Crystal Amphitheater (Lolo Pass Area)- February 8, 2025

BCPS Outing

Leader: Francis Horton Participants: Sam Watson, Miguel Gonzalez, Mark Albrecht, Frank Dean

Crystal Amphitheater is easily one of the crown jewels of the Lolo Pass backcountry. The zone features a spacious, lightly treed east-facing bowl with consistent fall line skiing and a playful pillow zone just to the south for those looking to spice things up. While much of the terrain is avalanche-prone, it has a reputation for holding stable snow—though as always, conditions should be carefully assessed before dropping in. The occasional snowmobile traffic is present but minimal, and well worth the trade for access to this kind of terrain.

Originally, our plan was to ski Gash Point, but fresh snowfall and road conditions had other ideas. On our way up, we came across Frank, who had slid off the soft shoulder and into a ditch—apparently with the same plan in mind. After making sure he was okay, we continued on, only to find the road unplowed and impassable. Gash was out, so we folded Frank into the group and pivoted to Crystal Amphitheater for a solid Plan B.

At Crystal, we followed the main skin track up to the high road, then made our way into the bowl. A pit check at the usual drop-in showed instability, so we decided to play it safe and headed north to a protected northwest-facing pocket near some rocky pinnacles. There, we lapped deep, soft turns all day. Despite feeling some collapses in the snowpack, we stayed alert and out of avalanche terrain.

Back at the trailhead, we were buzzing—everyone agreed it was some of the best snow we’d skied in years. Not the day we planned, but definitely one to remember.

GPX provided is from another tour, the one for this particular tour got lost somewhere