April 2-3, 2005, Crystal

Those sick (of work) days sure come in handy when the storm be dumping during the week.  On Saturday I joined the weekend warroirs.  Showed up at 8 and ended up parking a ways out.  Nothing like a nice hump to get you warmed up.  At the base I took my place among the hundred plus.  Wind was light and clouds were in and out.  Every now and then the suns silhouette could be seen thru the clouds.  By 8:45 people were loading.  After a little line management on Chinook and Rex I was making my way to the top.  So far everyone coming down looked like they were having a blast!<br><br>Quite a difference from last weekend when the frontside was unrideable.  I couldn't wait to carve bottomless on the fish again.  While sitting on the lift I met Todd, a enviro consultant/surfer/skater/boarder from Oregon.  Cool dude.  So he tagged along.  We snagged what was left of the untracked in Green Valley and made our way towards E.  The fresh in GV was boot deep and fast.  The frontside was knee deep face shots all the way down. ;D  Made our way back to the lift and off again only this time chasing the visibility towards Northway.  Sun was actually trying to beam thru.  After a quick hike up a virgin cat track Todd and I found ourselves in more deep untracked in the trees.  I decided to keep the theme going.  As we dropped in there were only 2 other boarders.  Thru uncosolidated pow fields and tree lines we carved.  Even managed to squeeze in a few drops here and there.  Who could resist with the landing provided.  Mostly knee deep but thigh deep in some places with the wind.  <br><br>Arrived at the base and it was obvious that Chinook was having problems.  Everyone was lined up at Miners.  Took a break at the patio and by then the line at Chinook migrated to Miners.  Then it started to work again.  No lift lines now.  We rode the goods and when things appeared to be tracked just pop in the trees and poof!.  Getting hit with snow from below and above with snow bombs.  Eventually I bumped into Casshole, Skip, and ski buddy on 6.  Smiles on their faces told the tale.  I wanted to do South but Todd didn't have his avi gear.  Oh well.  By afternoon temps rose and snow turned thick.  On our last run we were cutting 6" wet sluffs on 35 degree east aspects.  Elevation around 5,500ft.  Also noticed avi debris, looked kinda wet, in Powder Bowl but eventually there were tracks erasing any evidence of that too.  Our run finished with a small pond skim at the base.  Killer day. <br><br><br>On Sunday showed up around the same time and parked at about the same spot.  Weather was a bit nastier today.  Lots of wind and snow.  I was pleased to here the sound of bombs going off in South.  Wouldn't be long now.  Made my way up the lifts with my face down for protection.  Soon after I found myself on one of the few toeside traverses/slalom course from hell.  Musta been 100 or so people heading out this way.  Thanks for the firm boot pack.  Not long after I found myself on top of Silver King.  Clouds were in and out with the vis and was breezy out of s-sw.  I dropped my usually line and couldn't believe only 2 board tracks going down.  The wind was blowing hard across this aspect so face shots were an understatement.  Heelside turns were more like body shots.  When I wanted to see I would turn toeside.  Once in the chute it was protected and deep.  I had found the door into the white room again. ;D  Once below the bottle neck it opened into boot deep pow with some debris scattered about.  On the way out the snow was a bit deeper in trees.<br><br>I had to do that again.  This time there was not as many people.  Musta have jumped in a gap.  Took a different line off the King and found more of the same.  Thought to myself for all the people back here there sure were lots of untracked.  With the wind giving free refills I had to go back.  The hump out went fast since the trail was pretty stomped out.  Headed towards my first line and noticed no new tracks but all 3 from previous were mostly filled in.  I milked my turns and cut up the slope with the precision of a surgeon.  After 3 top to bottoms I was feeling quite satisfied.  I can hang my hat on that for now. ;D<br><br>One thing I did notice is the number of people in Southback with no avi gear and no idea of where they were going. ???  Kudos to ski patrol for giving them tips on condtions and direction.  Also to the safety patrol lady who guided a couple of them down.  I was able to cut some good sluffs on sections steeper than 30 degrees.