Dec 13, 2007, Threeway Peak Basin

Chuck and I arrived at the Crystal lots at 8:45 and had to park in the lower RV area.  Things were very crowded.  There was a low cloud cover that never cleared.  We skinned along the Quicksilver lift and approached Silver Basin which was totally "skied out".  As we entered Threeway Basin there were numerous tracks from resort skiers the past 2 days.  There was a slight wind crust on various aspects in the upper basin.  At 6400', we pulled the skins and descended in boot deep powder in a trough and  the lower trees.  We then climbed into another north facing basin. We noticed the raincrust along the wind affected ridge about 4" below the surface.  As we dropped in the north facing basin, there was boot deep powder that was stable and we did not feel the raincrust.   As we returned into the resort the masses were everywhere and vehicles were parked along the road down to the lowest lots.  A relaxing day in the backcountry on my 60th B-day.