CRAIG HILL
Craig Hill is The News Tribune’s injury-prone Adventure writer. After eight years covering college football and basketball, he started writing about adventure sports in 2004. He writes about everything from mountaineering and cycling to skiing and camping. You can reach him at craig.hill@thenewstribune.com
JEFFREY P. MAYOR
Jeffrey P. Mayor has been The News Tribune’s Adventure editor since 2003, and oversees our weekly Adventure section. His coverage focuses on fishing, hunting, Mount Rainier and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. You can reach him at jeff.mayor@thenewstribune.com
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TOMORROW'S STORY TODAY:
By Craig Hill
Craig.hill@thenewstribune.com
Scott Sevenbergen and Trevor Heady only had two hours to snowboard Saturday, opening day at Crystal Mountain, so they wanted to be at the front of the lift line.“We’ve been itching for a month,” Heady said.
So Sevenbergen of Tacoma and Heady of Federal Way hopped in their car at 6 a.m., braved the snow and ice covering Highway 410 and stepped in line at 8 a.m., an hour before the Chinook Express lift opened.
Still, they were only early enough to get the second chair of the season.
You have to get up pretty early to beat D.J. Blaylock of McCleary to the coveted first chair. Blaylock arrived at Crystal at 5:30 a.m. as he has every opening day since 1969.
“This is the 40th year for me,” Blaylock said. “It’s been a tradition for me and my brother (David) but he had to work today. He’ll be here Monday.”
Regardless of their place in the long line, everybody seemed to be thrilled Saturday. With 14 inches of new snow in the 24 hours before opening, Crystal spokeswoman Tiana Enger said conditions were even better than expected.
“This much snow for a kickoff is fantastic,” Enger said.
Because steeper runs need more snow to be skiable only the three lifts servicing beginner and intermediate runs were open Saturday. As a result, lift tickets were discounted from $60 to $25.Crystal will open two more lifts and more advanced terrain today and ticket prices will increase to $40.
I just got back from Crystal Mountain. The ski area opened this morning.
The upper mountain was closed because the ski area had just 25 inches of snow Friday but resort spokeswoman Tiana Enger says they might be able to open Green Valley and Rainier Express on Sunday.
I found Highway 410 to be a little sketchy, but no too bad. Although I talked to one boarder who described it as scary.
Here are a few pics from the slopes.
Skiers and boarders line up waiting for the Chinook Express to open signaling the start of the ski season.
Some skiers and a snowboarders take their first run of the season.
A snowboarder on Queens Run already at mid-season form.
