The west faces slopes of East Peak are some of the best easy access touring options around Crystal Mountain. Being directly South of the ski resort they ride over 2,500 feet from the base parking lot. Within a few hours and a few well laid switchbacks you can be riding through wide open trees and numerous different aspects. Being that I had a short afternoon to go riding I made my way up for an East Peak Multilap.
As of recently I have been working quite a bit at the Crystal Mountain ski school trying to save money for the spring touring season. Wanting to get in shape I have also been doing longer tours on my days off. It was a late start and with a few options on hand I let the weather dictate where I would go. The one area that stood out was East Peak with good visibility and hopefully quite a bit of traffic as I was going solo.
First Lap on East Peak
After a quick sign out with Ski Patrol I was on my way up the Gold Hills trail around 12:00. The trail up to Bullions basin was packed solid as I climbed noticing everything from snowshoe to bootpack tracks. I turned off the main trail and made a steep skin track straight up to the summit of East Peak. Once there I rode the SW face which provided great turns all the way down to the convex roller. Once in the lower slopes I carefully navigated through the shallow snow pack dodging rocks, brush and chicken heads from old avalanche debris until arriving once again on the trail.
Lap 2 on East Peak Soutwest Slopes
I expected to find that someone had taken advantage of my skin track but no one was to be found. This time I was able to climb much faster and take the same line down once again. Taking advantage of minimal traversing it was great fall line skiing. By this time the snow seemed heavier due to either solar radiation or raising snow levels but still it was untracked and smooth which was good enough for me.
Last Run on the West Ridge
For the final run I followed the west facing nose. Riding down the long ridge I was able to find an open chute I have drooled at all season. While riding down I made sure to take notice of any sluff or slab cracks on the NW slope but nothing happened. While I would have loved to ride the NW face I decided against taking any chances.
After 3 laps the day was getting late so I rode back down to the resort just before 4 p.m. It was a great day for a East Peak multilap at Crystal Mountain.
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