The Whiteroom at Crystal Mt - Nov. 30, 2005

Still pretty amped up from todays disection of Crystal despite the fact that my board now has fins on the bottom. ;D  Conditions were just like what Rob mentioned on the prior CM post from TomK.  But I couldn't resist and must expand.<br><br>Day started out cold, 34 degrees in Buckley at 6:45am and compact snow and ice not too far out of Enumclaw.  Needless to say it took hour and half to reach Crystal.  I reserved my spot on first chair and went inside.  The lifts opened a wee bit before 9 and just like that, I found myself floating down Green Valley in what felt like bottomless fluff.  So a few laps followed, maybe 4 or 5 before heading down boarders left of Iceburg.  That had some obstacles of sort underneath but in the trees was supa deep.  I couldn't see where I was going sometimes, which off course is a good thing today.  The snow was so light that you went right to the bottom.<br><br>So far I was able to ride right up to the chair before unbuckling.  Didn't change when I reached 6 either.  3 laps in Powder Bowl was enough to make me happier than a puppy with 2 peters.  The top had rocks poking through everywhere.  Had to ride 20ft carefully down the ridge and cut in.  Couldn't believe how untracked it was but that changed soon.  Couldn't help it either that my fall line went over some drops and some sluff surfing followed.  The 2nd lap I witnessed had to be the worst biff of the day.  With one side of p-bowl getting tracked out I traversed the backside and prepared to drop in when a skier and boarder took off ahead of me.  Let me tell ya.  Boarder scrapped the snow while uncovering every rock but eventually made it down the chute.  The skier wasn't as fortunate.  He took a turn right below me, hit a rock that I mighta hit and did a double ejection followed by a back flip with twist to a frontal landing.  Ooouuch!  The sound was grizzly.  I grabbed his skis for him and did my best not to destroy my board.  Still a good line after getting outta the chute.<br><br>Soon after I bumped into Rob and company again.  I saw them earlier in Green Valley.  Rob was doing his best no friends on powder day. ;D  Weren't we all.  We did 4 or 5 laps and everytime found untracked far boarders left of 6 and along the ridge.  The clouds did a good job of hiding people losing their minds while gravity did its work.  Eventually Rob and co had to split but I'm sure they left satisfied.<br><br>With so much good stuff inbounds why would anyone wanna hike to Southback?  I dunno why.  It was already 1 in the afternoon and the temps seemed to be a bit warmer.  I was assuming that because my snow beard was falling apart.  That's good because I was tired of my face being frozen in a perma smile all day.  So anyway I humped it to the top of the King only to find one other person.  He went off the frontside while I dipped off the back.  I was suprised to see that no one had dropped this particular line yet.  As I got further down I noticed 2 blast marks from charges that patrol set off just above the chute.  It failed in releasing anything significant.  Just sluff making the snow in the chute thigh deep. ;D  The choke at the chute exit does serve a purpose, a plug.  The blast marks were easily avoided without sacrificing any turns.  In the chute I was just able to see enough with my head ducking out of the spray, to exit the chute without hitting the rocks lining the bottom of it.  Outta the chute, into the bowl, then off into the trees I go.  <br><br>Overall an epic day even though my board looked liked it did UFC (Ulitmate Fighting Championship) with Freddy Kruger.  The clouds and light snow did flatten the light at times but visibility was actually descent.  From time to time the sun would light things up before being swallowed by clouds again.  As for instability there was some sluff management but only around drops and steeps.  Towards the end the snow felt a bit more saturated.  Instead of inhaling the dust I did all morning I was now ingesting small chunks.  Didn't matter much since I was in my hap hap happy place.  I ended the day on that note with a stop at the end to visit friends on the mountain.  By 3pm it was total bluebird. ;D ;D ;D

Wish I could have been there!!! All this snow is killing me since I can't get out until the 11th-uggh! Have fun out there<br><br>~L

Reading that made me start to cry... Why? From happiness? ...no.<br><br>I'm stuck at school (in central PA) until the 16th of December. I just hope we don't have a repeat of last years BS.<br><br>Jealous,<br><br>nick