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Crystal discontinues walk-up weekend/holiday tix
- Charlie Hagedorn
- [trumpetsailor]
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www.crystalmountainresort.com/the-mounta...-blog/an-open-letter
That's quite a change.
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- Lowell_Skoog
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I wonder what affect this will have on backcountry skiing around Crystal Mountain.
How long until Baker or other areas have to implement something like this?
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- Lowell_Skoog
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The need for this new policy is still painful.
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- filbo
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the good news is it could have been worse, the bad news is what's next.
I guess this is why due to the population density of western Washington
the west side sucks.
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- dberdinka
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I imagine the closure of Crystal to day pass users will increase this traffic even more. Maybe most will choose Snoqualmie but even a couple hundred more heading north will create a noticeable impact.  Right now if you leave Bellingham by 6:30 it's a casual 1.5 hrs to Baker. So three hours from Seattle might not sound so horrible if your sitting in traffic for five on the way to the Stevens or Crystal. That said leave at 7:30 and you'll hit grid lock on the final five miles.  Already this season I've noticed a strong uptick in early birds with the parking lot filling up sooner and sooner.
My guess is Baker won't do anything soon. They don't seem to have the infrastructure or desire to do something like create advanced ticket sales.  They certainly aren't going to limit how many they sell!  Maybe we'll finally see a more reasonable balance between day pass and season pass prices next year. Â
The intractable parking situation up there seems near impossible to solve with so many stakeholders involved. My understanding is that Baker would love to charge users of the upper lot they maintain but legal and implementation issues prevent them from doing so.Â
Personally this is probably the last year I buy I pass there. The mountain is just way to crowded.  Thinking I'll just get our lift skiing in on longer trips to more remote (non-Epic/Ikon) mountains with maybe some scattered days here and there locally.  As far as BC goes it's now always the alpine start along with a strong motivation to go far beyond Bagely Basin.
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- altasnob
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- Stefan
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I left at 6:00 from Tacoma. Did take a long time driving.
However, the lines on the lifts were not that bad from other times I have been there. That was weird. I have been there when the lots were not full, but the lines were long. The longest lines were at GV. Northway had some lines, but were always manageable. Visibility sucked out there for lots of time for me.
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- Randito
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- Scotsman
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However, the lines on the lifts were not that bad from other times I have been there. That was weird. I have been there when the lots were not full, but the lines were long. The longest lines were at GV. Northway had some lines, but were always manageable. Visibility sucked out there for lots of time for me.
This is correct.
I've skied every weekend during the recent "overcrowding " and had manageable lift lines. Sure it's busy but with some common sense it's still possible to enjoy a good day skiing.Â
People are sheep.... if you must get rope drop in Northway on a busy powder Saturday then you are going to stand in a big line as there is a mad rush .An hour later the line will ok again.
The problem at Crystal has been the parking lots filling up so early and the lodges overflowing with recreational skiers and families who do two runs, burn their legs and then sit in the lodge for two hours drinking beer and pizza. That's good, they aren't in my stash or in the lift line.
This is the new norm . Adapt and use common sense. If everybody goes to Chair 6 go to Short North. Etc.
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- ceog
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- filbo
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Thanks for your service.
The rhetoric of the notice was like someone burning you with a blowtorch but telling you how great it is for you.
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- altasnob
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- RyanLikes2Ski
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- altasnob
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- CascadeSkier
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With respect to additional parking, next up is Lot G, which is looker's right just past the diesel backup station as you drive up the Blvd. A preliminary grading was done last fall but was not polished enough to be active this year.
The 2004 Master Plan mentions "parking" 110 times. Load this file and hit Ctl + F. It looks like Lot G needs to be the first domino to fall, followed by a reduction in Log F.
skimap.org/data/193/1460/1392057371.pdf
LMK if there is an update to this 2004 Plan.
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- Randito
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So weekends at Crystal will get even longer lift lines. Whoo Hoo.
The Bullion basin lift seems less about skiing and more about being able to promote property development with "ski in ski out". If that's going to work -- they are going to need a bunch of snow making machines -- They moved the old Bullion Basin lift to Gold Hills due lack of coverage.
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- Jim Oker
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There's one of those photos in this story about a day when the crowds exceeded expectations at Vail recently Vail Corp apologizes for long lift line
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