Crystal Mountain Becomes Alterra

[CHAIR_97]

I can only hope they drop the 5-days at Snoqualmie Pass.

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Help me dig a moat ?!

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[Toadman]

It’s the gym membership phenomenon- “This year is the year I’ll hit the slopes more!”

People’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs…

A guy I work with has full Ikon full Epic this season. Like $1900 in passes. So far he’s clocked 1 day at Crystal, 1 at Stevens, 2 at Whistler.



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That's not bad. It's 4 more days than I have at those ski areas.

[GoldMember]

I just checked Schweitzer and we still have a pass. $909 for a renewal but I'm sure it's just a matter of time for us to go Ikon. I'm not too excited for that since we really don't go to any of the areas with Ikon.

[f=ma]

It’s the gym membership phenomenon- “This year is the year I’ll hit the slopes more!”

People’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs…

A guy I work with has full Ikon full Epic this season. Like $1900 in passes. So far he’s clocked 1 day at Crystal, 1 at Stevens, 2 at Whistler.



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This...is a good thing

[BaseFloopy]

I'm not sure crustal going back to unlimited will move the needle much. Any well-anticipated pow days will still be a cluster like everywhere else.
Alterra will likely continue creating choke points, while simultaneously avoiding adding any new lifts or additional terrain.

[XavierD]

It’s the gym membership phenomenon- “This year is the year I’ll hit the slopes more!”

People’s eyes are bigger than their stomachs…

A guy I work with has full Ikon full Epic this season. Like $1900 in passes. So far he’s clocked 1 day at Crystal, 1 at Stevens, 2 at Whistler.



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To be fair to your co-worker, the vast majority of this season has sucked and not been enticing.


Altera vail have set the pricing where it’s worth it to buy if you are thinking you might ski 5-7 days on one of them.

ah, the siren's call of full crystal access for "only" $1.25k

Less than it was a decade ago once you account for inflation. Unfortunately probably not enough, and we will be seeing the 4am race to the blvd return and people bitching about not being able to get a parking reservation for the days they want to ski.

[ptavv]

Boulevard race return? Where have you been on powder days this year? It's alive and well.

There have been quite a few under the radar powder days up there as well, but all the major storms that have gotten reasonable press coverage and social media pickup have meant if you're not out of Enumclaw by 715-730 you're in the red snake conga line

[XavierD]

Leaving enumclaw by 7:15 on a powder day is way more sustainable than needing to be through by 6:00-6:30. It got to needing to leave seattle by 5:30 to get up there during the peak covid years.

[oftpiste]

Looks like they've brought back the standalone A-lot parking pass. Unlimited $1999, midweek $499. First one I had was $350, though I was on a waiting list for 3 years.

[ptavv]

That is a lot of price discrimination between weekend and weekday.

For the CMAC families an extra 2k is nothing for the convenience I'm sure

[oftpiste]

Nope, but it makes it more accessible than last season when the only way you could get one was in a package deal costing $4K.

[boar2m]

With recent snow and fair weather predicted, I’m thinking Sunday to Monday. Is parking reservation still required on Sunday? Also how is Silverking skiing? Is it a go with the recent snow? Thanks in advance for the info.

[Buster Highmen]

With recent snow and fair weather predicted, I’m thinking Sunday to Monday. Is parking reservation still required on Sunday? Also how is Silverking skiing? Is it a go with the recent snow? Thanks in advance for the info.

Parking

It was a little lumpy last week, but decent.

Since stuff froze in the last few days, doubt the recent snow will be sufficient to really smooth things out.

(btw: quotes work if they are opened in a new tab or window)

[boar2m]

Thanks... somewhat rhetorical q. - I'll be driving from Portland and if I roll into the parking lot say ~10 on Sunday morning, would there be a parking spce still?

[Buster Highmen]

If a B lot parking spot exists does the pope shit in the woods?

[boar2m]

Considering the Pope uses Bidet and his altar boys use only the finest Treccia bath towel to dry his loyal hiney, I better leave a little earlier than usual… thanks again for such invaluable info... wait, what?

[bfree]

Parking

It was a little lumpy last week, but decent.

The king or the parking lot? [emoji16]

Boar, crystal isn't gonna park out on a Sunday in April, you'll be fine.

[BaseFloopy]

Skimming the first 10 pages of this thread was simultaneously depressing and hilarious.

Anyone know if Rex is still up for replacement? It was listed on liftblog but now it's not. Also there is still no mention of the great Gondola Switcheroo, or a Kelly's Gap chair.

[RichV]

Skimming the first 10 pages of this thread was simultaneously depressing and hilarious.

Anyone know if Rex is still up for replacement? It was listed on liftblog but now it's not. Also there is still no mention of the great Gondola Switcheroo, or a Kelly's Gap chair.

Realistically REX is nearing its end of life, it is the oldest operating detachable Poma chairlift. It has a lot of hours on it because it used to operate year round prior to the installation of the gondola. If you look at the bottom of the seats carefully, you will notice a cable. These are there because this particular type of chair has broken apart in service. Replacement of it is inevitable, but since it seems fairly reliable right now it will probably not be replaced any time soon.

Crystal is not being treated as a premier resort by Alterra and is probably not the cash cow that they envisioned. I would expect minimal investment by Alterra in Crystal. They didn't even open the new lodge this year because they didn't want to staff it beyond peak season.

[BaseFloopy]

If you look at the bottom of the seats carefully, you will notice a cable. These are there because this particular type of chair has broken apart in service.

Interesting factoid. I'll try to forget that each time my cheeks nestle onto a Rex seat from here on out.

[phatty]

Crystal is not being treated as a premier resort by Alterra and is probably not the cash cow that they envisioned. I would expect minimal investment by Alterra in Crystal..

Crystal isn't treated like a premier resort because it isn't. It's not even a resort. It's a ski hill, which is what we have in the PNW. I don't think Alterra brought it to be a cash cow. They bought it to get a crap ton of Ikon pass holders from the PNW that will travel to Tahoe/Utah/Colorado to their actual resorts. By that measure, the Crystal acquisition has been a huge success.

Alterra are going to have to do some upgrades to keep the locals happy with the trade and Crystal will have to be happy with the scraps while Deer Valley will get over $500M in investment within the next 5 years.

[BaseFloopy]

Crystal isn't treated like a premier resort because it isn't. It's not even a resort. It's a ski hill, which is what we have in the PNW. I don't think Alterra brought it to be a cash cow. They bought it to get a crap ton of Ikon pass holders from the PNW that will travel to Tahoe/Utah/Colorado to their actual resorts. By that measure, the Crystal acquisition has been a huge success.

Exactamundo

Alterra are going to have to do some upgrades to keep the locals happy with the trade and Crystal will have to be happy with the scraps while Deer Valley will get over $500M in investment within the next 5 years.

Exactamundo again. And frankly I'm fine with Alterra siphoning off the tech money for DV, Steamboat, Winter Park et. al.; the problem is the scraps they toss under the table are the wrong tidbits.
A little lift maintenance and glading/summer grooming would go a long way instead of the "arrival experience", snowmaking and leveling existing infrastructure to rebuild something most actual skiers have no intention of using.

/drunk rant

[ptavv]

Incredibly annoying that Crystal just announced military passes for the 24/25 season (not through Ikon) for $400 cheaper than a military Ikon pass.

I would've made different purchasing decisions if that had been an option months ago.

[RichV]

The new lodge is a bit of a train wreck functionally. A mountain host actually floated that management is considering bringing the tent back. I will put this comment under unsubstantiated rumor, but it is not exactly an endorsement of the lodge

[BaseFloopy]

I don't have an MBA and I didn't stay in a holiday inn last night... but I do analyze things for a living, and it seems like almost everything Alterra does is bass-ackwards.

Bringing the tent back would make sense but I'm sure they'll put it in a place that creates another choke point for foot traffic.