12/23 - Crystal, man down!

A nice 3 out of 5 day.  Temps were fine, low wind, and light snow falling most of the day.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of fog that hindered visibility.  1 out of 2 for weather.

Snow coverage was so much better than a week ago.  The 4 inch refresh last night further helped conditions.  The groomers quickly got scraped down to the ice layer, but some good snow off-piste including the doors, un-groomed Snorting Elk Bowl, and GV right, which was the best.  2 out of 3 for snow.

Unfortunately, we lost one of ours today.  CMSkier took a header into a very unforgiving mogul and broke his collar bone.  With patrol's help, he managed to walk down to the bottom of GV, then from the top over to the gondie for a ride to the base.  As always, patrol was excellent and got his arm and collar bone stabilized enough for the ride home with a stop at Emergency.  Bummed.

Heal fast CMSkier!
Nice morning skiing with the wife and her midweek posse.
After they went home I went for a solo run in the side-country and found good skiing.

A tree had fallen across the skin track I set yesterday afternoon which I thought kinda neat.

Hope ddk is OK....

Ouch sorry for Mr CMSkier...hope the skiing isn't to good during his recovery! I am okay pleasing my #1 @ Cannon Beach - nice day 3 on the weather scale but zero on the snow quality...haha. Didn't see RB2's #1, probably for the best.

CMSkier, You and your SO sure seem to have all the bad luck. Get well.

Arrived 8:45, walked right onto the gondola, lapped GV 4x and then helped open Northway (which was a hoot and exhibited very good coverage down to the chair). Yet, we were a tad tentative at times due to poor viz and the uncertainty of whether off-piste features were the top of trees, rocks or holes. This uncertainty persisted throughout the day -- even out in lower South where it was especially yucky as we escaped Boondoogle even though our crew crashed  ~ 6 times. It could have been one of us instead of CMSkier -- we wish him a speedy recovery. The resort made a bunch of snow Sunday night, moved it around and groomed it well. The increased price of lift tickets is almost understandable now as we see how snow making has saved Crystal's bacon once again.

Overall the 9am -4pm day was much better than expected as the mountain continued to recover from the rain carnage of last Friday. We found plenty of variable untracked that also included some very nice turns.  Potable water and food at the base were down again as the resort also recovers from the weekend's water issues. The ticket window line was backed up all the way up the stairs and up the hill towards the bottom of Discovery, a painful waste of our time as an amigo needed his military and 70 yr old discount ($40). 𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗗𝗔𝗬𝗦!

Sorry to hear of the injury to CMS. Take care of yourself. JD and I were going to try last Friday but we cancelled with the big rain event. My first day will not be until after Christmas now!

Thanks for your thoughts. A late post -

Crystal Mountain December 23, 2019

The mountain has mostly recovered from last week's rain event. Above 6,000 feet that is. Some nice powder over bumps - some bumps of the firm variety. Lower was crunchy lumps and smooth hard ice. Much improved coverage everywhere. Later in the day, the traffic was scouring most runs down to the ice layer.

Until.... A frozen lump under the powder ejected my ski. It seemed just an inconvenience. Then I landed, not in the soft new, but on a hard-as-concrete patch of ice. I didn't leave a mark in the ice, but it left its mark on me as my collarbone shattered into 3 pieces. Ouch.. End of my day. Maybe my season? As a bonus, I got to walk down to the Green Valley lift and then from the top of GV to the gondola - pain level 10. Ski Patrol was great getting me down the mountain. My Ski Amigos took over, gathered up packs and equipment, and drove me home. Surgery January 2 to screw it back together.

Merry Christmas!

Picture for the curious

Heal fast CMSkier!
Nice morning skiing with the wife and her midweek posse.
After they went home I went for a solo run in the side-country and found good skiing.

A tree had fallen across the skin track I set yesterday afternoon which I thought kinda neat.

Hope ddk is OK....

I had also wondered about ddk. So happy to hear he's relaxing at Cannon Beach, although I did miss his reports. Heal fast, CMSkier!