December 29, 2002, Crystal Mtn. South Backcountry

Jill, Dale, Hillary and I arrived at Crystal at 9am and the parking lots were filling fast. Patches of blue sky and sunshine brought the masses out.Signed out at the Ski Patrol room and received a detailed avalanche briefing from Doug B. The North Backcountry had 1.5 to 5 foot releases yesterday.  Control work had been done in Silver Basin and Three Way Peak sounded like a great destination. A group of 3 had already broken trail up to Party Knoll so the climbing was easy.  They also broke trail up to Exit Chute but by the time we arrived, the light went flat so we started cultivating the tree line in beautiful powder.  Jill and I worked our way into lower Speed Control for our final powder run.  This was Dale and Hillary's first day and smiles were all around.  There were no signs of instability in the Three-Way Peak area and Silver Basin.  Signed back out with the Ski Patrol and beat the crowd out of the parking lot.  Upon our return home we learned of the avalanche of Nick's group in Cement Basin.