I took the girls skiing again today, while H stayed home with S.  As usual, it was equal parts wonderful and incredible hassle.  It was beautiful, but a beautiful day on a January weekend means crowds, and wow were there a lot of people.  The interesting thing is that with one or two brief exceptions, the slopes didn’t feel at all crowded.  The following photo wasn’t staged or delayed – I just took it randomly, and you can see there are few people on the mountain.

However, there were lines on the road to park, lines for the shuttle, lines at the bathroom, lines in the cafeteria, and lines at the lifts.  (I ended up eating with strangers because there was no free table.)  The lift lines actually weren’t too bad but Crystal rarely has any kind of meaningful lines.  Or maybe I just usually go in bad weather.  The cafeteria was a nightmare, though.  In the morning until midday, temps were in the mid teens at the bottom and 5 degrees at the summit.  This is very cold for WA, so everyone wanted to get indoors.  I’m guessing people who ski regularly in Maine or Vermont have gear for those kind of temperatures, but Washingtonians do not.  The kids and I had a hodge-podge of extra layers to stay warm, and for me, it didn’t really do the job.  My biggest problem was my toes.  They were frozen, especially my big toe.  The rest of me was OK.  I have hand warmers (which I didn’t need) but I learned you can buy foot warmers as well.  The kids loved the hand warmers, though.

Obligatory lift video below.  Yes, it truly was beautiful.

I took a long lunch, and I think it warmed up a bit, because I had a great afternoon.  On my last trip I skied with the girls, so we stayed on greens.  On the previous trip, I had two bad falls on my last two blue runs, so I was feeling a little gun-shy.  Between that, the cold, and lift lines on the top of the mountain, I skied greens on the bottom of the mountain in the morning.  Skiing easy greens makes me feel like Mikaela Shif.frin, just because I feel so in control and coordinated on a wide, flat slope.  Anyway, in the afternoon, I decided it was time to face the hill that felled me before, and I went down Downhill three times.  Overall it went well.  I did take one minor fall but otherwise skied pretty well.  I feel like I’m not really making any progress, but I do enjoy skiing the greens and blues I’m skilled enough to handle.  It just frustrates me that most of the mountain is off-limits due to my skill level.