November 29, 2003, Southback Crystal Mt
11/29/03
WA Cascades West Slopes South (Mt Rainier)
2644
2
Well I arrived at Crystal around 7am and not too long after I pulled in the cars started piling up. That made my stomach sick so I packed my snowshoes and waited for the lifts to open. I wanted to check out what mother nature has blown a day after the storm. This time there was no cat track. Just few inches crusty snow so I was skeptical about conditions up there. Anyways as I made my way past the flats and knolls the sun came out then it went away and came out...on and off. All tracks were pretty much covered except a faint trace of ours. I encountered another party of 2 (skier and split boarder) and their dog. Their 1st run looked awesome and everything held. At sometimes the dog was passing the skier. It made for some good laughs as I headed up for my 1st.
Snow conditions varied in the bowls in amounts of blown snow. Some had a few inches to a foot in some spots. All on top of breakable crust with the consolidated dryer snow from previous below.
Anyway 1st run was quite a treat so for the next run I went the summit which added around 400ft. It was really blowing at the summit and as I looked at the resort it appeared to be socked in. Crazy weather. Back here there were 3 of us, a dog, sun here and there, and a big area to track out if we could. I dropped in from the northeast side of the summit below lizards back. The top 50ft. or so was anywhere from few to 6 inches of wind blown pow on very hard ice crust. After that I headed more easterly into the glades and trees where conditions were alot better. about 300ft. of turns in a foot of untracked windblown. Once out of the trees I entered a chute about 20 to 30 feet wide and about 100ft. down. I only released the first few inches so pretty stable considering the avi danger. The snow really changed as I exited the chute and just got thicker below the bowl. I got 2 awesome runs in and as I was leaving my 2 ski buds from previous trip decided to show. So all there were only 5 of us and a dog back there. Hey you know what's funny is that the dog had more lines then me. I mean straight shots from top to bottom without a turn. I have never seen a dog beat a skier down a hill until this day. Since the dog was smaller it almost looked like it was riding on his belly at times with all paws moving at once. I took some pics so well see how they turn out.
Snow conditions varied in the bowls in amounts of blown snow. Some had a few inches to a foot in some spots. All on top of breakable crust with the consolidated dryer snow from previous below.
Anyway 1st run was quite a treat so for the next run I went the summit which added around 400ft. It was really blowing at the summit and as I looked at the resort it appeared to be socked in. Crazy weather. Back here there were 3 of us, a dog, sun here and there, and a big area to track out if we could. I dropped in from the northeast side of the summit below lizards back. The top 50ft. or so was anywhere from few to 6 inches of wind blown pow on very hard ice crust. After that I headed more easterly into the glades and trees where conditions were alot better. about 300ft. of turns in a foot of untracked windblown. Once out of the trees I entered a chute about 20 to 30 feet wide and about 100ft. down. I only released the first few inches so pretty stable considering the avi danger. The snow really changed as I exited the chute and just got thicker below the bowl. I got 2 awesome runs in and as I was leaving my 2 ski buds from previous trip decided to show. So all there were only 5 of us and a dog back there. Hey you know what's funny is that the dog had more lines then me. I mean straight shots from top to bottom without a turn. I have never seen a dog beat a skier down a hill until this day. Since the dog was smaller it almost looked like it was riding on his belly at times with all paws moving at once. I took some pics so well see how they turn out.
nice report, snoslut.
So I'm thinking you were in Silver Basin and the "summit" was Silver King??
So I'm thinking you were in Silver Basin and the "summit" was Silver King??
Yup ron j and just in time. I heard they opened southback yesterday and short northback as well. My 2 ski buds went for sure. I can only imagine the crowds reactions when they reached silver king and saw all our tracks since no new storms hit. It happens every year. As for northback I saw people walking from the traditional lower E lot exit on thanksgiving. Hope they had their rock boards. Everytime I have hittin it with this amount of snow my board always comes out smelling like pine and sometimes with a few dings. Not this year!
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