December 2012 CGR: Powder, Jumps & Sluff

The second half of December this year was awesome for anyone skiing in the Pacific Northwest.  Snow packs are currently 150% of normal or more!  I took some time off around Christmas and New Years and the timing was perfect!  The hiking in the backcountry at Crystal and even at time skiing in bounds was great!
This video shows the big jumps, deep powder and large sluff/small slides we encountered

You Tube Version:

2012-2013 First Post for CGR

First post of the season!!

Picture of the fam in Whistler, not great snow but great company!

First Movie of CGR for the 2012/2013 short but good start


Small Video Caitlin shot on her iphone, Me then Sean, Mike and Chris

Climbing Mt. Adams 8-4-2012

We did not ski down but hiked up making the summit and then glissading down was super fun!
We climbed to the summit at 12,280 feet and did the climb in one day almost climbing 7000 vertical!
It was a slow start we left Browns Point around 4pm, but traffic was terrible and we got lost finding the place to purchase the climbing permits and then the campground. We arrived to the campground at midnight and woke up at 3:30am started climbing around 4am made the summit at 11:30am left the summit around 12:15pm and made it back to the car around 3:30pm.  Left the campground at 4pm and were back to browns point by 9pm. It was a whirlwind trip with minimal sleep but a great time!

Cool picture of St. Helens with the sunrise

Mike after the hike on the way down with Adams in the background

 A look from the true summit at the false summit

 Looking down the fields we glissaded

 I was breaking down a hiking pole, funny how it turned out

 Me and Paolo at 4 am getting started

 Paolo hiking up

 Rainier from the summit

 St. Helens from the summit

 Me at the summit

 Paolo, Mike and I at the summit with Rainier in the background

  Paolo after the summit on the way back down with Adams in the background

 Me after the summit on the way back down with Adams in the background

 Mike and I in the morning

 Me and Paolo on the way up

 Me climbing

 View down the valley below

 Paolo with Ice Axe

 Mike at the Summit

 My left pinky was a casualty when glissading

 A look up from the trail at the false and true summits

 Cool look down to the snowfields, we started the hike before the snow even starts in patches

 Paolo with the Go Pro with me in the background

2012 Final Ski Post/Hawaii

It was a good year of skiing and while I didn't get nearly as many days as I wanted in it was still full of good times.  This has clips and pics from the last few weekends at Crystal this year.

Court and Caitlin sporting their gangsta Crystal Mnt bandannas

Court and I on the patio at Crystal

The snow was really starting to disappear in July

Court with her outfit for closing day July 1st

A small lake has formed in Snorting Elk Bowl

Mike, Me, Court and Sean on Closing day July 1st 2012

And since it was less than a week after skiing... a CGR tip to Hawaii to hang out in the non frozen H20

A quick video of my first time ever surfing

I ended up snorkeling next to this guy!

 Getting ready to head out!

 Waiting for my next wave!

 This was a huge turtle

 Diving down deeper while snorkeling

CGR at Crystal, Jackson Hole & Grand Targhee in Feb!

We had a great Feb 2012 for skiing in the Northwest! Check out the Skiing in Crystal and at Targhee plus photos from Jackson Hole and Driggs Idaho!

Courtney and I in front of Jackson Hole. To be honest I am not a fan of Jackson Hole, the mountain definitely does not live up to it's reputation. There are way to many people there waiting to pay 100/ticket to say they skied Jackson Hole.... Huge crowds of lines and runs that can be found anywhere. The Tram was ok but I like the Tram at Aleyeska or the Tram at Big Sky way more. Grand Targhee was half the price and the terrain was just as good, and being a local's hill there are about a tenth of the crowds, just a smaller mountain, Grand Targhee is totally the way to go! For the Record I think Crystal is about 10 times a better mountain than Jackson Hole, but better to keep Crystal a somewhat Seattle secret anyway!

The Tetons

Courtney and Walker as the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson

What happened to Court's poles on the ski lift

Tamara, Walker, Clair, and Courtney

Court and I in Driggs Idaho

Nice name on street in Jackson!

Courtney and Tamara

Courtney and Walker

Sean gets a Go Pro Camera!

Congrats to Sean for getting a new Go Pro helmet cam. Check him out breaking it in during the first weekends of the new year at Crystal!

Jan 21st & 22nd Seattle Snowmageddon

After an interesting week getting to work the skiing was great!

Friday night we arrived at Crystal to rain and 34 degrees at the parking lot

The freezing level dropped Friday night and Saturday we awoke to 2 inches of fresh at the bottom and 6 inches of new at the summit. Saturday it dumped on Jim, Cassandra, Mike and myself as we skied with very low crowds for all the new snow.

We received more snow Saturday night and Sunday was great! The crowds were pretty huge but the lifts to the upper mountain shut down after we had been skiing green valley not letting anyone else up there. For over an hour we almost had the mountain to ourselves! Court, Jessie, Tamara and Paolo joined Jim, Cassandra, Mike and myself and we had a great day!

Jimmy enjoying all the fresh snow

Tamara, Courtney and Jessie next to Tamara's new rides first trip up to Crystal

CGR Welcomes 2012!

A quick recap of the first 3 weekends in 2012:

New Years Eve at Crystal, fireworks amazing and had a great crew at the Snorting Elk including my parents Jim and Cassandra, Courtney and Myself and Mike and Jen Benson

New Years Day great snow both inbound and backcountry

January 7th Whistler BC had a great trip with some co-workers from Miliwalkee Alex Ribbons and Greg Tzanoukakis the trip was super fun with a couple late nights but still managed to get some skiing in.

January 15th Mt. Baker WA, they received 20 inches in 48 hours when we arrived and it was super cold powder in the sun!

Mike and My Tracks down Silver Basin on New Years Day

-Mike's tracks on the Right, mine on the left

Courtney and Jimmy New Years Eve

Fireworks at Crystal
The New Years Eve Crew(from Right to left): Mike, Court, Jim, Cassandra and Jen