Crystal - 04/08 Dang another Pow Day!

Short Report - Dang it really was another Pow day at Crystal...will it ever end?  Fair big crowd early, some fair big lines at times in places - especially when REX didn't load till something like 9:50???  Ouch! But before the 10 am rumor!...Otherwise a great deep snow day in many places and a not so deep wind scoured day in  some other places (lucky me I didn't experience to many of the icy places).  Sorry for the to many words in the next section....but basically it was a big awesome fun pow day!

Wordy Report - Arrived way to early after looking at the early morning telemetry (wanted to go back to bed - dang)...Easy drive up...fair sized early crowd on CHex and at times early a very big sized crowd on REX (singles line was the ticket). But once HC and NW opened the lines pretty much mellowed (other than FQex during the 10 o'clock late arrival rush...and once again the singles line worked okay). Was snowing most of the day (actually all day even when I left after 2pm)  - kinda short ski day considering the late "real" start time today...gonna save a bunch of leg for tomorrows big hot big mush feast.  Lower slopes were hammered by the warm wetish snow today - nasty around the bottom of the lifts - that packed cant catch an edge weird all over the place bouncy snow.  No lift lines in the afternoon - most folks were heading out way to early (kinda like me).  Big Hamster runs where one of the last Doors - Yee Haa...GV Bowl was screamer fun with the new during the day snow - when the vis finally kicked totally in...Did SunnySide - doable late when I did it...M-Forest also doable late (maybe not so doable tomorrow).  Heard big fun was had out North and I'm sure all the "real" hardcore's I noticed today had even bigger fun!  Kinda wet on the goggles, kinda wet on the clothes, but all in all a very nice dang it powder day in early April....will it ever end?

Other - Big bonus was Chicken Noodle at CB lodge plus a "okay" slice of pizza (it is end of the season).  Pay lot was nice and small and still not full....B and C and D all looked pretty full...so there was a crowd at Crystal for the big POW feast...sounds like bring your lunch day tomorrow...and tomorrow if the sun pops out it will be a day to sit and look at the views and bake! Early drive down kinda s!'s cuase of some wacky drivers and apparently most of the folks couldnt pass it!....oh well after getting around the one cluster most of the drive down was very pleasant....Think today was my Diamond day of the season!

The crowd did require management.  The line waiting for REX to open was BIG and stayed that way for a while, even after it opened.  I spent the first hour skiing stashes on FQ and CHEX.  When I finally did get to the top, Green Valley had a big line.  After chair six opened, the line on REX pretty much went away.  After about 12 o'clock the line on six disappeared.  When I got to the Northway chair around 1 o'clock all the chairs were full but there wasn't a line.  As ddk said, if pretty much snowed all day long, although it was raining a bit at the base when I left, so it was a tree skiing day. The snow up high was pretty darn good and there was at least a foot in wind sheltered areas. I was finding untracked stashes right up until 2 o'clock.  The wake up call for the day was the trees right below chair six.  They looked so nice and pristine, with hardly any tracks but were kind of a deathtrap. Frozen rutted snow underneath.  Most of the places I skied were just pretty darn good.  It was just a lot of fun poking around rediscovering some old places and trying out some new ones. 

Crowd= .5 [tons of powder pigs]  Visibility= .75 [skied lots of trees]  Snow= 1
2.8/3  I know it doesn't add up but today got bonus points for fun factor.

April pow. What a treat.
Early Right Angle with a good view of the debris from the Rockface that slid across the Gap road.
Was at gate 7 for rope drop and had a nice untracked line down RopeLine/Autobhan trees.

Too many people !!!... so I headed out the BC gate with a buddy. First tracks down the Cache and i center punched it.  It skied very, very well and i had to break trail back to the resort. Couldn't see the "la route normal" and my skin track wandered a bit. i give myself only a 7/10 for that one....sorry!

Hooked up with another buddy for some late afternoon GV laps and then finished with a Far Right Angle and a finish down lower E shouting " i like slushy bumps" to bewildered tourists.

What a fun day!

First two runs were top to bottom exterminator and couldn't believe it was April on a weekend. Best snow I found all day was the top of Grubstake. There were some issues on the frontside with crust under minimal wind scour- looked great but skied terribly. Had the walk of shame all the way from the top of Campbell when my binding blew up but had a lovely toboggan ride down from the Chair 6 courtesy of Kim ( patroller) - reflecting that in 60+ years of skiing it was my first ride down on a sled.