Pro Guiding Service - Crystal Mountain: a European's Nightmare

The six inches of new snow under the lift at Crystal Mountain is a problem for Rinaldo Borra, a Swiss ski instructor. "In Switzerland everyone would complain about the grooming," he says on the ride up.

A skier slides right under the lift tilling a winding furrow in the white Cascadian loam and letting out a yell that rubs the collective noses of those of us on the chair into our collective envy. "He's not complaining," I tell Rinaldo, "Why would anyone complain about a little powder?"

"Because bad skiers who wear Bogner suits can't ski it."

"And if someone wearing a Bogner suit doesn't look good, then he isn't having fun?" I ask.

"Exactly. Back home the slopes have to be perfectly groomed. Half an inch of new snow will have the tourists from Denmark complaining. One inch of fresh snow and maybe those tourists will go to Austria next year."

Fortunately, as a ski instructor--one who guides heli-skiers in Canada each winter--Rinaldo is no ordinary Euro skier. When I ask him whether we should search for snow that's several feet deep rather than plunder the six-inches of new snow that's freshened up the on-piste runs, there's no hesitation.

"Of course."

We head to the glades of Snorting Elk, but yesterday's crowd trashed my stashes. We ski a short bowl that leads into glades. The snow is far from virgin, but it cleaves cleanly as we snake through it. After 50 turns, we stop to look back up the hill. "In Switzerland, with such grooming today," Rinaldo says appreciatively, "There would be no business here tomorrow."

Sparing my guest a Swiss experience, I take him to the resort's high point atop Silver Queen Mountain. We traverse to the gate that allows entry into the South Backcountry, an off-piste domain with 550 acres of terrain. The Ski Patrol is still bombing the slopes below the long ridge that is used to access that acreage. A meter of fresh snow has fallen over the past 2_ days and the safety boys are afraid the yahoos who say they are dying to ski powder may do just that.

Word has it the gate will open any minute and over a hundred skiers are jockeying for position at the starting line. "They all want to ski off-piste?" Rinaldo asks incredulously.

"That's the name of the game at this mountain."

The gate opens and the brawl is on. It's been a frustrating, no-snow year for Washington's resort skiers and the crowd has a month of pent-up powder deprivation to blow off. Late-comers to the line take every opportunity to cut in front of anyone who can't sustain a four-minute-per-mile pace out to the powder fields. White collar workers who are in no shape to jog, get their heels stepped on. Those who falter and fall get trampled.

It perplexes Rinaldo. "You ski beyond the boundaries in Switzerland and you get arrested. Here you get trampled."

"Powder skiing is a full-contact sport," I tell him, "Kind of like shopping in Germany."

We survive the pace line and end up on top of a huge bowl dropping into Silver Basin. We find the absolute nightmare of the Euro skier, the Seventh Level of a Dane's Hell--thigh-deep, ungroomed snow. We drop in and it skis like air...the world becomes weightless and, on wings designed by Dynastar, we fly.

Several minutes later as we pole across Hen Skin Lake and schlepp our bodies back inbounds, Rinaldo comments that this run was as good as heli-skiing in the Selkirks where he guides.

Does that mean we should take another lap?

"Of course."

By day's end we are worn out from the walking, poling, skating, and sidestepping leading to and from the South Backcountry. We stop in at Crystal Mountain's administrative offices where I introduce Rinaldo to the resort's marketing manager. "I suppose this is small potatoes next to skiing in Switzerland," Kelly comments.

Rinaldo sets her straight, telling her how few Swiss resorts match the steep skiing or gladed terrain he's seen at Crystal. He gives me a look and decides to make me squirm, "Unfortunately you'll never get Europeans to ski here--you know nothing about grooming."

For information about Crystal Mountain, call 360-663-2265. For the 1998/99 season, adult lift rates are $35.