SNOW IN THE PNW 2016-17: Return of the Shred-i

[PNWbrit]

boyne does not own either. one of the boyne sons owns crystal

Boyne Resorts do technically own Crystal.

[GeezerSteve]

Crystal Mountain operations is owned by Boyne Properties - Washington LLC, a manager-managed Washington limited liability company. The LLC's manager is Boyne USA Inc.

[billyk]

Well, the point is if both "resorts" are managed by the same company, wouldn't the management-dependent dweeb factor be similar? Then I suppose it all comes down to the posers that ski at Crystal vs the cool kids at Alpental. Is that it?

[NW_SKIER]

Easy now. You're playing with fire. The Alpy boys are tight.

[ACH]

Well, the point is if both "resorts" are managed by the same company, wouldn't the management-dependent dweeb factor be similar? Then I suppose it all comes down to the posers that ski at Crystal vs the cool kids at Alpental. Is that it?

For the Summit (Ski Lifts, Inc.)
Boyne oversees, but day to day management and operations is basically the same team that's been in place for some time.
A different vibe...

[GeezerSteve]

Local management style and discretion matters. Xtal ops v. Alpy/Summit ops is apples v oranges. Xtal has uptight mgt vibe, lots of nickel & diming (or, more accurately, $5 & $10ing). Alpy is more laid back, loosey goosey mgt.

[NW_SKIER]

A different vibe...

This

[ACH]

lots of nickel & diming (or, more accurately, $5 & $10ing). Alpy is more laid back, loosey goosey mgt.

Lulz -
Lot's of pocket book pucker to go around.
Penny pinch/nick-dime = Summit
$5 & $10ing = Dweebus

[billyk]

OK, thanks, got no dog in the fight although I used to ski regularly at the "Southern Resort" when I lived in the area many years ago.

[AK47bp]

Local management style and discretion matters. Xtal ops v. Alpy/Summit ops is apples v oranges. Xtal has uptight mgt vibe, lots of nickel & diming (or, more accurately, $5 & $10ing). Alpy is more laid back, loosey goosey mgt.

Gotta pay for that useless Gondola somehow.

[pipedream]

So who's heading-up for some turns @ Stevens tomorrow? I'm on the fence simply because the promise of Hogs...

[Norseman]

OK, thanks, got no dog in the fight although I used to ski regularly at the "Southern Resort" when I lived in the area many years ago.

Nobody has a dog in the fight (cept for Predictor McPipe).

Still great hill to ski. Too easy to tease the place, so we do.

[TAFKALVS]

So who's heading-up for some turns @ Stevens tomorrow? I'm on the fence simply because the promise of Hogs...

I'm going to wait until sunday. Let all the other fools find the rocks.

It was very thin on saturday.

[pipedream]

I'm going to wait until sunday. Let all the other fools find the rocks.

It was very thin on saturday.

Yeah, but there's been a significant amount of snowfall since then. I figure Brooks will offer-up a few good laps early, enough to warrant some parking lot brunching before Hogs cracks and the fun* really begins

As for my predictions, well... I seem to have been off by some. Baker did open on Black Friday (and oh was it ever good), Crustal didn't quite beat them to the punch as I expected (but whatever, off-by-one is still acceptable in my line of work), The Summit did originally have a rail jibber jammer scheduled for Sat. but they pushed it back a week (more of that off-by-one thing), and the storms seemed to skip Stevens. Completely disregarding my Apple Cup prediction, I think I'd give myself a "B"

*Type 1.5, ofc

[carlh]

Did stevens end the PNW advantage pass program this year? I mostly tour but a flexible discount pass is nice to have if it still exists. Otherwise I may buy a couple days on the black friday sale.

[pipedream]

Of course they did - Stevens put the nail in the coffin of fun a few years ago when they over-marketed themselves and were unable to live-up to the expectations. In a knee-jerk manuever to restore a balance between ticket-buying, ski-renting, lesson-taking Jerrys and PB&J-pocketing, first chair-queuing passholders they rehashed their passes, increased their prices and killed their discount/advantage programs in the hope that the parking lots wouldn't be full 30 mins before opening whistle causing them to have to turn revenue generators who don't want to leave the city at 6am away.

No, I'm not bitter about it. Not one bit. Just like I totally understand why you'd need a beacon + shovel + probe & partner to ride Hogsback with < 36" of coverage

I hope they get snapped-up by Vail soon so that I can adjust my expectations accordingly and justify buying one of those "Moderately Alright, Average At Best" passes I've been hearing so much about from my Call-it-rad-bros.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I'm going to wait until sunday. Let all the other fools find the rocks.

It was very thin on saturday.

Hoping for a half day or so of carving at Mission on Friday, followed by a nice hike in town. Nice way to ease into the season.

[billyk]

No, I'm not bitter about it. Not one bit. Just like I totally understand why you'd need a beacon + shovel + probe & partner to ride Hogsback with < 36" of coverage

.

What's the back story to that? Isn't hogsback in the very middle of the resort, and not that high? Was this an early season restriction, or standard policy?

[The AD]

I don't understand why they wouldn't be able to open Skyline.

[pipedream]

The backstory on "Hogsbackcountry" is that at the start of the winter that wasn't (2014-15), on opening day Stevens spun Daisy & Brooks then opened Hogsback around noon but required everyone to have a beacon + shovel + probe (and I think, initially, partner). They were able to use this gear requirement as a filtering mechanism to keep people off Hogsback that wouldn't have been able to make it down due to the sheer amount of open holes, creeks, etc. The snowpack was too thin to allow them to groom anything up there and they needed to keep the jerrys away so that Patrol could focus their efforts on getting more things open. I left my bc gear at home because I figured there wasn't enough snow to need it and it'd just tempt me into making poor decisions and paid dearly for my lack of clairvoyance.

[TAFKALVS]

Hoping for a half day or so of carving at Mission on Friday, followed by a nice hike in town. Nice way to ease into the season.

See you up on the windy hill!

"Hogsbackcountry" made me butthurt

I don't really see the big deal. I think they should start doing that with double diamond and seventh heaven all season.

[Norseman]

I don't really see the big deal. I think they should start doing that with double diamond and seventh heaven all season.

Jongs would still infiltrate.

Bridger Bowl enforces avy equipment rules on both lift-served and hike-to terrain, but it doesn't keep anybody out (partner rule did, but that fell with the new lift). Just an extra piece of gear lets me in? Boom, done.

[TAFKALVS]

Jongs would still infiltrate.

Bridger Bowl enforces avy equipment rules on both lift-served and hike-to terrain, but it doesn't keep anybody out (partner rule did, but that fell with the new lift). Just an extra piece of gear lets me in? Boom, done.

but the first week that new policy happens would be glorious.

[2FUNKY]

Jongs would still infiltrate.

Bridger Bowl enforces avy equipment rules on both lift-served and hike-to terrain, but it doesn't keep anybody out (partner rule did, but that fell with the new lift). Just an extra piece of gear lets me in? Boom, done.

Just slushmans for lift served.

[Norseman]

Just slushmans for lift served.

Yup, shoulda been clearer... beep onto the chair only at Slushy, and for the traditional Ridge boot pack.

/distraction

Back to pnw dreaming

Somebody put up a pic of snowy mtns or something