NOT ENOUGH POWER: Crystal 3/31

...normally i would file a crystal day trip report about 6 pm...but this one is coming at yah especially early this rainy saturday...arrived at 8:15 a.m. and snagged one of the last slots in A lot...since i already had loaded up my Go Card, i proceeded into the lodge -- only to find all the power was out!  no lights, cell, no internet, no food, no coffee, no gondola...actually kinda creepy wandering into a dark men's room (well there was a token emergency light here and there).

...word was that the chairs would be running on diesel backup -- but with the winds being too strong up top, it would not be possible to run rex/6/gv/nway. apparently (and can anybody confirm?) when crystal goes to diesel it is either full speed or nadda for chair speed.  with the telemetry crapping out at 10 pm last night (back up now), i had no idea how windy it was. there used to be wind/temp gauges in the lodge at patio level -- but those have been replaced by some sort of barrel on the wall art form...hmmm...

so we waited in the lodge, knowing that concrete was abound in the lower mountain. my crew wasn't making any move to buy a tik (which was reduced to $55) so we watched a long line at chinook load up...the turnstiles weren't working either...we then noticed that chinook express wasn't moving -- it was stuck for at least 10 min when we decided to bail...

...stopping at guest services on the way out, i was told that my e-tik would be reimbursed on monday (no computers either on sat)...

...so i get home (seattle) at noon to find out that the power was back on, and that rex/gv was up...but no 6/nway...and no food at the lodges...

...so it will be interesting to find out how conditions were up top if any TAYers stuck around for the show...

Yeah... could not stick it out either, just got a call that the Gondi, 6 and N-way are running and conditions improved on front side with the new snow.
We went up for the last 1st tracks breakfast and got hosed, oh well saved $60.
Oh well...another day...

...what is the breakfast like?...

Kinda like a funhouse trying to feel your way into the restroom in the dark. Since we'd changed before they announced Rex's wind hold, we tried a few runs. After 2 runs on Downhill, we couldn't handle the wait in line and then the very slow ride up for the 2 minutes of skiing. Confusion at the base of Rex: ski patrol was up, the chair was stopped kinda on wind hold with 35-40mph on top, but mostly they were waiting for maintenance to fix chinook, as it had been constantly stopping and Rex needed some love as well. No word on when the power might be back so we bailed. After changing, the lights came on as I walked out at 10:15 with rumors Rex would start in 20 minutes. Lots of people at the base and raining – we drove away and will try again tomorrow. A huge hole was dug in the snow at the base of Chinook to get through the snow to an electrical vault.

Ken

Yes quite a **it show this morning at the big C.  Seems old man Murphy was lurking around every corner. To management's credit though, they had everything up and running by 1p. Can't say what food services looked like, but in terms of skiing I would say mediocre, except for one run of first tracks on HC. If the groomers get their act together tonight, tomorrow will be good. Especially if SB gets open, which is likely as they are bombing as we speak.

Some days it is just better to stay in bed and today was one of those. Along with the comments already posted my day got even worse. But I did learn one of those lessons that will stick with me the rest of my life. Exiting REX, I was trying to take the upper traverse heading to Powder Pass. I noted the warning sign to watch for low chairs and timed my pass by the upcoming group. I was then made painfully aware that the warning sign is also relevant to the downward heading chairs with a surprising blow to the head and toss into the snow. Thankfully the chairs are padded! Apparently it looked bad enough that Patrol came down to check me for a concussion. I gathered my wits and was able to tell him that my name is George W. Bush, I was on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean and that I had just won the Iraq war. He still gave me a funny look but seemed to understand after I said I was a regular skier at Crystal. Another highlight of the day was arriving at the NW chair to find it was broken. I waited 10-15 minutes and bailed to the E lot track that includes a lot of uphill portions. I did have some nice surfy turns in Bear Pits, Upper Sunnyside and Upper Outer Ferks but not enough to counter the negatives for the day.

Ouch sorry BB...I noticed the patrol putting up extra ropes...My version of a odd day - Today started as a anti-bonus marketing kind of day. Everything wrong from the start, no power at the base lodge (or anywhere on the upper mountain), lifts on diesel running slow (FQex on diesel is almost as bad as riding Chair 4, maybe worse), fair sized early crowd with limited lifts, CHex pass readers not working, REX on hold to start, fairly wet snow falling, unpleasant snow quality conditions below the bottom of REX, CHex stopping for fairly long periods (got me once for 10 minutes) – yikes!….Luckily all started getting better at 10:15 just as I was thinking about heading home – power back on in lodge, lifts started running “normally”, REX fired up, the pent up crowd started to disperse after a way to big early glut on REX, the sun started to brighten things, Northway opened which sucked everyone out that way, bombs dropping in PB (aaahhh HC should open really soon), BP’s was already open and I had some nice “secret” untracked runs, plus a nice OuterFerks run which kept getting better all day. But things slowed down when I took a chance on being at the front of the HC wait – an hour later finally loading (that cost a lot of hamster runs), PB was a little anti-climatic, nice on top third, pretty firm hard pack the bottom 2/3’s – it was a lot better the second time through later. Managed to pull off a nice ski day that felt like a ski day from hell at times. No soup report since CB lodge never opened today. Heard that a lot of folks left really early, which made the day more bearable. Pay lot marginally full, C pretty full, cars in B. I’m about ready for some mellow spring skiing – please. Snow pack is deeper everyday

I was then made painfully aware that the warning sign is also relevant to the downward heading chairs with a surprising blow to the head and toss into the snow.

There's a reason we call you BIG Bob. The rest of us would probably fit under the chair with room to spare.

Glad you're OK. And yes, the traverse out from the NW chair is not pleasant.

Ken

There were some challenges in the morning and the slog from the base of Northway out to the road looked like a Cecil B DeMille epic. There were some skiers genuinely upset that an orderly line wasn't maintained for this!
The afternoon runs in Campbell Basin were really good to great if you skied under the gate to A Basin along the rope line. It was a soft 8" and pretty dry with very little wind or sun crust .

I did one run on Forest Queen and drove back down to Greenwater to get coffee and then drove back up and hit north once the gondi was running and missed a lot of the drama. Skied pretty much untracked powder in O's meadows and then Left Angle trees at 3:00 Pm on a Saturday with my son when most people had gone home in disgust. Heavy pow but consistent and nice to ski with fat boards.
My son and I had a blast.

I did one run on Forest Queen and drove back down to Greenwater to get coffee and then drove back up and hit north once the gondi was running and missed a lot of the drama. Skied pretty  much untracked powder in O's meadows and then Left Angle trees at 3:00 Pm on a Saturday with my son when most people had gone home in disgust. Heavy pow but consistent and nice to ski with fat boards.
My son and I had a blast.

Second-mouse-gets-the-cheese day

I did one run on Forest Queen and drove back down to Greenwater to get coffee and then drove back up and hit north once the gondi was running and missed a lot of the drama. Skied pretty  much untracked powder in O's meadows and then Left Angle trees at 3:00 Pm on a Saturday with my son when most people had gone home in disgust. Heavy pow but consistent and nice to ski with fat boards.
My son and I had a blast.

The Scot gets the "Most Brilliant Move" of the ski season. I like your tactics. Smooth move!

The Scot gets the "Most Brilliant Move" of the ski season. I like your tactics. Smooth move!

Thank you...I have added this to the ever growing list of accomplishments on my signature line.

.......The Alpine Inn had power, bacon, eggs and coffee.