Date: December 1st, 2014 (opening day)
Snowfall: 0" 24hrs. / 24"Season
Chairs open: Mt Rainier Gondola / Green Valley Express Chair (2)
Ticket $: 30.00
Hours: 10:00-3:00pm
Traveling companion: Chainsaw (names have been changed to protect the innocent)
Hi Folks!
I found out two days ago that Crystal Mountain was having their opening day today (Dec. 1st). They got a foot of new snow in 24 hrs. and I guess that was enough to open just the tippy top of the mountain. Now, before I went I knew nothing about Crystal Mountain other than it was a mountain in Washington and that they were only going to charge 30 bucks for their tickets! So I was in.
First chair was at 10:00am so naturally we rolled in around noon (best not to stress). The drive from Seattle to the MT. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest area wasn't bad. The roads were dry and the scenery beautiful. The one thing to note is that when you get to the bottom of Crystal Mountain road it is a 6 mile windy trek to get the base of the resort. No big deal, just something to expect if you never been. (Actually be extra careful because on our way down we saw a car flipped on the side of the road).
Since it was opening day and only 1 lift was running, the parking lot was pretty empty (plus it was noonish remember and some folks had already left) we didn't have any trouble parking and sneaked in reaaalll close to the ticket window. As we were tailgating/getting our gear on, a real local looking guy exclaimed,
"Sorry dudes I skied everything. It's all gone".
He proceeded to give us words of discouragement telling us that it was all skied out and what snow they did get in the big foot dump was all wind blown anyway. As he rolled away in his very local looking Toyota Tacoma, I was left with visions of dust on crust and a soundtrack played through my head of an iron file on metal (I guess that's the simile I'll use to describe the sound of my board on pure ice).
I will admit I was discouraged. Kiiiiinnnndaa wanted to say, "Welllll, I mean, half the journey is just getting up here. We'll get 'em next time?". BUT it was a bluebird day, so I didn't say that, and we carried on. That local guy probably didn't even know how to ski anyway.
Now, let me tell you, the guy working at the ticket window was an absolute delight. He gave me 10 Crystal Mountain stickers, which is truly the way to my heart. We bought our tickets on what they call "Go Cards", which have the look of a season pass. You get to keep the card and then load money onto it on-line (the interwebs/the net/the world wide web). This way you don't have to stand in line at the ticket window each time you go AND you get a $5 discount. Discounts are the second way to my heart next to stickers. But stickers, stickers will always be number one!
Sticker and Go Card (please don't steal my GoCard number...if it matters)
So since there really wasn't that much snow only the MT Rainier Gondola and the Green Valley Express Chair were open. View map below to get yourself oriented.
We headed up the MT Rainier Gondola, which was a real treat.
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Chainsaw was really nervous that our boards would fall off the gondola. It really did look like they would.
My look is more like, "Gondola's are my life".
As soon as we got up to the top of the MT Rainier Gondola our minds were blown. Why??? Because we saw this...
Yes Folks, staring us in the face was Mt. Rainier itself!!! So grand, so majestic, I felt like I could just reach out and give it one big hug!
I had never seen Mt. Rainier close. Normally this is what it looks like from my apartment window...
Long story short, getting to see Mt. Rainier that close was worth the price of admission.
NEXT the shredding began. Since not much was open we had no choice but just to go straight down any available spot we saw. There were a fair amount of people fighting for the same terrain...but still it was a comfortable amount of people. Nothing was groomed so there was the illusion of powder and you could see people kicking up some fluff...but still, even through the gondola's glass walls, you could hear the all too familiar scratch of edges on ice.
As I strapped in and pointed my board over the edge of the Green Valley run I fought back any preconceptions of what I was going to encounter and banished "local looking parking lot guy's" words to the back of my hippocampus and just went for it.
And what did I encounter???? Well not ice that's for sure but not real good snow either. Just something in between and that that something inbetween was just the best thing in that moment. There would be moments of true powder. And then of course there would be other moments of "Oh shit, that was a rock...and that was a rock...and that was rock". But regardless, when I got to the bottom I always thgought, "Let's do it again!!!"
It kind of reminded me of spring skiing, where the snow was soft in some parts but most unpredictable with trees and rocks showing through. BUT the sun was shinning and that truly was the most I could ever ask for. Chainsaw and I talked to a lot of locals on the lifts and they let us know that it is rare for the mountain to be sunny. Which is what we were use to after skiing Whitefish Mountain Resort for the last couple of years. At WMR you definitely have to rely on your Jedi training to get down the slopes. But apparently it's the same at Crystal with our local lift mates adding, "just stick to the trees and you'll be fine". A refrain I also often heard at WMR.
Chainsaw and I skied until our unconditioned legs gave out (well until Chainsaws did...see my next blog for my story). AND we even got 1 tiny little hike in where I got these turns...
Since there still wasn't much coverage we had to download on the gondola where we got to talk to more grizzled locals who confirmed our suspicions that if we ski more at Crystal our winter will be epic.
Take away?
Can't wait for Crystal Mountain to open fully. The terrain looks amazing and the drive from Seattle is very doable. Next I've got to find some discounts for regular season tickets...cause next to stickers, well you know.
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