Closing Dat at Crustal Pic TR

[Buster Highmen]

5 Ugly a.m.


On the road - Cascappalachia


Access road - Crustal, looking up into Pickhandle Basin.


Silver King with Sasquatch rock foreground


More King, different light. It had started to DUMP. Our line was lookers left.


Slots in Silver Basin


Avalanche Basin from the Hourglass through Appliances and the Lizards Back



Three Way Peak


It was variable - nasty frozen bowling balls and rattly dragon heads on N> exposures with soft crust-guanch on S. exposures. Made one run off the KIng on the N. side and won the bowling ball slalom. Then it dumped, so after some more Hamburger Chutes and DFT, went back up for another and scored a sweet line down the SE side (Mike's run) with 4" of sour cream on guanch.

The Elk was a madhouse, drunks and stoners everywhere. Kiss liftserved goodbye until next year. I'll see you usual suspects around Chinook and Dege later, right?

[Buster Highmen]

SQ - I did get a pick of East Peak, but not a good one. I'll send it to you.

[Woodsy]

glad ya went skiin old bean.

[girlski0912]

Way to carry the torch buddy! Saddens me to see this season end when it never really began...maybe that explains my absence? It looked pretty soggy this morning when I made the call, but it looked like you had a good day regardless!

[Dexter Rutecki]

Seeing pictures like this one:



makes me want to ski. There. Soon. I think, assuming next year is not like this year around there (what're the odds, right?), I have to move that place up to the top of the list.
Was just talking about that with Non Grata today on the way back from the Beast of The East. If I were Bernhard O Franzi I'd take this as a divine sign. Wish I'd been on snow and terrain like that today.

Careful Buster, you keep up with shots like those and the hordes will descend.
not really, but it looks like they should.

[Squirrel99]

SQ - I did get a pick of East Peak, but not a good one. I'll send it to you.

Sweet! THanks, Buster.

NIce shots of Xtal.

===> Blackcomb was $ today. A few pics and TR to follow.
and yes, Chinook & Dege will be had this "winter"

Saturday thinking about some touring off Hwy 2 if you are interested.
Backside of Heather Ridge / Moonlight Bowl, etc..?

[pollard]

nices pics!

[pollard]

since I dont feel like making another thread for 2 pics I'm gonna through them in here

me after I tagged one of those little trees. this is a bad angle but this was acutally a decent sized air



the scene



just missed my buddy but this is the landing it was super steep

[iggyskier]

Snow today at Crystal was actually awesome until you hit the avie debris. Got an actual face shot in the chute skiers left of hourglass. The avie debris at the bottom was brutal though. Also found some nice stuff in the chutes between the throne and the King. Snow in there was good. It was really dumping at some points. Visability went straight to hell. The run down to the base sucked as my goggles were completely fogged up and covered in snow but it was snowing so hard that at any speed i had to close my eyes, so i pretty much skied to the bottom with my eyes closed. Got back to school and to the two papers I have due now in less than 6 hours. It is 2:33AM and i still have one to go. mondays suck.

[Buster Highmen]

Yeah, you can see the debris in this picture if you look carefully- fields of frozen bowling balls and small household appliances (hence the name of the run to the right of the hourglass).

The whole trick to the day was keeping awway from slide debris and in the protected slots.

All in all, it was great, ghosting around all the favorite old paths, consecrating rituals and skiing in a storm - the best.

The rumor in the Elk was that they'll be postponing the installation of lifts in N. back, so maybe we'll have one more year before the washed hordes of Walmart skiers decend on the folds and cloisters of N. back. (hear that Dex? Cletus? Woodsy? Ty?).

[Woodsy]

Thou has promised a tour for years now.....

[Buster Highmen]

Thou has promised a tour for years now.....

...and you have not materialized to engage in said tour.

[Woodsy]

so true, but I love your backyard in the summer

[extreeski]

The rumor in the Elk was that they'll be postponing the installation of lifts in N. back, so maybe we'll have one more year before the washed hordes of Walmart skiers decend on the folds and cloisters of N. back. (hear that Dex? Cletus? Woodsy? Ty?).

I spoke with some folks who work there and they said that the forest in northback has been thinned. (Did you notice how open the bear pits were?)
Both the bases for the tram from parking lot c and the base of the northback lift will be built this summer. but lifts won't go in until the year after next. (Two lifts.) I have also heard that the northback lift will not be a high speed quad. Which will decrease the size of the washed hoards.

I for one am looking forward to not having to go all the way down northway when its as sketch as it gets down there.

Now if they every put a lift up The King. That would piss me off.

Looking forward to a year of skiing the recently thinned northback without any lifts yet next year.

[Buster Highmen]

so true, but I love your backyard in the summer

We'll see you here, then.

[Chronic]

Glad to see you got some turns in man, especially for such a crap year. Everytime I was out in Seattle this year, Crystal was closed, can't believe I got skunked. Will have to hit Nback hard next year before it's ruined by the lift.

[The AD]

I have also heard that the northback lift will not be a high speed quad. Which will decrease the size of the washed hoards.

Yeah, I heard it will be a fixed-grip double...not that there are any high-speed doubles

Nice shot of the power lines at Stevens, pollard! For those of you who haven't been to Stevens Pass, yes, those powerlines are actually inbounds in the ski area.

[Greydon Clark]

Hopefully next year is solid, I'll be there.

[Woodsy]

Yeah,not that there are any high-speed doubles

Aspen Mountain
and a slow quad too.

[extreeski]

Uhuh,

Gents ridge. The Couch