Pacific NW/AK/BC Crystal Mountain at MLK? Other Ikon base suggestions?

[KingGrump]

I don't know much. I do know the skiing was good enough for me to allocate a 3 weeks slot for Crystal last season.

 

[crgildart]

Sounds like the perfect storm of too close to major metro and terrain that's too good.

 

[KingGrump]

terrain that's too good

There is good terrain and terrain that is good for you. Depends.

 

[markojp]

There is good terrain and terrain that is good for you. Depends.

Usually many instances of both on any given day.

 

[markojp]

Sounds like the perfect storm of too close to major metro and terrain that's too good.

You wish you had such problems.

 

[John O]

However, every ski resort I know of is on "mostly rural highways that don’t get a lot of other traffic other than skiers and boarders", that just seems to mean the traffic is worst when it's time to ski!
View attachment 112502

This isn't the Cottonwoods and it isn't I-70 in CO, you wouldn't see a situation like the picture above unless the roads were blocked by something.

You didn't ski Crystal on the weekends at all last winter, did you? That looks like every Saturday and Sunday in January and February to me. And I mean down on 410, not up on the boulevard. The weekend traffic was *substantially* worse than previous seasons.

However, with COVID I think we have no idea what to expect for this season. Will it be even worse because Seattle skiers aren't traveling? Will it be better because Crystal is going to have to end up requiring reservations to limit capacity? Something else? I think we're all just in wait-and-see mode at this point.

 

[crgildart]

You wish you had such problems.

 

[David Chaus]

Yeah, I was stuck in Steven Pass traffic during Jan-Feb weekends.

All of which makes the case that @Slim should book accommodations at the mountain, with accommodations at the base you don’t have to deal with the traffic. Again, there aren’t that many options on the Ikon Base pass that don’t have blackouts on MLK weekend, and I think Crystal remains a great place to ski even when it’s busy.

 

[markojp]

Yeah, I was stuck in Steven Pass traffic during Jan-Feb weekends.

All of which makes the case that @Slim should book accommodations at the mountain, with accommodations at the base you don’t have to deal with the traffic. Again, there aren’t that many options on the Ikon Base pass that don’t have blackouts on MLK weekend, and I think Crystal remains a great place to ski even when it’s busy.

If you can get there.... Yes, it was hell on wheels last season ( full on season 1 of IKON-landia ) . I promised myself 'never again', but there I went and signed up to do it again. Maybe Mission '21-'22. Still up at the pass during the week.

 

[Posaune]

I'm going out on a limb and predict that crowds will be down this season for a number of reasons:

• Limited ticket sales and required reservations
• Fear of covid
• Not wanting to hassle with covid restrictions in the lodge, etc.
• Reduced or eliminated ski school activities
• Other pandemic hassles (mask wearing, distancing, restrooms, etc)

Not everyone lives and breathes skiing like us bunch of nutcases. Given the options, a lot of folks will just put it aside for the season. Only time will tell if I'm right.

 

[Bad Bob]

Why would anyone go through such hustles to ski Crystal Mountain?

Because it's worth it!

 

[dovski]

We ski without distraction around these parts.

I like to ski without a long drive or distraction hence I ski Alpental when I ski local

 

[dovski]

Why would anyone go through such hustles to ski Crystal Mountain?

Because it's worth it!
View attachment 112764

Same reason to ski Alpental

 

[Tony]

I have three days at Crystal. I keep hearing there is some big 14er visible from the top, but I've never come close to seeing it from Crystal.

My first day was also my first day skiing in WA on 2/28/2016 and my comments includes "I got the Pacific NW experience as it was raining just below parking lot and still pretty wet at parking, then snowing on lifts, getting drier as you went up... I saw two females who were not ready for the wind get blown off the road between the top of the two (upper) lifts.

My other two days were with Tony Crocker who posted "Crystal is probably top 5 in North America for expert terrain. The obvious 4 IMHO (no order implied) are Alta/Snowbird, Whistler/Blackcomb, Jackson Hole and Squaw Valley (there are others as tough in average challenge, but they are smaller)." We were guided by Larry Schick, who handles the Pacific Northwest for OpenSnow and stayed at the Alpine Inn. Some details of those two days at https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12818

 

[KingGrump]

I have three days at Crystal. I keep hearing there is some big 14er visible from the top, but I've never come close to seeing it from Crystal.

With your luck, remind me not to ski with you.

With @David Chaus

 

[Tony]

@KingGrump We skied together during last Whistler Gathering, but I and a couple of other people bailed on group because we wanted to ski more, not stop so much. Hope we can get together again soon, but probably will not be this season.