Crystal Mtn

Crystal Mountain has really great terrain for the expert level skier and often gets a lot of good snow. So what’s the problem? I ‘ll tell you. Some of the very best skiing is in the North Back and South Back areas but these areas are frequently closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and sometimes on other days because the management doesn’t want to pay the cost of lift attendants or ski patrollers to open these areas. You could call it nickel and dining the regulars who would love access to these areas all the time, safety considerations taken into account, and not on an arbitrary basis. These are public lands and the lessee (Crystal Mountain) should not be trying to squeeze every last penny out of their business entity. I suspect it is something that the Forest Service , the lessor , would not condone were they aware of this ongoing practice.

This rating is for the app, which seems to have it all, particularly on the weather and grooming features. The links to “Brass Tacks” located well down the conditions page has been spot on for weather and conditions and puts the repot in real terms. When conditions warm it’s helpful to quickly see what’s been tilled. As for the mountain itself, excellent terrain, high volume of people moved with many high speed lifts, access to vast backcountry can be spotty at times, but I trust that’s a safety/weather issue and not something else (staffing or whatever). When you ski on a Monday or Tuesday and the backcountry isn’t open, it’s for a valid reason. And when the backcountry isn’t open the in-bounds terrain remains significantly more challenging with more vertical than any other area resort.

I try to use this app every time I go to the mountain. I use it for tracking, which is pretty cool because it tells you vertical feet,mileage, speed and it shows you your lines on a map. It’s also the main way to check conditions and web cams. Overall I like it and use it regularly.

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This is my home hill. Over the last 10-12 years, with massive growth the area specifically home development in East Pierce, xTal has become an absolute zoo. On weekends, the parking lot fills miles down the road so much so that people are turned away. Then the management likes to make stupid profiting-tweaks such as removal of fine furnishings from the Campbell Basin Lodge in lieu of crappy mall food-court style chairs/tables in order to cram more people into the lodge, and then they removed the cafe area grab-bar so people are left standing in line waiting to buy basic snack items. Ridiculous. The terrain is some of the best around although inbounds powder stashes are a loss cause anymore due to over population on the hill. Side country areas are what’s left, unfortunately a left was installed in Northback several years ago so that’s succumbed to the masses now. I really miss the good old Crystal Mountain. So it goes.

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This is a low quality app with a poorly designed user interface that is difficult to use. The whole experience is gaudy and garish. It lacks visual appeal. Looks like it was built at the lowest cost possible. The purchasing flow requires an account with a password instead of supporting google login. Payment requires my CC number, instead of apple pay, paypal, or other more secure options. Judging by the poor quality user experience, the software developers who make this app work fast and loose. I don’t trust this terrible software to store my private data safely.