Opening 2018 was by far not the biggest and best, but it was fun to get on the lazy lift served treadmill again. Crystal marketing put a lot of effort for the first day, drones and multi cams and hoopla and they even started loading a half hour early. Crowd was small as you would expect with the limited opening and options and conditions, but it was fun, the snow quality was better than expected - boot top light pow on Queens, the snow making ice was skiable with the Rock Coombas early and very nice with the BMW's for the second half of my short day - long enough day to wake up my ski legs. Managed to survive the narrow gauntlet from the top of CHex to the bottom of FQex...dodging snowboarder obstacles on the path. Grooming was okay and actually got better as the relatively light crowd cut and smoothed the slopes. It was colder than expected, with snow flurries and some filtered sun. Was getting a little damper on the goggles when I quit. The crowd was getting a little bigger, the parking lots a little fuller, the party was getting louder at the base. Seeing many of the Crystal employees and some of the hard core snow fanatics was fun...Pretty much just enough for the first day to make the trip worth it. Mountain was a lot whiter with the new snow, we just need a heck of a lot more.
Other - Pay lot not full (duh!), rest of A was full with circling cars when I left, cars in B and C. Lots of traffic driving up 410 still when I was leaving. Crystal Blvd had snow on it on the drive up this morning and was pretty slippery, still had snow on it when I left, but the traction seemed okay other than some folks driving down that must never have driven on snow - luckily I got passed them quickly and easily.
Fun if limited start to the season, good for my old quads and rocks skis, ready for more. ;D
 Glad to read that it was decent.