Crystal - 3/27

A great day on the mountain. On the way up, I found myself in one of those "what's different in this picture?" scenarios. Got stuck in the middle of 4 silver Subarus of various models and years going way too slow up the boulevard. The rootin' red rhino in the middle of the pack definitely didn't fit. Arrived to the parking lot at 8:45 and parked in the second row.

Riding up the gondie, all the snow on the bottom half of the mountain from earlier this week is gone. In fact, the bottom of REX is dirt with no chance of opening anytime soon. Done for the season? Quite probable. Green Valley continues to have good coverage and the grooming looked a little lumpy from the gondie. One turn revealed this was a good thing as the snow never froze over night and the groomers were soft from the beginning. The best was Snorting Elk Bowl. By 10am, Grubstake had softened nicely and the bumps were big. By 10:15, the full on sun required ditching of the coats. Cycled Grubstake and Snorting Elk until 11:30 when the snow at the bottom of Snorting Elk Bowl became so sticky you couldn't make it up the tuck out of the gully. In fact, all of the flatter areas became quite sticky. So, just cycled Grubstake and the moguls on the left side of the valley throwing up gully-wahers of slush on each turn. By 1pm, the snow was so sticky on most of the mountain, we called it quits.

A lot wasn't full when we left. A great sunny June day in March.

And some more of the story about today - Pretty perfect spring day…just soft enough early on the sunny slopes and as the day progressed the shady slopes got soft enough to have fun on them also. Best Hamster run of the day was Grubstake face under the chair – big soft deep dropping bumps that were soft enough to turn anywhere anyhow anyway you could want to do them – zipper lines, popping off the tops of the bumps, bouncing around dropping fast – totally Yee Haa nice. Crowd wasn’t to bad, short wait every once in a while at the bottom of GV, but lots of fun nice folks to talk to and ride the lift with. Was getting pretty sticky for my waxless skis (the BMW’s) around 1pm, steep pitches just nice slow sticky, but any of the flat areas just got to sticky slow to keep going.

Other – Arrived way way to early this morning (but had time to read the paper before the small early rush arrived), pleasant and warm from the start eventually got to full on day at the beach conditions. Great views of Rainer and pretty much everywhere else. Pay lot was incredibly small and still did not get completely full. Rest of A lot almost got full, but it was pretty widely spaced rows. Food at the top was full on expensive and looked very nice, lots of folks sitting outside enjoying the views. Another Happy day. I’m kinda tired right now…glad tomorrow is another chore day…heard its gonna be a CMAC racer day again…there were a few on the mountain today.