Crystal Mountain, WA – Crystal Mountain will open for skiing and riding on Tuesday…for one day.
Crystal sold 75 lift tickets online on Monday to a lucky few who will pay $15 each for bragging rights. If you don’t already have a ticket, it’s already too late. Crystal president John Kircher announced that the Washington State resort’s 2013 ski and snowboard season starts and ends tomorrow.
“It’s about giving the people what they want,” said Kircher. “There’s up to 22 inches of snow in places and we can’t let a good thing go to waste. We will sell 51 tickets online at 4 p.m. today – valid for gondola access from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. tomorrow only.”
Fifty-one tickets was the resort’s original plan, the number of tickets sold reflecting Crystal’s 51st ski season, but after skier interest crashed the resort’s e-commerce website they upped the number to 75 with winners selected via a Facebook comment system.
It will be akin to lift-assisted backcountry skiing with very early season conditions. After making early turns in Green Valley or elsewhere, ticket holders will have to either hike or skin back to the top in order to download or hike to the bottom, as no other lifts will be running.