Elk area in order to prevent impacts to the exercise of treaty rights by the Tribes (Tribes with interests in the CM SUP include the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, the Puyallup Tribe and the Yakima Indian Nation)."; and

"During the elk calving season (May 15-June 30), the base area at Crystal Mountain will be fended off to prevent guests from disturbing and impacting elk calving."; and

"When elk presence is noted in the SUP area, spring skiers will be required to ride the tram down to the base area; no spring skiing (May 15-June 30) will be allowed outside of the Green Valley/ Snorting Elk area in order to prevent impacts to elk calving."


J.P.