[ThunderChunky]

So I'm new to the area and have only gotten the opportunity to ride Crystal. It was amazing. Huge mountain, really steep, great place to be if you're looking for pow. The problem is it sucks for riding groomers or park. I know it's unfair to judge it this late in the season, but they only groom one or two trails a night and their park hasn't been up at all since the end of March. And they don't really seem to have a lot of side hits (not really the resorts fault).

I've heard that Stevens has the best park in WA, plus they have more than one, and I was wondering how their groomers are? I know Crystal is the place to be for pow, but 1 out of 7 days are a pow day so that means park and groomers for the other 6 days.

Just trying to get a decent opinion on this before I buy a pass to either. Is Stevens Pass' groomers and park good enough to make up for the pow terrain Crystal has over it?

Cheers

 

[70'sskater]

I have a mid-week at Stevens mainly cause I live up north and it's so cheap. Was gonna hit Crystral a day or two this week since Stevens is closed til the weekend and I haven't gone to Crystal in a few years. If the driving distance was the same I would prob get a pass at Crystal. Stevens is packed on the weekends I don't even bother anymore. Will go next weekend though just cause its closing.

 

[ThunderChunky]

I have a mid-week at Stevens mainly cause I live up north and it's so cheap. Was gonna hit Crystral a day or two this week since Stevens is closed til the weekend and I haven't gone to Crystal in a few years. If the driving distance was the same I would prob get a pass at Crystal. Stevens is packed on the weekends I don't even bother anymore. Will go next weekend though just cause its closing.

Would you say the park at Crystal is even ok? I only saw where it is built, they had everything torn down. It looked very small as an area and a bad spot to push jumps.

This is kind of a big deal to me cause riding Crystal's terrain on non-pow days was so bad I actually just left. It wasn't groomed and had no opportunity for fun besides just bombing runs.

Edit: Unfortunately Crystal is about 1.5 hrs for me and Stevens is about 2.5 hrs.

 

[Fire Rose]

Maybe I'm just used to how small Snoqualmie is and what a terrible job they do grooming, but it seemed like there was plenty of groomers at Crystal every time I went this season.

I'm about the same driving distance between Stevens and Crystal as you and wouldn't even consider a pass at Stevens. The drive, traffic and parking problems just aren't worth it for me.
This year I got a pass for Snoqualmie with the Cascadia pass add on, which was cheaper than a pass to Crystal. The park is fine for me (but I don't ride park much), I like Hyak when it's open and being able to go nights after work. The Cascadia pass gave me the option to choose between Stevens or Crystal for powder days. Just something to consider.

 

[70'sskater]

Sorry cant comment on the parks. To be honest if I wanted to ride park I would go to a skate park. Dont understand the boxes and jibbing on a snowboard. It's weak. Similar to the stupid skooter things kids ride these days. If anyone showed up with one of these back in the day.... Yeah sorry.

I would go to Crystal if it were an hr closer. This isn't Salt Lake or Tahoe, not as many options. Cant handle the Seattle traffic much longer. Perhaps you are younger and have more patience. Check out both next year, its worth hitting them and Baker. It's all pretty good.
Sorry about the park rant, but the PNW isn't really the epicenter of rails and park. Apolpgies to Peter Line 1997.

 

[ThunderChunky]

Man sounds like Stevens is gonna piss me off! I already have trouble with Crystal and the traffic/drive/ parking there. This is coming from an east coast rider so I'm used to no lift lines, 30 min travel time and parking 10 feet from the main chair.

Sounds like Crystal is for me, but I guess my question now is: What's Crystal's park like? I know you've said it wasn't bad, but does it have a jump line? More than 10 jibs? And do they groom more in the middle of the season?

Lately I've gone and they literally only groomed one section of a trail the night before. every other trail got tracked out and literally unridable by 1030.

Sorry cant comment on the parks. To be honest if I wanted to ride park I would go to a skate park. Dont understand the boxes and jibbing on a snowboard. It's weak. Similar to the stupid skooter things kids ride these days. If anyone showed up with one of these back in the day.... Yeah sorry.

I would go to Crystal if it were an hr closer. This isn't Salt Lake or Tahoe, not as many options. Cant handle the Seattle traffic much longer. Perhaps you are younger and have more patience. Check out both next year, its worth hitting them and Baker. It's all pretty good.
Sorry about the park rant, but the PNW isn't really the epicenter of rails and park. Apolpgies to Peter Line 1997.

Believe it or not I feel ya on the park thing. It's mainly that I've been riding for 14 years, and at this point bombing groomers and side hits are fun and all but it's getting old. I wanna progress and park is it. I am getting into backcountry terrain, but if it isn't puking out then it's not really enjoyable. So I can only do that a few days a year. The other days it's park.

 

[jerry gnarcia]

Crystal easily has the best groomers in WA. I don’t know what you are talking about. For park, Stevens followed by Snoqualmie.

 

[drblast]

Stevens has the best parks of the resorts near Seattle, and it's not even close. Parking is a pain so you have to get there early. On peak days they run a dedicated chair that takes you from the bottom of the park run right to the top. On weekdays you ride up the Skyline chair but there's a kick-ass flat black run that if you point it and try to break speed records on you get to the top of the park no problem. Route 2 coming back from Stevens at rush hour is a disaster.

Crystal has a poor excuse for a park, usually there isn't even a jump line. If park is what you're into, Crystal isn't the place to go. Crystal has some of the best black/double black runs and powder conditions and I've had some of my best days ever there in the bowls up top. Gondola gets you up there quick. For powder days or bombing runs it's my favorite place to go after Blackcomb.

I've been a fan of Snoqualmie as it's easy to get there after work and they do about as good a job as possible with the weather they get, but this year they moved most of the terrain park to Summit East which is only open on weekends and really didn't keep up the jump line in the Central Park area that's open on weeknights. A shame for me since that park used to be a selling point because you had to take an online class and pay $5 to go in it, which meant that even on crowded days it was reasonable.

I've had a season pass to Snoqualmie for the last six years but next year I switched to Stevens. The conditions there and the park were what made me decide the extra 30-40 minutes in the car was worth it.

 

[ThunderChunky]

Stevens has the best parks of the resorts near Seattle, and it's not even close. Parking is a pain so you have to get there early. On peak days they run a dedicated chair that takes you from the bottom of the park run right to the top. On weekdays you ride up the Skyline chair but there's a kick-ass flat black run that if you point it and try to break speed records on you get to the top of the park no problem. Route 2 coming back from Stevens at rush hour is a disaster.

Crystal has a poor excuse for a park, usually there isn't even a jump line. If park is what you're into, Crystal isn't the place to go. Crystal has some of the best black/double black runs and powder conditions and I've had some of my best days ever there in the bowls up top. Gondola gets you up there quick. For powder days or bombing runs it's my favorite place to go after Blackcomb.

I've been a fan of Snoqualmie as it's easy to get there after work and they do about as good a job as possible with the weather they get, but this year they moved most of the terrain park to Summit East which is only open on weekends and really didn't keep up the jump line in the Central Park area that's open on weeknights. A shame for me since that park used to be a selling point because you had to take an online class and pay $5 to go in it, which meant that even on crowded days it was reasonable.

I've had a season pass to Snoqualmie for the last six years but next year I switched to Stevens. The conditions there and the park were what made me decide the extra 30-40 minutes in the car was worth it.

Damn. It really bothers me that Crystal neglects the bottom half of their resort. If they had a decent park it'd be a no brainer for me to go there. Most of what I'd be riding is Friday through Monday so I guess the whole park being closed during the week isn't a big deal. They still have on park open at all times right?

And is The Summit ok for pow days and for riding groomers? Sounds like their park is at least par. I could deal with Sub par pow terrain if the groomed and park was good.

 

[ThunderChunky]

Crystal easily has the best groomers in WA. I don’t know what you are talking about. For park, Stevens followed by Snoqualmie.

Like I said, I've only been a few times late season, but they didn't groom more than one trail the night before. And that trail was only a couple hundred yards long. It got tracked out by 1030 and I left shortly after because it was unrideable.

 

[Fire Rose]

Damn. It really bothers me that Crystal neglects the bottom half of their resort. If they had a decent park it'd be a no brainer for me to go there. Most of what I'd be riding is Friday through Monday so I guess the whole park being closed during the week isn't a big deal. They still have on park open at all times right?

And is The Summit ok for pow days and for riding groomers? Sounds like their park is at least par. I could deal with Sub par pow terrain if the groomed and park was good.

Snoqualmie does a terrible job grooming a lot of the time and it is smaller than the other mountains. Powder days are good but tracked out early and it is lower elevation. The Cascadia pass gave me the option to go to the other mountains for better powder days.

 

[poopresearch]

My experiences after 18 seasons in WA:

Crystal has awesome parking and lots of amazing groomers but it's really about the free riding. They have the lightest pow in the region, but get less snow than the other areas typically. Park is practically non-existent and they generally don't cater to snowboarders the same way the other areas in the region do. Skiers standing around at the off ramp for the lifts or on traverses are annoying and there are some hard traverses here. I think of it more as a skier mountain, but I have had some great days there.

Snoqualmie and Alpental are a really quick shot from Seattle which is awesome. The freeriding at Alpental and Alpental back country are some of the sickest and most technical you'll find anywhere if it's snowing instead of raining up there. Summit East has fun cruisers and side hits. It's a fun place, but some seasons the fog and rain are a killer. I found that the grooming quality isn't as good at the other resorts in the region. Snowboarders are very welcome.

Stevens has the best park by a mile (with Snoqualmie in second) and some pretty awesome groomers on the front and back. They get more snow in inches than Crystal but it tends to be heavier. They are higher than Snoqualmie/Alpental so they tend to get rained on less. I like the staff here as well. Really the only thing I dislike about Stevens is the crowds and the parking. Snowboarders are very welcome.

Baker is further out but best pow in the region. They just get dumped on and the crowds are comparatively small. Amazing terrain with some fun groomers, but it's really all about the pow, trees and freeriding here. Park is non-existent but snowboarders are very welcome.

 

[ThunderChunky]

My experiences after 18 seasons in WA:

Crystal has awesome parking and lots of amazing groomers but it's really about the free riding. They have the lightest pow in the region, but get less snow than the other areas typically. Park is practically non-existent and they generally don't cater to snowboarders the same way the other areas in the region do. Skiers standing around at the off ramp for the lifts or on traverses are annoying and there are some hard traverses here. I think of it more as a skier mountain, but I have had some great days there.

Snoqualmie and Alpental are a really quick shot from Seattle which is awesome. The freeriding at Alpental and Alpental back country are some of the sickest and most technical you'll find anywhere if it's snowing instead of raining up there. Summit East has fun cruisers and side hits. It's a fun place, but some seasons the fog and rain are a killer. I found that the grooming quality isn't as good at the other resorts in the region. Snowboarders are very welcome.

Stevens has the best park by a mile (with Snoqualmie in second) and some pretty awesome groomers on the front and back. They get more snow in inches than Crystal but it tends to be heavier. They are higher than Snoqualmie/Alpental so they tend to get rained on less. I like the staff here as well. Really the only thing I dislike about Stevens is the crowds and the parking. Snowboarders are very welcome.

Baker is further out but best pow in the region. They just get dumped on and the crowds are comparatively small. Amazing terrain with some fun groomers, but it's really all about the pow, trees and freeriding here. Park is non-existent but snowboarders are very welcome.

Hmmm. So if my objective is a park/ groomer resort with the occasional decent pow day. Sounds like Snoqaulmie is the place for me you'd say?
I already have a hard time dealing with parking in Seattle and just driving on I-5. I don't think I could do the 2.5 hours to Stevens.

Edit: Thanks for the reply. Probably the best info so far. Wish the Cascades had like a Max or Epic type pass instead of just the Cascadia pass.