Day Trip to Crystal Mountain

Courtesy of our parent company in the US, the four of us from Singapore were assigned a vehicle for our exclusive usage. With the exception of Y who didn’t drive, S, D and I took turns driving to and from the office daily. I didn’t want to, and they didn’t dare to ask initially since they thought I couldn’t handle a large car (Toyota Sienna). That was till they found out I drive a CRV back home. Boo… I really hated driving as it got progressively colder in Everett; the steering wheel got so cold in the mornings I drove with my gloves.

But they were nice enough not to ask me to drive during our long trips out of Everett come weekend. We were all rather easygoing about where to go, so P was usually the one planning the activities. We just gamely went along with whatever he had in mind.

So, P planned for us to visit Crystal Mountain one Saturday morning since it wasn’t located too far away from Everett. The thing about Washington State is, it is full of mountain ranges all over the state. They have no lack of ski resorts receiving lots of snow each winter due to their geographical location so we were really spoilt for choices.

Alas, I was not packed for skiing on this work trip. And ski resorts in the States (I’m not sure about the other countries) don’t really rent out ski suits or equipment; you are supposed to get that all sorted out before driving up to the resorts. P must have researched all that and wanted to check out one of the closest ski resorts. I wasn’t complaining; the drive was scenic and I had the prime spot of sitting beside the driver. Heh.

We checked the temperature and weather conditions up on the resort before leaving and were all excited to learn that it was snowing! It was a long drive and P volunteered to be at the wheels the whole time. He seemed to enjoy driving.. I forgot how long the ride took, but it was long enough for us to make a few picture stops along the way in order to stretch ourselves.

The drive got progressively more interesting as we drove up to the resort. Somewhere along the way we also had to stop to put the snow chains on the tyres. I’d seen snow but to see the alpine trees get covered in more and more snow as the altitude increased was such a novel experience. At some point, I even wound down the window to feel snow drifting onto my face, much to the chagrin of my companions (they didn’t appreciate the cold).

It was still early November but oh my, the snow was falling fast and furious. P and Y were the ones who wanted to recce a ski resort so they went ahead while D and I lingered everywhere to take pictures. D accidentally stepped on a spot full of fresh snow and we were quite surprised to see that it went so deep.

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This picture I captured of my three colleagues + a stranger was quite hilarious. You see, Y was wearing very insensible leather shoes to the ski resort and he was slipping and falling ever so oft. I really pitied him but I simply couldn’t comprehend what he was thinking when he wore those shoes. So, as we walked towards the resort, I was lagging behind and saw that it was a good spot for a shot. Asked D & P to stand and pose… and while I was fiddling with my camera, a stranger in full ski garb decided to join them for the photograph. That was so spotting of him. Without waiting for poor Y to join us (that’s the poor guy on the left struggling to walk in the snow), I took the shot. Makes for a very interesting picture, doesn’t it?

We walked into the resort and took in every sight and sound. None of us decided to ski since 1] none of us was really dressed for the sport (they don’t do attire rental here, unlike in Korea) and 2] the lift ticket is really expensive! The guys starting discussing about skiing and snowboarding at Steven’s Pass next weekend but I’m two-minded about joining them.

I was without a beanie…

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And then I was wearing a beanie.

I’d brought along very limited winter wear to the States, and was most certainly not expecting ski resort visits. After nursing a headache from the cold, I finally succumbed and decided to get a beanie on the spot. Instantly felt much better after wearing it.

The snowfall was getting a little too heavy for comfort and we were all quite prepared to leave soon after our pizza lunch. By this time, we had started getting worried about our drive down the mountains. We decided to head to the information counter in hope of retrieving some useful information for the drive down. They had limited information but advised us not to step on the accelerator nor the brake and drive really slowly, ignoring any honking from cars behind us.

At around the same time, the ski resort made an announcement stating that all access up and down the mountain would be closed in about an hour’s time, when the snow was predicted to get extremely heavy. We didn’t count on getting trapped up in the ski resort hence decided to head down immediately.

I would have loved to walk down the same direct route we walked up, but that wasn’t quite possible with Y’s leather footwear so we had to make a detour round the main road (more photo-taking opportunities yay!). I found the carpark with so many cars covered in snow a really pretty sight and was so preoccupied with taking pictures I slipped and fell. Got my jeans all wet as a result. Fortunately it was already nearing the end of the trip.

I wondered how our car would look like by now (with the heavy snowfall). Boy was it a long and cold walk before my question was answered.

The car didn’t look too bad at all. After snapping some shots, I quickly  darted into the car while the guys attempted to clear some of the snow on the windscreen to try increase visibility for the driver.

On our slow drive down the ski resort later on, we came by a vehicle that got into quite a bit of trouble and couldn’t get out of the snow heap. Being foreigners new to snowy conditions, we were in no position to help. Hopefully they managed to get the vehicle moving again, or they run the real risk of getting snowed in.

Thankfully, we got off the mountain before they closed all road access.