Four of us (me, my wife, my friend Brad and his girlfriend Andrea) went up to Crystal Mountain for the weekend. We stayed in a 2BR Wintergreen Condominium, which had a full kitchen, wood-burning fireplace, in-room jacuzzi tub and flatscreen television; walking distance to the lifts and on-site dining & bars.
They’d been hammered with a few feet of freshiez over the preceeding fortnight and also they were running a deal on Friday where you could get 5 lift tickets for $50. We couldn’t have asked for a better day in northern Michigan: no wind, partly sunny, and temps about 30 degrees. No powder in sight, but the blend of last week’s fresh and man-made snow was extremely tolerable for early-season riding and I got to break in my new ThirtyTwo snowboard boots.
I expected that bargain to bring all sorts of people out to the slopes to kick off the season, but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would be, probably because it was still a weekday, and most schools were still in session and parents still working before the Christmas holiday.
Aside from a few years in college when I didn’t do any shredding at all (which in hindsight, I greatly regret!) I have been riding and skiing at Crystal Mountain for about 15 years. After my grandma bought me skiing lessons for Christmas one year when I was 10 or 11, my parents began taking my brother and I, and our friends, up to Crystal Mountain for our midwinter vacation. I’ve been hooked on Crystal ever since, even holding a season pass a few years ago, despite the fact that it’s a 3.5 hour drive from where I live.
Perenially ranked #1 in the Midwest by Ski Magazine (a title they may no longer hold?), family-friendly Crystal Mountain has been continually expanding their terrain over the past decade, adding The Ridge and The North Face to the back sides of the mountain a few years ago, and building new hotel, condo, and cottage lodging options at the base of the resort. They boast over 40 trails, a few terrain parks, a halfpipe, excellent glade runs, and two small “bowls” serviced by seven chairlifts.
