Crystal - 02/20

Short Report - Cold, but not as cold all day as expected, light winds helped, light crowd - no lift lines at least, fast nice early groomers on LS and MIFB (I preferred the quality of LS today). Fuzzy sunish conditions, with light snow early that got heavy enough to be noticeable on the slopes. Mostly good vis even with the sunny lens goggles.

More words Report - Arrived early to a mellow ski area, got first CHex chair and finally got to the top of REX before the bucket (thanks Drew). Groomer quality was high early, off piste was better than expected (probably 95% great with some icy spots still around in places). #1 was having a great day on her nicely tuned skis. Coombas were happy enough for me. We finished our day going down Kellys Gap - mostly nice, again better than expected, Lower E was bumpy and the snow was soft if you skied the tops or back sides of the bumps. Very good day all in all, way better than expected with the cold temps and expecting to many folks with the schools on winter break...Heard reports of epic conditions for those willing to work for their turns out south.

Other - Soup at CB lodge was Chicken Noodle...Bonus...especially when supplemented with a very nice piece of pizza. We got lucky and got to socialize with Mr and Mrs BINX for a bit.

Other other - Pay lot was to big as usual and equally empty...sadly I spaced and cant say anything about any of the other parking lots...drive up was lonely and the drive down was fast and smooth.

Well I have to disagree a bit with ddk a bit on this one. We tried all morning long everywhere to find fun skiing off piste without much luck. Northway, Green Valley, Snorting Elk, Chair Six out to Hamburger, and Powder Bowl we're all just a little too crunchy. It was disappointing. We expected nice soft packed powder skiing and we found clumpy snow and somewhat set up ruts. It might have been more fun but the visibility was just poor enough that you couldn't see the snow texture very well. The groomers we're a bit scrappy and we resorted to pile skiing. After our lunch break we did come out and find some areas that were fun. There was softer snow in a few bands in Green Valley and as ddk mentioned Kelly's Gap to Berrypatch had some nice snow. Lower E was just okay. It was definitely extra layer Cold.

Crowd = 1 Vis = 0.5 Snow = 0.5 [a deduction because we expected better]. another 2/3

Wait a minute.... Crystal said "new snow will remain soft with excellent groomed and off-piste skiing" and ddK said Lucky and Iceberg were great.

Leaving the marketing reports aside - Not on the marketing report - DOT says there will be one lane traffic on 410 5.5 miles west of Crystal 7am -4:30pm for river erosion repair work. For the next 2.5 weeks, "prepare for 30-minute waits". Unless you're a weekend warrior, then all's good. Damn mid-week pass holders.

Ken

iceberg was good early.....skiing to Crystal Lake was just awesome ....didn't ski lucky shot...Really nice to have no crowd today...If you like your POW close to the lift,great news....Saterday/Sunday look great. I'm already parked down in F so I don't miss out!!And I'm not going to try to drive home on Saterday till 7pm....most of the really slow drivers are gone by then ,because they can't see at night anymore :

hhhhhmmmm....well at least I was there.....and QFskied places I didn't....but l had fun in PB and Breakover an SunnySide and Memorial....all marketing for me....can't wait to read the "real" report tomorrow! Mr CMSkier....if you go😉

Always entertaining trying to interpret and calibrate the Crystal reports