 Sergio and I scrapped our plans to go to Green
Mountain after the analysis of the snowpack, and I decided to take
him up on his offer to be escorted through the Crystal BC. We arrived
at the empty ski resort parking lot around 9am and headed up the snowmobilers
trail. It was a nice and easy approach to get into the Bullion Basin
area. The wind had affected alot of the slopes in the region, loading
them in all different directions. Wind crusts here, then soft pow there,
and so on. We skinned up towards the ridgeline on the ascent path to
Bullion Point and found a beautifully wind carved ridgeline that aimed
us for our highpoint and descent line for the reaminder of the day.
It was easy to tell that the hard raincrust was under the 8" of powder
that we had skinned up on, but it was very difficult to get any of it
to move. Stomping and tantrums could not make it go. So we made our
descent through some glades and had some awesome (almost) turns all
the way to the bottom of the basin. Sergio was able to board through
the thin crust that had settled on top of the lower basins snowpack,
but I was unable to stay on top of it (most of the time). We broke trail and skinned back up to the ridgeline and aimed for a
line on skiers left more back towards the saddle. It was very frigid
thorughout the entire day, keeping the snow soft and fluffy (in spots).
Our second run unveiled the inconsistencies in the snowpack . The top
portion was sweet, with the mid section turning into an unbreakable
crust that was hard and icy. What seemed like 40 degrees in spots (when
the truth means you take what you think it is, divide that in half and
add 10) was the hardpack that made my skis chatter the most.
Getting back up to the saddle was much easier with a trail already broken,
and we headed back up to Bullion Point and then down the opposite side
towards the trail. The upper portion was icy and wind blasted, but when
we got in the wind protected areas with gullies and such, the turns
and pow were plentiful. After a short hike on some flat sections, we were able to blaze down
the snowmobile track back down to the car and get 4000 vert in for the
day. A really nice area, with many more area to explore. The Crowne
Point area looks really sweet...............
Directions: Drive east on State Highway 410 from Enumclaw 33.1 miles
to the Crystal Mountain Road #7190. Turn left (east) onto the Crystal
Mountain Road and follow 4.2 miles. Turn left (north) onto Road #7190410
and follow 3.0 miles to trailhead. There are 5 parking spaces on road
shoulder at the trailhead. No trailer turnaround.
USGS Map: Bumping Lake
Web References: www.sverdina.com, www.mtnphil.com
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