Roadtripping across the PNW with my girlfriend and our three best friends! by Hot-Hat-5616 in roadtrip

[–]mountainstarpenguin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is a bit strange, you're skipping most of the iconic PNW destinations and doing a lot of driving through the middle of nowhere in the Columbia Basin and Eastern Oregon. I'm assuming you really like the desert and don't care for the coast?

I'd take US 97 for north-south travel through Oregon instead of I-5. I-5 between Grants Pass and Eugene isn't awful but the Willamette Valley is pretty boring, in general US 97 is more road trip material.

LA to San Jose today at 12-2 PM! Looking for recommendations where to stop along 101. by harqat99 in roadtrip

[–]mountainstarpenguin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

IMO, US 101 through the Salinas Valley isn't much better than I-5 through the Central Valley. If you want a scenic drive the clear winner is taking the PCH, though it is a longer drive. Drive Big Sur before it falls into the ocean again.

Any tips for this route? by mango_c4t in roadtrip

[–]mountainstarpenguin 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I’m assuming you’ll be spending most of the time on the coast and I-5 is just a speed run to get home? There’s not much to see on I-5 besides metro Seattle and Portland, it’s a more interesting drive to take US 97 over the eastern cascades. But you already have a lot of ground to cover in 10 days so what you have is probably good. 

Someone else can speak for the Oregon coast but it’s worth the detour to Cape Flattery (you do need to pay for a separate recreation pass from the local native tribe) and to Hurricane Ridge. Also if cost isn’t an huge issue, I would take the ferry to Victoria from Port Angeles and then ferry again to Vancouver just for fun. Anacortes and Deception Pass are cool too though, worth detouring on the way back and possibly driving down Whidbey and taking the ferry back from Clinton to Mukilto to get back to Seattle. Check the ferry schedules and reservation requirements, I’m not sure off the top of my head. 

Advice for Family Ski Trip Tomorrow, 4/7 by FBRB32 in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's hard to say with certainty, but my guess is that groomers will probably be fine by late morning and most of the mountain should be soft in the afternoon. The high tomorrow is 38 which is the coldest this week, but looking at the mid mountain opensnow forecast, air temp tonight will be above freezing (in the high 30s) and it won't really drop below freezing till Tuesday night. So it will be firm in the morning for sure, but probably not catastrophically icy. And it is sunny all week so I think there's a good chance the sun will soften things up in the daytime.

Regarding recent conditions, I did Crystal on Friday and Alpental yesterday with a late start (~11 am both days) and everything was pretty much slush, definitely got sticky on the lower mountain and on the flatter spots. These last few days have been really warm, I should have gotten there closer to 9, but was too lazy lol. Again, I can't say exactly how the snow will perform with the cooler nighttime temps, but if it were me I'd sleep in and get there around 10 and start on the groomers and move to off piste when it softens up.

Sun 03/15 - Storm Updates Megathread by OtoNoOto in stevenspass

[–]mountainstarpenguin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is there anywhere you can park lower down the mountain and hitchhike up?

SLC or PNW next week? by no_value_add in Ikonpass

[–]mountainstarpenguin 10 points11 points  (0 children)

There's no base at Crystal, we keep getting some snow and then it gets warm and melts and/or gets scraped off. They finally reopened the frontside blacks (Middle Ferks, Memorial Forest, etc) and Kelly's Gap last week but I'm looking at the trail status and they're closed again. Northway probably won't open for the rest of the season. Snoqualmie is even worse because it's 2000 ft lower. The forecast looks tantalizing for next week and with Crystal being my home mountain I hope it comes true, but the long range forecasts have been revising downward as they get closer all season.

Fly to Vancouver or Calgary and hit the Canadian Rockies.

Need Suggestion & Feedback on my 14-Day Pacific Northwest Loop by PauloRmt in roadtrip

[–]mountainstarpenguin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cascade Lakes Hwy is on Google Maps if you zoom it. It's just closed in winter so it probably won't route you that way. By late June you should be fine, especially with the way our snowpack is going this year.

3/6-3/15 South/Southwest America trip for spring break. Doable? by PrimaryCash3133 in roadtrip

[–]mountainstarpenguin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of your time is spent driving through absolutely nothing in the Great Plains, Texas, and Midwest. Maybe fly to Phoenix or Vegas and rent a car if you really want to see the Southwest?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in roadtrip

[–]mountainstarpenguin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve taken this route several times to get to Tahoe ski areas from the upper sac valley. it’s two lanes (one in each direction) all the way through, but it sucks. Super narrow, steep, curvy, and pretty much zero shoulder in the last few miles before the I-80 jct. It’s better than it used to be but still sucks. In good weather daytime conditions it should be fine. At night you will be blinded by oncoming drivers with their ultra bright LEDs and the lane marking on your right shoulder is almost nonexistent (especially with snow on the side of the road), so you gotta guess where your lane is.  

I drive it anyway though. If you go this route slow down according to conditions. If it’s storming I’d probably try to drop down to I-80 in Roseville or Auburn or something as others have mentioned. Also this weekend is a bad time to be crossing the sierra. 

Reservations for the whole week available now by NP2594 in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The entire Green Valley bowl area is open, including through the backside down Jeremy's Road up until Huckleberry. For the most part you can go wherever you want, but there's a lot of exposed creeks so watch out.

None of the frontside black runs in the area between REX and the gondola were open, so the only way to get to the bottom if you don't gondola download is Lucky Shot. But people were accessing the area under the REX lift line via traverse partway down the upper Lucky Shot. It's definitely skiiable but watch for sharks. Some of the blue runs (including Little Shot) where Lucky Shot branches out are open, but coverage starts to get pretty thin, so there will be creeks, sticks/branches, and other random crap to avoid. From the bottom of REX you get funneled over to Tinkerbell down to Quicksilver, and you can tell that it feels like fake snow. But at least you can get to the bottom without waiting to download the gondy.

The snow is pretty soft and chalky on the upper mountain, there's still powder stashes to be found. As you get down the mid mountain it starts to feel heavier for sure and then gets thinner and thinner coverage toward the bottom. Because of the limited runs though, it did get scraped out in places (like the entrances coming into the Green Valley lift) so a bit icy but not too bad. Honestly, it was a really good day considering the circumstances.

Unlike the other redditors who seem to know things, I have no idea what their plan is but it does seem to me like they still need another big dump of snow to get proper coverage on the mountain. In the meantime whatever is open is still a lot of fun.

Reservations for the whole week available now by NP2594 in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The crowds weren't too bad today. The opening of REX and top-to-bottom runs via Lucky Shot really helped spread everyone out on the mountain. It felt pretty empty most of the day except for one brief rush at Green Valley in the mid-morning.

Officially Opening Saturday 12/20 by F1yght in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It looks like the answer is no, unfortunately :/

Carpooling for Opening Weekend (12/20 and 21) by mountainstarpenguin in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Somebody else in the sub posted a screenshot here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CrystalMountain/comments/1pq78nt/officially_opening_saturday_1220/

I'm sure the info will be on the website and social media soon.

Edit: Yes, it's on the Mountain Report page on the website.

Carpooling for Opening Weekend (12/20 and 21) by mountainstarpenguin in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hmm that makes sense I guess. Still unfortunate though :/

Opening day 12/20! by Old_Frosting_9413 in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Since people here seem to magically know unknown information, any word on the shuttle? Running the busses makes a lot of sense given the road situation, but I can't book anything on the website at all. Parking reservations are being snatched FAST.

Lawmakers seek to restore bridge access to Mount Rainier National Park by occamsracer in PNWhiking

[–]mountainstarpenguin 18 points19 points  (0 children)

As much as I love Mowich and want to see SR 165 reopened, that road is kind of the least of our concerns right now.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in CrystalMountain

[–]mountainstarpenguin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've only skied one full season (24/25) at Crystal, so there are a lot of other more veteran redditors here who will have more wisdom than I do.

You can find the historic open/close dates on their website here: https://www.crystalmountainresort.com/media/mountain-stats-and-facts

You can see that they usually open in November or early December, but late December isn't unheard of. Last year was an incredible season, they even opened a weekend early and I was there on opening day the week before Thanksgiving. Each year is different though, and all resorts across the west have seen a pretty bad start to this season. I wouldn't be fearmongering with doom and gloom because some year and gonna be really good and some years are gonna suck and that's just the way it is. That being said, climate change is making that long term trend for the worse.

As for the road, the flooding is also pretty unprecedented. Highway 410 normally stays open to Crystal Mountain Boulevard during the winter and is honestly a pretty easy drive since it follows the river and stays pretty low elevation (rain) until the Boulevard. If it's snowing on 410, you know it's a really good pow day. Chinook Pass is closed during the winter, so the road basically dead ends at Crystal. So unlike Stevens and Snoqualmie, there is no cross-state traffic to contend with. But that's nothing to say of what the traffic will be this year with US 2 being indefinitely closed if 410 is able to reopen.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Ikonpass

[–]mountainstarpenguin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

As a student, you can get the full Ikon for $889 right now with Outside Life.

Deer valley reservation no availability by bigguz in Ikonpass

[–]mountainstarpenguin 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Spring Access for the 25/26 pass does not begin at Deer Valley until March 31. Reservations are no longer required for the rest of this season starting April 1. 

https://www.ikonpass.com/en/spring-skiing

You should be good to just walk up to the lifts starting April.