7 replies to this topic

[iceberg210]

As a kid with parents from Seattle (who both love to ski) I had often heard stories of the various ski resorts up in Washington, and while I should have been doing this for the last two years that I've been going to the UW up here I'm finally starting to go exploring the various resorts Washington has to offer. First on the list was Crystal (mainly cause I heard that they didn't open the top of the mountain Friday so Saturday included the new snow for two days up top). I'd never been to Crystal even in the summer, so the closest I'd experienced was the great Crystal Mountain bread from The Black Diamond Bakery. Delicious, but not quite the same...

Anyway what a great mountain! Not only absolutely beautiful (especially when Rainier chooses to come out every once in a while) but also a resort with incredible terrain Crystal did not disappoint!

After a very pleasent hour and 40 minute drive, the first thing I did once I was on the mountain (after waiting for Chinook Express to open) was to run over to REX and then off to Northway. This is where I spent much of the morning hitting about four to six inches of fresh powder all throughout that area. Even got first tracks in in a couple places which is always a wonderful experience. After visibility completely went to zero over there I headed back over towards Green Valley, took a run on that and hopped back over to REX. After a few runs there I decided to hit High Campbell and after a quick and good lunch at the Campbell Basin resuraunt I took C6 (everyone referred to it as such which I thought was quite nifty, as to my knowledge there are is no chair numbering system at most the resorts I grew up on) and boy is that one fantastic lift! Suprisingly short, but very steep. I had just this great feeling of going up to nowhere as the fog was hanging right about that hybrid tower (lattice/pipe, interesting design there, very unique). Went back off the top (after taking a few pics) to Powder Bowl which I have to admit is one of the nicer bowls I've ever skied, very excellent bit of terrain. A few runs later I got back up to C6 and hung there the rest of the day traversing down toward the Southcountry and hitting that bowl that faces back towards the lift (sorry don't know the name). Great runs and a great time.

Certainly a resort that I enjoyed a ton. I was very impressed not only with the terrain, but the variety. While a place like Alpental has one or two runs at all ability levels Crystal has a dozen. The terrain was just as hard as stuff you'd find at places like Alta and Snowbird which makes me quite happy as I don't function well at resorts that I don't feel are a challenge (cough, *SNOQUALMIE* cough). Overall just a great place that I can't wait to get back to, which may happen tommorrow in fact, if I don't end up at Stevens we'll see.

Some observations I had was that while the lift system is really good for doing laps on particular runs, getting from each 'pod' of lift served runs seemed awkward at times. Especially the fact that you have to take two lifts to get to C6 or Northway. Not a big deal but I could see how having the old Campbell's Basin that went up to C6 in one shot would be really convient, as well as having that proposed tram to Summit House.

Also does anyone know why they pulled out the lift that ran the last half of the Campbell's Basin lift line? (Fron the top of Chinnook to the bottom of C6?) Also does anyone know why they tore out the Bullion Basin Chair? I remember hearing discussion on the board that they were going to replace it at some point, but just seemed odd to me to pull out a bunch of lifts on a mountain that probably could use more capacity (at least back in the day before the 6 packs and quads) and not replace them.

On a related note if anyone up here ever wants to join up on the mountain I'd love to ski with anybody on the board, as I'm sure you know these mountains far better than I do and could show me all the nooks and crannies (if you're willing to tell the secrets of course, )


Here are some pics from the trip including Campbell pics (as I have noticed in searches of the board that we don't really have any, or the attachments aren't working anymore) While I did go to Northway I didn't really take any pictures as I think it was Skier who took a bunch of great ones that are somewhere on the board, if you want I'll try and dig up the link to that...

Anyway here's the pics...

Mt. Rainer from either the top of C6 I can't remember...
 rainer from hc.jpg (37.44K)
Number of downloads: 99

High Campbell (C6) pictures
 highcampbell c6 top1.jpg (74.67K)
Number of downloads: 133
 high campbell c6 bottom.jpg (54.62K)
Number of downloads: 168

Is that the old Bullion Basin area beyond the base area you can see at the middle of bottom of the picture?
 bullion basin.jpg (83.54K)
Number of downloads: 134

I was wondering and figured you guys might know...


Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the pics.

[Bill]

Of course Bullion Basin was before I started skiing that terrain, but it was one of my lifts when I was a supervisor there, as Gold Hills. The reason I was told it was removed was two-fold, one the T-Bar needed to be replaced (where the lift now stands) and that it was a low snow coverage spot, facing the west it got alot of sun and didn't hold the snow. Pretty much the same reason for Gold Hills.

Campbell's Basin was shortened a few years before I started working there, and originally it was shorten because they put in the Midway Shuttle (FGQ). Then it was used for heavy skier days to get them from the Shuttle and REXX into Campbell's Basin, remember at that time Forest Queen was known as Rendezvous and was a FGT. For whatever reason (John - LiftMech may know) they removed it completely.

[Peter]

Yup Crystal is an excellent mountain. Attached is a picture of the old Bullion Basin pod. One reason Chair 5 could have been removed is that the new lodge sits where the old top terminal was. Even though it did not open until a few years ago, they put the foundations in a few years before building the rest. Also Forest Queen has a very high capacity of 3,600 skiers per hour with only 3 main runs off of it so there is more than enough capacity in that pod. It only takes a minute or two to ski down that little bit from Rex to Forest Queen and is probably faster than riding the old double would have been.

Attached File(s)

•  Crystal Feb 5th 2006 046.jpg (395.77K)
  Number of downloads: 92

[liftmech]

Old chair 5 was removed because the new chair 9 has such a high capacity. I was foreman of 5, 6, and 9 the year before 5 and 9 went away, and I recall with both lifts operating at capacity the runs tended to get crowded. The lodge construction had nothing to do with it. I recall plans to build that lodge while 5 was still there; it would have been further towards chair 6 but in the same general location.

If you were in the South Backcountry (sorry, I don't like the new name) you were most likely in Avalanche Basin as it faces 6 almost directly.

FYI, all lifts at Crystal are numbered. We never referred to them by name.
1= Miner's Basin
2= Iceberg Ridge (removed 1988)
3= Green Valley (both old and new)
4= Quicksilver
5= Campbell Basin (removed 1997)
6= High Campbell
7= Bullion Basin (1974-1982); Gold Hills (1983-present)
8= Discovery
9= Rendezvous (1984-1997); Forest Queen (1997-present)
10= Rainier Express or REX
11= Midway Shuttle (1988-1998); Chinook Express (1998-present)
12= Northway

[Peter]

There is a new name for South?

[liftmech]

It used be called South Backcountry (as I noted in my post) but they shortened it to South Country. Doesn't really have the same ring.

[Peter]

Looking at the trail maps from the past few years, it switched back to South Backcountry in 2008: http://www.skimap.or...1261868081.jpeg
I don't think anyone ever called it South Country anyways, "South Back" seems to be the popular shortened name.

[liftmech]

Yup, South Back and North Back. More often than not we'd refer to either The King, The Throne, or Silver Basin when talking about the South Back, but due to the sheer number of possibilities north of the border it was more generally North Back.

On a related note, this month's Skiing magazine has a 'guide' to the Northway lift and trail pod. Some is accurate, some is not, as always. They exposed one of my all-time favourites, the Teddy Bear Chute. Must be different to have a lift out there.