Crystal Mountain

Scotty and I spend most of our weekends up at Crystal Mtn during the winter. We were super lucky to have a sunny and beautiful day for New Years Eve this year (I know, I'm a little behind on blogging)-sometimes it feels like you can reach out and touch Mt Rainier.

It's a New Years tradition to hike up to the top of the King for champagne. 

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Katie and I enjoying the lovely evening.

Crystal opened up a new gondola on January 1st. It's really cool-here we were on our first ride. 

Sick of pictures of Scotty and I? Good thing our friend Oliver came up to ski with us. He was excited about many things: 1st time on real skis, 1st time on the chairlift, sleeping in a bunk bed, and of course hot cocoa breaks! He's telling me all about Thomas the Train in this picture.

He did really well! Can't wait to get him back on the slopes.

 Crystal Mtn is one valley over from Mt Rainier as I mentioned above. You can actually ski off the backside of it into Mt Rainier national park. I've never done it before-it's a tad dangerous and since it's out of ski area boundaries if you get hurt or there's an avalanche you are responsible for paying for your own rescue. Ben and Allison Wright are/were ski patrol at Crystal and talked Scotty and I into doing it with them last week. We skied in untracked snow for what seemed like miles. Then we hiked thru the forest in our ski boots for miles. Then we skied along a closed road for miles. And finally, we hitched back up to the ski area for margaritas! The whole adventure took almost three hours.

 Allison and Ben taught us how to use avalanche transceivers. I learn something new every day!

 Our guides Ben and Allison-they were super patient with me. I'm not sure if I'd do it again soon (I fell asleep at 8:30 that night, I was tuckered out) but it was a super fun adventure!