4/12/18 Crystal

I'll let ddk add the words

ddk wasn't up today. Maybe he's at Whistler? Using the Quickfoot rating method, today was a 3 out of 3. Light crowds, good visibility for most of the day including several hours of blue skies, and 6 - 8 inches of new snow in-bounds that had bonded nicely to the rain smoothed base beneath.

Didn't see any Elk on the drive up. Putty truck was conspicuously absent in the lot. Met up with DB in the lodge...cool, someone to ski with since my normal posse was out today. Bluebird skies from opening to 11:30 was a nice surprise. Even nicer was the snow. While lots of people stormed the front side, we did 5 laps in GV, all untracked goodness until merging into the usual choke points. Once we did our damage, I headed to Bear Pits while DB tried Memorial. I think Bear Pits won, but not nearly as smooth underneath as the valley. Headed to C6 and arrived right at opening with 10 people ahead of us. 4 excellent runs on the Campbell Basin side before the crowds caught up with us. Headed down Powder Bowl which was very nice on top, but got heavy half way down as the temps were already warming. Headed to the other side of the resort for three very fun runs through the upper gates of short north. Kept running into the fireman at the gondie also skiing short north, so good to compare notes on runs. About 11:30, it started puking snow. Visibility was affected a bit, but it kept us to the trees. By 12:30, GV had a very nice refresh and the sun came back out. Finished our day like we started...cycling GV.

It definitely felt more like a February day than mid April. The snow pack is awesome and even the trail over to Grubstake didn't have a rock in site. I'm sure others will weigh in soon.

CD nailed it. Definitely a 3/3. We did see about five elk on the way up. We got to the area of about 8:45
and still we're able to park in the pinch out zone of A lot. C lot had people parked along the upper edges with some down by the shuttle stop. B lot had about six rows. There was a shuttle running. Campbell basin Lodge was closed except for the bathroom, so no soup. The lower lodge was open and did have some food. Are you happy now ddk? You missed a good one.

You guys must have had your eyes on the middle of the road on the drive. I counted 6 separate sightings of Elk (all in groups) on the road including 1 at Hobart. I was super aware of them per DDK's obs. I got there around 7:45. Great day, loved GV early then 6 trips up the king made me a happy guy although 3 I could see what I was doing and 3 I was blind. Awesome high speed powder lap down silver basin to finish up. I'd say 3/3 too.

haggis, I was 20 minutes behind you. Per ddk's and others warnings, had my head on a swivel, but didn't see any elk in the morning. Not saying they weren't there as several in the lodge saw elk on the way up. However, saw a couple different herds on the way down, one just past the bottom of the blvd on the left side in a spot I hadn't seen them before.

Everyone, be careful out there.

Yes...Big congrats all...bad planning by me.....life happens!....Yee haaa all who had a big day....glad I can be part of the reports...even when not there....PS....elk are a early crowd....maybe tomorrow.