Stevens Pass vs. Crystal Mountain

[beachc15]

Hey guys,
I need some help. I'm looking to buy a seasons pass, even though I should've done it months ago, for one of my home mountains. I have the choice between Stevens (499+tax) or Crystal (999+tax). I'm aiming to do a lot of ski touring this year and have a lightweight set-up ready to go. I want to ski the best backcountry for my money. i've been skiing for two years at stevens so it's not like i'm running out of terrain there, but on the other hand I need something new. What do you think

[Lindahl]

Crystal has better inbounds, Stevens has better backcountry. Thats the limit of my knowledge.

[PNWbrit]

You should ask someone from CO.

[Hugh Conway]

Have you not skiied at Crystal? I'm baffled by this

But you should really get a pass at Whistler.

[shirk]

Easy answer is Baker.

[Stairmaster]

Well, were are you located? Is Baker too far for you? If you really want good BC, Baker is by far the best and there passes are $725. Both Crystal and Stevens are great...its really hard to choose between the two.

[PNWbrit]

Maybe ask your BC partners where they're going to buy passes?

[shirk]

Red boots or blue boots?

Answer to this will confirm where you should buy a pass.

[Buster Highmen]

In the umlaut equivariant colimit of PNW ski areas, with proper Corinthian Crenillations, the pan-ecospantastic Zamonian lizard suckers admit a decomposition of the Unitarian Universalist Poincare' Church.

While the Squareheads have their punitive Lutherian lutefisk and despite having lost Ballard to legions of omnisexual social climbers, the Scottish Presbeterians have threatened to move their Scottish Rites from their nests on Capitol Hill down to their Haggis Factory in Burien.

Meanwhile, the Catholics dodging lawsuits from victims of thir preyers have insisted that no Episcopalian excuses for divorce will sumperimpose their rancor for the most devout yet victim free absolutions, independent of tithes.

The resulting conflict regarding which ski area is the best is a m00t issue until these more fundamental orthogonal vectors can resolved into nontrivial inner products.

[Hugh Conway]

Red boots or blue boots?

If you wear one red boot you'll find yourself boinking carrie fisher.

[snoqpass]

Crystal has better inbounds, Stevens has better backcountry. Thats the limit of my knowledge.

hahahahahaha

[PNWbrit]

If you wear one red boot you'll find yourself boinking carrie fisher.

Very well played.

[shirk]

Very well played.

I had to google it...

[Lindahl]

hahahahahaha

Glad to see someone around here has a sense of humor... it took THAT long?

[pipedream]

Why are you riding a chairlift if you want to ride outside of resort boundaries? There's quite a bit of access to great backcountry terrain in the winter throughout the Cascades if you're willing to earn it.

Strictly-speaking, for lift-assisted terrain, Crystal's got the upper hand. Both the North- and Southback are incredible. But, that terrain's within Crystal's boundaries and therefore is subject to closure due to conditions.

Steven's has a different view on backcountry terrain. Unless the ski resort or DOT are doing avalanche control that could impact folks leaving the boundaries, they consider what's on the other side of the ropes true backcountry where you can go at your own risk regardless of conditions. Uncontrolled and unpatrolled, there have been a number of accidents, some leading to fatalities. You really need to know what you're doing should you leave the boundaries because once you are out there, you are much more on your own than you would be in the designated backcountry zones @ Crystal.

I know the Steven's BC very well. It's got great hike-to terrain, so I'm biased towards it. On the whole, Crystal tends to get less snow than Stevens. Crystal's usually in the rainshadow of Mt. Rainier and doesn't get any convergence zone snow, so a great day at Crystal tends to be an absolutely epic day anywhere else in the Cascades. That said, Crystal has the highest elevation around, which means they get less rain and generally dryer snow. But if you are worried about riding in the rain and the density of the snow, you wouldn't ski in the Northwest to begin with.

Steven's definitely has a better vibe to it, as the financial bar for entry is much lower for passholders there. The crowd is limited by the availability of parking space and unless you really screw it up, you're always able to easily ski/ride back to your car and only face a few minutes of walking back to the base (vs. Crystal's satellite parking lots and shuttles).

Source: I've been riding 50+ days in the PNW since I moved to Seattle in the fall of 2006. The past few years, I've bought both a pass to Summit and one to Steven's. Last season I took Boyne up on their Gold pass offer and got 5 days of riding in @ Crystal in addition to having a full pass to Summit and another to Steven's. Traditionally, I'd ride at Summit on midweek days after school/work and bag the occasional weekday morning when the conditions are good. Crowds in Snoqualmie Pass are tough on the weekends, so I'd head to Steven's, where a lot of my friends had passes and the crowds are better distributed. However, now that I've got a nice BC setup, I'm reluctant to continue to double-down on passes. I've already bought a pass to Summit, since it's nice to drive an hour on the interstate to ride, and I'm thinking if I want to get away from the crowds on the weekend I can head out with my other touring-inclined friends into the woods, conditions-permitting. If the conditions aren't favorable for being outside the ropes, I'm perfectly content to deal with the crowds inbounds because regardless of where I go, I'll have to, as it won't be safe to hike to a lot of my favorite zones in the Steven's BC.

[beachc15]

I know that crystal is far superior but is it worth the price difference?
also im in downtown seattle

[PNWbrit]

I know that crystal is far superior but is it worth the price difference?

Have you considered Alpental? I hear they have padded seats.

[Tippster]

In the umlaut equivariant colimit of PNW ski areas, with proper Corinthian Crenillations, the pan-ecospantastic Zamonian lizard suckers admit a decomposition of the Unitarian Universalist Poincare' Church.

While the Squareheads have their punitive Lutherian lutefisk and despite having lost Ballard to legions of omnisexual social climbers, the Scottish Presbeterians have threatened to move their Scottish Rites from their nests on Capitol Hill down to their Haggis Factory in Burien.

Meanwhile, the Catholics dodging lawsuits from victims of thir preyers have insisted that no Episcopalian excuses for divorce will sumperimpose their rancor for the most devout yet victim free absolutions, independent of tithes.

The resulting conflict regarding which ski area is the best is a m00t issue until these more fundamental orthogonal vectors can resolved into nontrivial inner products.

But what of the Animists? Gotta be a couple of them in those parts.

[RegCT]

Strictly considering the terrain:

Stevens is great fun, but Crystal wins this round hands down IMO. You can tick lines off in south back alone for days after a storm. Right back to the lift.

Weekdays FTW.

[Buster Highmen]

Strictly-speaking, for lift-assisted terrain, Crystal's got the upper hand. Both the North- and Southback are incredible. But, that terrain's within Crystal's boundaries and therefore is subject to closure due to conditions.

Steven's has a different view on backcountry terrain. Unless the ski resort or DOT are doing avalanche control that could impact folks leaving the boundaries, they consider what's on the other side of the ropes true backcountry where you can go at your own risk regardless of conditions. Uncontrolled and unpatrolled, there have been a number of accidents, some leading to fatalities. You really need to know what you're doing should you leave the boundaries because once you are out there, you are much more on your own than you would be in the designated backcountry zones @ Crystal. .

This is inaccurate insofar as "NorthBack" and "Southback" @ Crustal are lift served areas, so by any reasonably well informed definition, not backcountry.
Given any reasonable definition of "backcountry", Stevens and Crustal policies are similar with the exception being one avalanche prone zone at Crustal off the top of chair 6 (High Campbell) called Kempers which is under permanent closure.

Anyway, asking for differences in Puget Sound ski areas is like asking a wad of religious k00ks whose religion is better.
(excuse the omission of Animists and their Enumclaw sport facilities...)

[Mofro261]

also im in downtown seattle

I'd be leery of seeking backcountry in downtown Seattle.

[Hugh Conway]

I'd be leery of seeking backcountry in downtown Seattle.

The Herpes Triangle hasn't lost it's mojo?

[grrrr]

You would probably have to go down to Pioneer Square for the hardcore backcountry.

[oftpiste]

stevens is way better.

[PNWbrit]

stevens is way better.

^

You can trust Oft on this.

He spends inordinate amounts of time when he goes touring in WA.

Ask nicely and perhaps he'll let you wait for him at the top of a skin track one day.


(love ya Oft)