Crystal - 04/15 Sometimes Tax Day

Short Report - First hour was challenging mentally....marginal grooming, bad vis (significant snow showers and fuzzy vis and ice on goggles - yeee haaa! The trifectta of fun), cooler than expected based on the telemetry...but things improved - snow got soft in places (not a lot of places), vis got better (some almost filtered sun breaks)...crowd was ultra light, no lift lines, didn't notice any sticky snow (waxed the Coombas finally with spring wax)....all in all a okay day...probably the run of the day was Kellys Gap to Lower E (last run on a way to short of a day), soft nice big bumps on E - could have done many Hamster runs there....but the week looks good for the end of season slush cup skiing season.

Long Report - See the short report....Snow pack is massive right now, better than all season and what happens next Sunday - the dang last day of the easy life getting to the top of Crystal...oh well...heard White Pass will be open for a little longer, Blackcomb will be open for a long time still...maybe Alpy? And someone mentioned Bachelor is pretty prime in late April (haven't been there in a long time)...and there is always Timberline all summer!

Other - Did CB lodge for the last time this season...no soup, tried the Chili (still feel okay) with a nice beer...Talked to a lot of the employees (that talk to me) and they will not be back next season - all moving on to bigger and better and more fun jobs...Congrats to all of them! Also heard that part of the issue is the accountants that are pushing some significant employee cost cutting (for all those expensive planned new things in the future....I used to work for Boeing when its most important asset was its employees....hhhhmmm...)...Pay lot was weekend big and weekday emptyish...lots of elk in Greenwater this morning and heard that a DOT employee had a sad windshield encounter with one.

Ditto what ddk says- groomers were ok but best on Queen below the fog that kept Ferks crusty. Off piste looked challenging- saw no one on the frontside and few on Campbell but I was re- learning how to Alpine ski on my new AT setup. They may be on to something with this fixed heel thing- sure is efficient on groomed surfaces.

Short Report - First hour was challenging mentally....marginal grooming,

Marginal grooming? I wouldn't even give it that. Crystal has been terrible at grooming this year at least when I have gone. With that said I did enjoy today once things softened up. Although did make the mistake of checking out Powder Bowl, that was a mistake.

Sorry....didn't mention that off piste pretty much s'ed....had many happy moments watching the crash test dummies.....except for one real hard core skier rippen m forest!.ouch good!.... I didn't follow.

i didn't think oft-piste was that bad frankly.
I got a late start but Mrs Scotsman and i got there just as the softening was starting.
Some nice groomers and then a training day for Mrs Scotsman...in..... slushy bump runs.!!!!

She did good but the legs were getting toasted so she sat some out while i went oft-piste as I'd had enough groomers for the day.

The snow oft-piste was challenging but I though quite good in places and especially Right Angle and Short North options.

Maybe last day at Crystal for me this season as I'll miss Closing weekend as we're heading to Montana for some BC touring..... Might play hooky midweek if forecast holds.