Crystal Amphitheatre- January 24, 2026

Crystal Amphitheater Ski Tour (Winterfest)

Date: January 24, 2026

Leader: Forest Dean and Mark Albrecht

Participants: Ben Bagniewski, Rafael Hagen, Tony Lebaron, Kyle O’Connor, Jeff Nogaj

 With no new snow during the last two and a half weeks along with way above average temps and reports of terrible conditions, we went into this ski tour with about the lowest expectations possible. Our thought was we would go poke around for a couple hours, then head back to parking lot, have a beer, and discuss the awful skiing.  But…this is why sometimes you just need to shrug it off and get out there! For some reason, not only did it snow all day (none predicted) but it apparently had all the previous night as well. Even had we had moderate expectations, they still would have been exceeded! Granted, we didn’t ski all aspects of the Amp, and the exit from road back down the vehicle kind of sucked (icy), but what we did ski was absolutely fabulous!  So much so that we ended up doing 5 laps.  Only one other 2 person group was up in the Amp as well, so basically had the place to ourselves. A really fun day with a great crew. Thanks to all of you who made it so!  Afterwards, we headed to Lolo and to President Mark’s house for our Winterfest After-Party (the group that skied up at the Pass joined us).  Stats:  6.7 miles, 3800’, 5 ½ hours.  Forest Dean