May 10, 2006, Crystal - Silver Basin Area Recon

Wednesday - Crystal Mtn.  Bluebird day at Crystal.  As a regular lift skier at Crystal, I wanted to take a peak at the backcountry; so I decided to look around Hen Skin lake area.  The real reason for this report is to comment on how great the snow is. 

I noticed garyabrill's warning about Silver King just now: http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=4691.0

It seems to be that gary is referring to Avalanche Basin, but Silver Basin is right there also.

I met only two other guys in the parking lot this morning - they were headed up Luckshot to Green Valley - Iceberg. 

I decided to do the Boondoggle trail to catch some shade.  Stopped for a snack at the top of chair 4, then headed back into the woods to Hen Skin Lake.  Kept to the edges to stay out of trouble.  Then skinned up the hill from Hen Skin up to the other lakes (don't know if they have names) mostly to admire the scenery. 

The snow was firm all the way from the base on up.  Silver Basin looked great.  Smooth, firm snow, tracked only by some snowmobile high marking.  I was tempted to hike up the bowl, but didn't want to take time to dig a pit and I was solo.  But it looked inviting.   I don't know if that stuff could be dug.  I felt like it was probably all consolidated, but......

Followed the snowmobile tracks to find the main cat track and took my free ride down.

My observation is that anyone skiing down Silver Basin would have to hoof it about 1/2 mile across the bowl base to get out of there.

And I forgot my camera, but nice pictures of this area can be found at:  http://crystalmt.blogspot.com/