Blog post for skiing? Why not. The beauty of having no affiliations and no monetization is I can write about anything I desire. And believe me, the April spring skiing at Crystal Mountain (WA) was epic for a lot of people. I heard stories on the chair lift like “I had put all my stuff away, but just had to pull it out again, I couldn’t miss out on these conditions.” My favorite; talking to a fellow parking lot RVer who was heading south in Oregon and turned around to come back….”How could I miss the best skiing in the country?”

*My van parked at the Crystal Mountain RV lot (B-Lot)*

My daughter had talked me into purchasing at end of season pass so we could enjoy some slushy warm spring turns. The lower areas were showing grass and dirt (the top photo was on the Rex lift above “Sunnyside”), and south facing slopes were starting to get bare. And then the weather changed. Temps dropped and the Cascades got a big dump on Monday April 4th. I drove my van up on Tuesday and started the ski fest. Despite crowds, the conditions were most excellent and pockets of stash could be found all over the mountain. Wednesday was sunny but continuing low temps kept the snow silky. Thursday was excellent. Etc. When my daughter joined me for that weekend, she experienced knee deep powder for the first time, quickly adjusting to these conditions that hadn’t been seen since December. But wait, there’s more! I stayed on, spending Monday night at an RV spot in Enumclaw (I skied Monday morning) to dump tanks, replenish supplies and refill water, then drove back up on Tuesday for 3 more nights (of course, I skied Tuesday afternoon). Continuing cold temperatures and flurries that varied from dustings to inches persisted; off piste skiing was still excellent, even if it was skied out. I missed Friday but my daughter and I came back up for Saturday and Easter for continued ski bliss. In all I logged 13 days on the hill during a 15 day period, allowing me to continue working on technique and challenging myself by skiing more difficult terrain. Yes, even at 67 Y/O the quest for improvement is always present. My 13 days allowed me to log 283,000 feet of vertical.

I took so much video over this period that in authoring I just had to stop editing….”oh wait, I have to add this one….wait, I need to replace that one….” Eventually I squeezed snippets of this experience into 3 minutes with representative clips from most of the days. The music “Diggin’ It!” was a piece I had done with local guitarist Dan McInerney a few years ago and seemed appropriate. One can never be sure about the vagaries of weather and when we’ll get lucky for excellent conditions, but retirement allowed me to take advantage of some of the best conditions I’ve seen in years. Enjoy!