Bloated Skiing: December 14, East Peak Area, Crystal

Crispin going to snorkel depth

The plan was to go explore Alpental Valley. Greg and Crispin were planning to come up at 8:15 for an early start with Scott and I. Unfortunately, a slide of debris closed down the eastbound lanes of interstate 90. At 5am, Crispin was already pinging me that the pass was shut down. They quickly redirected their sites on the Crystal Mt. area. Crispin had toured the East Peak area and was ready to go back. I threw all my gear in the car and rushed to catch up with them in Greenwater at Wapiti Woolies. I had never toured this area, so couldn't say no. Scott wasn't quite ready, but said he had a great time skiing up at Snoqualmie Pass. The touring area is behind the on-hill lodging on the left side of the road as you drive into the Crystal parking area. There is actually a nice parking lot up on the hillside. There were 4-5 cars parked to tour today. We saw most of the crowd in the parking lot, but we all spread out soon enough. We climbed towards bullion basin and up to Union Pass? Anyhow we dropped a couple runs off the backside and a couple down the front side. Great skiing. I think the pictures validate the great snow conditions.