1/2/06 Mt Catherine Loop

Took my skate skiis out for a few hours of skiing. I decided to do the loop counter-clockwise and use the lift.The lower lift at East was not operating so I skated to the road and traversed over to the bottom of the main lift. Foggy but dry. I went to Grand Junction (well groomed) and then got on a freshly groomed track down Rockdale and up to Windy Pass. I discovered I made the right choice because the track down from Windy Pass to Cold Creek hadn't been groomed in a day so there was new snow and it was a bit sloppy. That was fine for heading down but the uphill skaters looked pretty unhappy. I then took Hidden Valley back up to the start of the outer loops (man that has some really steep sections) and back down to Cold Creek and back out to the area. <br><br>Overall conditions were reasonably fast where things had been groomed and there were only a few spots that had problems (e.g the bottom of the steep section on Hidden Valley).<br>

Were you wearing those tight spandex pants with the plum smugglers? Nothing like hitting the corderoy wearing tight pants? Where is Stein Erickson when you need him? LOL!!

No spandex, just MEC Ferrata pants made of Schoeller® Dryskin Extreme fabric in boring dark grey They work great for ice climbing, bc skiing, track skiing and alpine climbing. Sorry to disappoint you. <br><br>Hey, it's Wed. Why aren't you skiing Crystal without any crowds?