January 1, 2006, Crystal Mtn. Bear Gap

Happy New Year, and indeed it was  ;D.  Ron and I checked in with ski patrol at Crystal and confirmed that our assumption of our tour to Bear Gap would be a great one.  Patrol gave us the current briefing of weather, (with the wind changing to a SW flow), avi conditions, recent patrol work and results and we were off to purchase our one ride lift ticket ($10) for Quicksilver.  That saved the "geezers" approx 45 minutes of skin time.  Once in the bc we had the whole area to ourselves, no crowds, no lines, just us  ;D.  Lots of new stable, light snow, covered the area.  Breaking trail in the new snow was somewhat tedious at times with ski depth of 18 inches.  Where were all those "youngsters" we hang around with for trailbreaking??  The temp remained constant at 29(F) degrees.  The wind had been strong during the late night and early evening as evidenced by the amount of tree bombs that were sprinkled about.  The Bear Gap saddle ridge is heavely corniced now with one recent natural cornice release creating a small 8-12" slab with about a 30 meter run.  The wind on the ridge was blowing hard creating quite a bit of spindrift and was windloading the west facing slope.  We took a quick break just below the ridge and out of the wind.  Foot penetration in this area was thigh deep.  The Fat boards worked very well in the light fluffy snow as we floated and carved our way downhill and eventually back to the top of the Quicksilver run for the days end.  Always nice to have the added bonus of the groomer to ski back to the car at the end of the day.  Looking over at Crystal proper from Bear Gap, there didn't seem to be any lines at the lifts and not many people on the slopes.  Would have been a good day for lift riders too. (Forgot the camera at home, sorry to say, no photos this time  >:()