Ski season gets off to an early start

Six inches of fluffy new snow glowed under sunny skies Wednesday as the Crystal Mountain Resort enjoyed one of its earliest opening days in two decades.

Operators of ski areas pray every year for enough snow to open by Thanksgiving, and Crystal’s wishes came true 15 days ahead of that target. The long Thanksgiving weekend is one of the biggest for ski areas – if they are open.

Crystal didn’t open until Dec. 13 last year, and the lift wheels didn’t start turning until Dec. 1 in 2007.

“Usually, we’re doing back flips if we open a day or two before Thanksgiving,” Crystal Mountain spokeswoman Tiana Enger said Wednesday. “Today, we’re doing double back flips.”

This is supposed to be an El Niño winter, which can starve ski areas of snow, but things were looking great for snowboarders and skiers on Crystal Mountain.

“We’ve got a good, solid base of snow started, and some light stuff right on top of it,” Enger said. “This is our fifth-earliest opening day in two decades.”

With a school holiday, Wednesday’s opening was good timing for Andrew Grimes, 16, and his friends from Gig Harbor who rousted themselves out of bed and left for the slopes at 6:30 a.m.

“We had Veterans Day off of school,” Grimes said. “And the snow is pretty good.”

Some runs had the odd rock or bare patch showing through the snow, but that’s expected early in the season, Grimes said.

Crystal reported 2 feet of snow at the base area and 30 inches on the summit Wednesday morning – with more snow to come.

The Discovery, Chinook Express, Quicksilver and Forest Queen chair lifts were operating Wednesday morning.

Crystal will add the Rainier Express and Green Valley chair lifts this morning, Enger said.

“It’s pretty sweet to be skiing and snowboarding so early in the season,” said Jeff Newton, 16, who was part of Grimes’ Gig Harbor crew.

More snow is on its way, at least for the next week, Enger said.

And, as the afternoon slid by and Crystal’s parking lots filled up, clouds pushed against the steep slopes and snow showers drifted onto happy skiers and boarders.

Mike Shelton of Maple Valley sat outside and soaked in the early start to ski season.

“I already had the day off, and I got the e-mail from Crystal saying that they were opening – and I knew this is what I was going to do,” Shelton said. “I got a season pass this year and, hopefully, I’ll be up here at least twice a week. I have a lot of vacation time saved up.”