Crystal - 01/26 Another Cold Pow Day

Short Report - Another Big day, big cold, big new snow!, but also big crowd, not to much impact on the lift lines...but Big cut up every place really bigly fast...at least in the core. But still great conditions, great snow, great fav lines to finally ski regularly and easily. Just plain nice.

Wordy Report - Tried to arrive typically early and most of the drive was easy - till Camp Shepard - and then it got painfully slow. Arrived to the A lot were the Pay lot was massive and the folks doing the parking control were pretty clueless (and short staffed) - didn't get front row. Didn't get front row on CHex either - huh? And CHex had a early hyped up crowd for the 8:45 start. Bucket folks got to the top before the REX load...and the early morning frenzy was on and going fast. Only plus was lift lines
never really built up, though the rug rat crowd today was impressive (never knew there was a 10 to 2 school crowd?) Snow was great everywhere, light was flat at times, but the tree areas were prime and there was lots of very nice filtered light good vis conditions to do the big open spaces. PB and BP's were great again today, Doors, Breakover, SunnySide and Memorial all fun. A few early runs in the Valley were deep and soft...Never really did any significant groomed runs, but they all looked good and deep early morning. My body got tired kinda early and #1 toasted herself skiing REX early and Boondoggel late morning. Great day, great snow, great fun...ready for a rest this weekend. As are the RockCoombas who had even more fun this week!

Other - Got big lucky and had a bowl of very nice (expensive) Chicken Noodle again today (Thanks Miranda and Chubs!). As noted the lift lines were not really that bad - especially when we saw the parking lots when we left...Pay lot massive and not legally close to full, lots of buses, B lot was near full of very widely spaced rows...and I seem to remember a very full C lot (how was parking down there CD?) Drive up early was mostly good and the early drive down was mostly pleasant. Kinda wish I was with avajane right now

The trend this year is Friday is now another week-end day. Arrived at 8am and had to park in C Lot due to the aforementioned huge pay lot. Only 12 rows of free parking in A lot this morning and pay parking a third empty when we left. And, when we left, every lot was full to F lot (only a hand full of cars in F, but E lot stuffed). Ok, enough of that. Here's today's rating using the Quick foot method.

Even though the lots were full, never waited in a line once clearing the base. 1 for crowds in spite of all the cars. Visibility was also a 1 with the notable exception of a run down PB. Snowed lightly all day but never really affected the visibility. And, the 16 degree half foot of new snow on top of all the other snow this week was also a big 1. Best runs for me were everything off-piste with the best being the two mostly untracked runs in Northway when they opened and then a most excellent run out Employee Housing when the NW line started to build. Buff trail back to the base was interesting.

It was a great 3 out of 3 day.

Heard a lot of "you shoulda been here yesterday" talk. Well, today was awesome. Other than the parking. Jeeze, 8:00 and parked on the road above C. 625$ buys you a parking spot that stays open all day even when your lazy ass never shows up. Or, busses that don't arrive until noon, 1:00, or 3:00.

Rant over, we had nothing but deep snow over packed pow. Great Frontside snow, awesome Terminator snow, and 1 minute lines until Six opened. Then, while everyone took the head fake, we beelined to Northway. Knee deep and not a track in sight if you knew where to go. First run down Sphincterville of the year. First tracks down Puckers Right. E-Housing took some fluff-busting speed and the often-hit stumps were a little disconcerting. Coulda ended the day then a happy man. But, Doors One and Four, Showtime, The Pits, LS Trees needed some high speed power turns. Powder Bowl felt like great snow, but I couldn't see it in the flat light.

Not a groomer, line, or bowl of soup in sight. Snow-in-the-air-hit-the-brakes-even-though-there's-no-snow-on-the-road frustrating drive down.

Ken
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