Post by superbman on Mar 25, 2014 6:26:25 GMT -7
Well.
This is it.
You know, the week leading up to this trip I was full of apprehension: There had been historically heavy trains throughout the Cascades and a patrol triggered avalanche that knocked out the Chair that served the highest/driest north facing bowl on the mountain. Things looked less than ideal and I even thought about canceling the trip at the last moment.
But, I am damn glad I didn't!!!
It was Raining at the Airport and snowing hard at the mountain by the time we arrived in Seattle late Sunday afternoon. We loaded up on supplies at a local Costco (great idea by the way) and Safeway, grabbed some Mexican food and beverages and headed to our pretty sweet luxury Cabin in Greenwater, Washington (about 15 minutes from Crystal Mountain). Our Cabin (house) was spacious, comfortable and sported excellent beds and bedding, wifi, satellite TV and a solid outdoor hot tub (a necessity anywhere I stay). Greenwater is the closest 'community' to Crystal…Washington 'resorts' are legendary for their lack of on mountain lodging, but, this was fine-better than fine really.
OK, So, Day one, we rolled up to the Mountain only to discover between 12-15 inches had fallen the night before…yep, a mother-fucking powder day on day one! LOve it.
With the High Campbell (Powderbowl) Permanently out of Commission and The Northway (1000 acres of pretty bad-ass off-piste terrain) closed for any work, we were 'limited to skiing the main faces…which is around 1800 acres of steep, wonderful terrain.
Here's the Map: Crystal Front Sides:
There are a few thins to Note about Crystal in General:
1. It is Steep from top to bottom. No really, the 'blue bowls' are pretty steep, and, unlike many mountains, some of the steepest terrain is actually at the bottom (especially the bottom half of the gondola area. Only the groomers on the sides lacked for real pitch (and most of them were legit as well). Also, except for the upper bowls, mny of Crystals pitches are Convex as opposed to concave (meaning they get steep as you ski them). It was amazing the first day how many Long, long runs, in fresh powder (albeit heavy dense powder, but still great) from top to bottom with exciting steep lines right back to the Gondola were possible!
2. After a few long leg burners, we hung out on the upper mountain skiing between the pretty awesome tree and chute terrain of the Green Valley Chair (high speed quad) on Skiers left, see map) and the very, very steep tree chutes of the Rainier Express (middle mountain high speed quad). We did some hiking the first day, best runs were from a short hike to the top of Bull Run and down through Exterminator: Very steep, cliffy and rugged terrain that runs the bottom 2/3s of the hill back to the Gondola.
3. It snows everyday…and the sunshines everyday, usually both happen on one run. The weather is delightfully schizophrenic. But the next two days we got 1-2 inches of additional snow, with the occasional sunny views.
4. This is Steep…I know some of the videos will flatten this out a bit, but I have skied Taos, Alta/ Bird, Jackson, Tahoe Resorts, etc and I'd say that this place, at it's steepest is every bit as steep and on average one of the most consistently steep places I have skied.
5. This place may Not appeal, at all to low intermediates. There are groomers (of course), but they were nothing special and most of the terrain is 'above average' grade and challenging. There is way more for low intermediates here than say a place like Snowbird, and maybe also Jackson, but still, it's a tough hill.
6. THERE ARE NO CROWDS..I MEAN NO CROWDS OF ANY KIND, EVEN ON A BIG POWDER DAY DURING THE WEEK. At only and hour and 20 from Seattle, I am told it is very sensitive to weekend crowds (like Stevens, Snoqualmie, and Alpental), but come Monday..NADA! (A function of being a low key Resort..oh, it does have all the key resort necessities: Nice places to eat and drink, good shops and demo center, lots of high speed lifts and over all an excellent lift infrastructure).
OH-the Northway remained closed all day the first day But then Opened on Tusday (day 2). Which, turned out to be a real blessing as it gave us a second really, really great deep powder day. Look at the crowds..oh wait, there ain't any!--below is the first series (play all) of short 'views and lines of crystal) It'll give you a good sense of the Northway
Northway Day Two Survey Videos
Day three: The Front side was a little rugged, but the Northway Remained awesome and worth skiing.
This sequence of short videos features more skiing, a shot of the avalanche killed chairlift and more great views from day three
Day 4: It was weird, the website only claimed 3 inches of fresh snow, but the hill revealed closer to 6 or 7 inches of cold fresh soft snow. Without question this was the best ski day. The snow was now deep and soft everywhere, we had our legs under us and the mountain just gave and gave, and we took and tooK. Best videos, too. That last pitch (final video sequence) was very steep and lumpy, but unasked and it went right to the bottom lodge! Great ending).
Day Four Sequence of Videos
This is it.
You know, the week leading up to this trip I was full of apprehension: There had been historically heavy trains throughout the Cascades and a patrol triggered avalanche that knocked out the Chair that served the highest/driest north facing bowl on the mountain. Things looked less than ideal and I even thought about canceling the trip at the last moment.
But, I am damn glad I didn't!!!
It was Raining at the Airport and snowing hard at the mountain by the time we arrived in Seattle late Sunday afternoon. We loaded up on supplies at a local Costco (great idea by the way) and Safeway, grabbed some Mexican food and beverages and headed to our pretty sweet luxury Cabin in Greenwater, Washington (about 15 minutes from Crystal Mountain). Our Cabin (house) was spacious, comfortable and sported excellent beds and bedding, wifi, satellite TV and a solid outdoor hot tub (a necessity anywhere I stay). Greenwater is the closest 'community' to Crystal…Washington 'resorts' are legendary for their lack of on mountain lodging, but, this was fine-better than fine really.
OK, So, Day one, we rolled up to the Mountain only to discover between 12-15 inches had fallen the night before…yep, a mother-fucking powder day on day one! LOve it.
With the High Campbell (Powderbowl) Permanently out of Commission and The Northway (1000 acres of pretty bad-ass off-piste terrain) closed for any work, we were 'limited to skiing the main faces…which is around 1800 acres of steep, wonderful terrain.
Here's the Map: Crystal Front Sides:
There are a few thins to Note about Crystal in General:
1. It is Steep from top to bottom. No really, the 'blue bowls' are pretty steep, and, unlike many mountains, some of the steepest terrain is actually at the bottom (especially the bottom half of the gondola area. Only the groomers on the sides lacked for real pitch (and most of them were legit as well). Also, except for the upper bowls, mny of Crystals pitches are Convex as opposed to concave (meaning they get steep as you ski them). It was amazing the first day how many Long, long runs, in fresh powder (albeit heavy dense powder, but still great) from top to bottom with exciting steep lines right back to the Gondola were possible!
2. After a few long leg burners, we hung out on the upper mountain skiing between the pretty awesome tree and chute terrain of the Green Valley Chair (high speed quad) on Skiers left, see map) and the very, very steep tree chutes of the Rainier Express (middle mountain high speed quad). We did some hiking the first day, best runs were from a short hike to the top of Bull Run and down through Exterminator: Very steep, cliffy and rugged terrain that runs the bottom 2/3s of the hill back to the Gondola.
3. It snows everyday…and the sunshines everyday, usually both happen on one run. The weather is delightfully schizophrenic. But the next two days we got 1-2 inches of additional snow, with the occasional sunny views.
4. This is Steep…I know some of the videos will flatten this out a bit, but I have skied Taos, Alta/ Bird, Jackson, Tahoe Resorts, etc and I'd say that this place, at it's steepest is every bit as steep and on average one of the most consistently steep places I have skied.
5. This place may Not appeal, at all to low intermediates. There are groomers (of course), but they were nothing special and most of the terrain is 'above average' grade and challenging. There is way more for low intermediates here than say a place like Snowbird, and maybe also Jackson, but still, it's a tough hill.
6. THERE ARE NO CROWDS..I MEAN NO CROWDS OF ANY KIND, EVEN ON A BIG POWDER DAY DURING THE WEEK. At only and hour and 20 from Seattle, I am told it is very sensitive to weekend crowds (like Stevens, Snoqualmie, and Alpental), but come Monday..NADA! (A function of being a low key Resort..oh, it does have all the key resort necessities: Nice places to eat and drink, good shops and demo center, lots of high speed lifts and over all an excellent lift infrastructure).
OH-the Northway remained closed all day the first day But then Opened on Tusday (day 2). Which, turned out to be a real blessing as it gave us a second really, really great deep powder day. Look at the crowds..oh wait, there ain't any!--below is the first series (play all) of short 'views and lines of crystal) It'll give you a good sense of the Northway
Northway Day Two Survey Videos
Day three: The Front side was a little rugged, but the Northway Remained awesome and worth skiing.
This sequence of short videos features more skiing, a shot of the avalanche killed chairlift and more great views from day three
Day 4: It was weird, the website only claimed 3 inches of fresh snow, but the hill revealed closer to 6 or 7 inches of cold fresh soft snow. Without question this was the best ski day. The snow was now deep and soft everywhere, we had our legs under us and the mountain just gave and gave, and we took and tooK. Best videos, too. That last pitch (final video sequence) was very steep and lumpy, but unasked and it went right to the bottom lodge! Great ending).
Day Four Sequence of Videos