Crystal - 4/19

QRM Score: 3+ out of 3. Nice to meet you in person today, Quick foot!

Mrs. CD came down sick yesterday, so was a little bummed she was going to miss such a beautiful day. Nice drive up after I passed 3 orange Ass-plunk trucks on 410. No visible elk on the way up and pulled into the lot in row 3 a little after 8am.

Crystal did a great job of grooming last night and even had Pro Course groomed. GV looked bad, so first run down Pro Course and MIFB revealed nice grooming already starting to soften. Next ride up, I was reminded of some chatter in the lodge that GV skied good yesterday even though it didn't look so good. So, next run dropped into the right side of the bowl and all those frozen chicken head looking things were actually very soft and the valley skied excellent. By 10am, shed the coat and headed for C6. It wasn't open as they were having mechanical issues. Headed back to REX for a run in Bear Pits which was the nicest it's been in weeks, then headed out Kelly's Gap. Not so nice. Sluiceway was heavy glop, Berry Patch was already getting sticking, but fortunately, lower E was YeeHaw big soft bumps. Got to the gondie and noticed they didn't put 7 buckets on this morning. Once on, realized it was running summer slow. OK, even though Lower E was good, not worth a repeat. Saw people in Powder Bowl, so off I went. Center line off the top very good. Rotated PB/BP with GV/MIFB. Around noon, high clouds moved in and provided some shade which was perfect as it kept the flats from getting sticky, while MFB turned into some of the best snow on the mountain throwing up waves of slush with each turn. I jumped on the GV/MIFB wheel like a brain damaged rodent that couldn't figure out how to get off and went into the zone. At 2pm, I came out of the zone when I noticed the legs were starting to get a little tired, so off to the bottom.

At the lodge, checked the Avocet for my vert. 53.2K, a new one day personal best. This really blew my mind. The fact that me a 62 year old overfed short haired skiing gnome should be the star of his own Hollywood ski movie. But, there I was, taken to a place, the hall of the Mountain kings. I stood high by the mountain top, feeling naked to the world in my Hawaii shirt. When I got home, I told my wife. She whispered in my ear something crazy. She said, spill the wine you won that pearl...

Dont know if I can add much to the previous report - especially the last part...my heads kinda spinning right now....anyway more words about a truly happy spring day...

Short Report - Finally a Big Early Morning Spring Day!  Soft on the groomers (LS and  MIFB), a dusting of new winter snow in GV Bowl added to nice screaming fast left over powder - very pleasant. #1 had a very big day carving some very nice turns and I had a great day being nice to #1...plus I also got a lot of other fun runs when I wasn't being nice....Lots of happy folks, didn't hear many complaints about the day... almost warm enough to go totally Hawaii!...but since I be kinda wimpy and a few mid day clouds and cool winds kept my coat on (plus the ultra light rest of my outfit).

More Words - Arrived early to the typical early parking lot...most of the early crowd was typical with not to many of the true hard core pow hounds - they did show up later to ski the happy finally spring snow.  Views big early - Oregon to Canada and everything in between...plus the big bump out west looked really big.  Fun day, perfect quality groomers all day, nice light crowd (though more than yesterday).  Green Valley bowl to MIFB was my happy hamster zone - many repeats.  Big fun in both off piste(?) in BP's and also fun down the main skied line that the rest of the Hamster were doing. Didn't do a lot of places cause I was kinda lazy...might have been very happy, but I'll use #1 as an excuse - I really was very nice Mr Binx! (lower case? Upper case?  Maybe its BiNx or ?) The King was in the total Rainier donut hole all day and looked pretty impressive watching some nice turns being made out there.

Other - No soup, no lunch, no time to waste.  Pay lot small and not full, rest of A lot looked like a parking lot disaster, which required some folks to park in the C and B lots (with no shuttle)...I have never ridden the shuttles and I am really lazy on the parking lot walking thing...so glad I showed up today way to early...Great day, Great last lift served Thursday at Crystal...only three more days till the easy noisy lift life at Crystal is over and my never ending Xtal reports, sad for me, great for everyone else...Yee Haa!

Awesome reports.
Glorious writing.

You guys have turned the Lift Served section into the best part of TAY,

Yes, very nice seeing CD and DDK.  A few other places that skied well, Snoring Elk Bowl right side, Red Sign Shute, and Sunnyside left side gully.  I did the gully three times, each time was better than the last.  [anybody going up tomorrow can thank me later for the good grooming job] 
Vis=1  Crowd=1  Snow= 1  3/3. Fun factor- off the scale. 

I did three hikes up Silver King around mid-day and found surprisingly fun skiing on various lines on the north side. Met my older brother a bit later and cycled groomers for the rest of the day. Later in the afternoon the light became very flat at times. Still a lot of fun, especially skiing with Gordy.

(Repeat from the other place)

Some shots from Crystal on 4/19:














Check out this huDge avalanche:





Other nearby scenes:

Fun skiing with you ddk- the alpine thing is efficient but clunky. My knee didn't hurt but my back did at the end of the day. That Coors light that I found on the slope tasted great in the parking lot. Someone needs to sell loose beers at the bottom of Sunnyside on days like those. Great photos!