Noooooo....

[JayB]

"A new Doppelmayr chairlift was purchased last fall for the North Country area of Crystal Mountain. The North Country is a large area of terrain along the north side of Crystal’s designated permit boundary. The lift will provide access to approximately 1,000 acres and increase Crystal’s 1,300 acres of lift serviced ski terrain by 77% to 2,300 acres.

 

The name for the new chairlift is “Northway.” It will deposit skiers at the top of Northway Peak after a ride of just under 10 minutes. From there, skiers face an amazing choice of skiing Snorting Elk Bowl, Northway Bowl, Paradise Bowl and Bruce’s Bowl, following Right Angle Ridge to a variety of expert glades and chutes or heading farther north to drop into places like Morning Glory Bowl and Brand X. Several new trails are to be constructed that will feed into the bottom of the new lift.

 

Tree cutting began on Monday, June 18th in the North Country area. The use of a helicopter will be implemented to remove the downed trees and to help keep the impact on the environment at a minimum. A selection of trees will be cut and removed to clear paths for the new trails and chairlift towers. The footings will be poured as soon as the snow is completely melted. Chairlift towers will be flown in and set into the footings by helicopter in late-August to early-September.

 

The lift equipment itself is unusual in these days of high capacity, high speed detachable lifts. Northway is a double chairlift that will move along at a faster-than-standard rate of 550 feet per minute but will limit skier capacity in the new terrain to 1,200 people per hour. This will increase the existing 19,110 people per hour lift capacity to 20,310. “It’s about the skiing.” said Crystal Mountain General Manager John Kircher. “I’m sure people appreciate the big high capacity lifts that we have on the front side of Crystal. We have a job to do handling the crowds here but we all see how fast the snow gets tracked out. The new lift in the North Country is designed to provide access but keep the snow quality higher.” The new lift service will also serve to spread skier traffic out and keep skiers from funneling back through the base area.

 

The addition of the Northway Chairlift was approved with the Master Development Plan (MDP). Crystal Mountain received the Record of Decision (ROD) in August of 2004 from the U.S. Forest Service. The ROD came following an in-depth review of the Draft Environmental Impact Study issued in August 2001. The MDP, along with 6 alternatives, was originally submitted to the Forest Service in 1999."

 

Goodbye to one of the best stashes of lift-served pow in North America. Those drops at the top of Northway were also some of the most consistently good that I'd found anywere. Just enough air, always had tons and tons of pow beneath them. This is not making the pain of the sentence I'm serving on the Ice Coast any easier to bear.

 

A tracked out Northway will make it that much more likely that I'll find myself being the retarded old-guy trying getting owned while trying to learn new stuff in the terrain park

 

 

[gvideo]-2865212750885547046[/gvideo]

 

http://www.skicrystal.com/1729.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AlpineK]

I knew that was the next step, but I'm sorry to see that happen. The old system where you either had to do a long traverse back to the base or ski down and wait for the bus was much better since it thinned out the numbers of people over there.

 

It's kind of sad the way things are going. I have a long enough memory to remember a day when virtually nobody knew about both the South and the North BC. I had some great powder days when everybody else was whining about the icy conditions on the main slopes, and they kept asking me why I was using skis that are more suited to powder. I'd just keep my mouth shut and smile.

[cj001f]

All for $1000 a season!

[Cobra_Commander]

Is that really the season pass price? That's ridiculous.

[sammy]

and yet who opposed the DEIS? this shit just cruises through...

[JayB]

I think I remember some folks opposing the move, but it was a small contingent and this was way back in '99 or thereabouts.

 

Since we were talking about an area that was already within the ski area's borders, I think that the only effective argument against the installation of the said lift would have been that adding the lift would diminish both the overall skiing experience at Crystal, and thus the crowds - but the fact that there were stashes to be found back there a week or more after the last storm made the "you'll sell fewer lift tickets" argument less than compelling.

 

Thankfully there's still Southback, and a few other areas inbounds that will continue to yield good stashes, though there's nothing in those areas that can compare to a run from the top of Northway Peak to the bottom of lower Northway.

 

As far as the season passes are concerned, $1000 is pretty steep, but the pass-rates as the tiny-ass, perpetually-icy, powder-grooming (Seriously. One of the more bizarre and depressing elements of East Coast skiing is listening to people on chairlifts express relief and satisfaction when they see that all of the new snow has been groomed under) POS resort-trio has jumped from around $350 to $650, and daily rates are on-par with Whistler - so if I was there and close enough to get the necessary mileage out of a season pass I'd hand over the cash with glee.

 

 

[AlpineK]

Whatever the reason for the new lift I'm not surprised at all by the $1000 pass price.

 

Just look at some of the prices in CO.

[Dechristo]

Crested Butte - $1,249.00

[dt_3pin]

Goodbye to one of the best stashes of lift-served pow in North America. Those drops at the top of Northway were also some of the most consistently good that I'd found anywere. Just enough air, always had tons and tons of pow beneath them. This is not making the pain of the sentence I'm serving on the Ice Coast any easier to bear.

 

A tracked out Northway will make it that much more likely that I'll find myself being the retarded old-guy trying getting owned while trying to learn new stuff in the terrain park

 

The Invisible Hand is poachin' yer stashes.

 

 

[hefeweizen]

Actually the pass prices in CO are ridiculously cheap in some areas. In summit county you get Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Breckenridge for around $300. For another $50 you get 10 days at Vail and Beaver Creek (holiday restrictions of course).

 

Granted, Summit County is the only place in CO where passes are that cheap. Aspen and it's conglomeration of 4 different resorts isn't giving in to the old "quantity discount."

 

Regardless of what CO is doing, I fail to see where Crystal can justify $1000 passes. Mt. Hood Meadows is going for $400, an early season (before May 31) purchase at Stevens is $475, Snoqualmie is around $350, Baker is $650, Mission Ridge early season purchase is $339 and I don't think any of those places charge more for a day ticket than Crystal.

 

It really doesn't matter. The ski areas will always charge more than they used to. I'm only 26 and I already bitch about the good old days when lift tickets were reasonable and a high school kid could afford to go somewhere in the middle of winter without having a season pass.

 

My advice and the path I've chosen: use that season pass money for a pair of skins and a whole lot of beer.

[hefeweizen]

Jackson Hole unlimited pass: buy in August- $1625

buy in October- $1970

[counterfeitfake]

Crystal probably already knows whether they can "justify" the price. Remember that they are running a business.

[hefeweizen]

A valid point. Supply and demand will certainly be at work. I've also argued for Meadows to go back to their $895 passes because I believe the overcrowding there is a direct result of the $400 pass. People who would've never before purchased a pass do now and make the trip on more "marginal" days. Maybe the $1000 crystal pass is really a blessing in disguise. I don't actually ski there much during their open season so I'm not familiar with the crowding issue, perhaps it would be much more of a circus with a cheaper pass?

[AlpineK]

If I had to rate ski areas on terrain in Washington Crystal, Baker, and Mission Ridge would be on top of the pile. Stevens and Alpental are up there too, but they're a little too close to big cities to thin out the numbers no matter what the pass price is.

 

I've never skied at 49 Degrees North

 

Actually going back to my past the Mounties Meany Hill ruled too..(that is if you could deal with all the polka dancers in the evenings. ) It paid there to be a teenager since you and your buddies could sneek out at night and do bad stuff

[snoboy]

I've never skied at 49 Degrees North

 

We'll hit it up when you come to ski RED, it's not far from here at all.

[ericb]

Red is awesome....keep on truckin past 49

[Cobra_Commander]

I've also argued for Meadows to go back to their $895 passes

 

I would love this because then I wouldn't even consider skiing there. Anyone dropping that kind of coin for the ghettos is out of their mind.

[hefeweizen]

I've also argued for Meadows to go back to their $895 passes

 

I would love this because then I wouldn't even consider skiing there. Anyone dropping that kind of coin for the ghettos is out of their mind.

 

Yep, meadows sucks. You should not go there. Tell all your friends. Please.

[AlpineK]

Red is awesome....keep on truckin past 49

 

Dude, I've skied at Red and Whitewater many times on several trips; I will again with a detour to 49. It's important to check out areas that are new to you.

[cj001f]

Yep, meadows sucks. You should not go there. Tell all your friends. Please.

 

You live in sultan. WTF are you driving 4-5 hours to a wannabe place like meadows?

[hefeweizen]

Yep, meadows sucks. You should not go there. Tell all your friends. Please.

 

You live in sultan. WTF are you driving 4-5 hours to a wannabe place like meadows?

 

Every once in a while to kick it with the hommies at my home hill. Or if I get an itch for the lines on Wy'East or elsewhere in the environs of da' hood.