Crystal Mtn area snowshoe

 We drove up to Crystal Mtn Ski Resort hoping to take the gondola up to the ridge with fantastic views and do a little snowshoeing. Unfortunately, the gondola was closed because of the wind.
We ended up going up the otherwise of the valley, wandering around, enjoying the beautiful day. We snowshoed about 3.5 miles with 1,000 ft of overall gain.
From the resort, we headed up hill to the north.

 We could see some of the peaks behind us.
















Followed closed forest service roads for a bit.

 Snowshoed above the left area.













Snowshoed up a steep hill until we felt it was better to retrace our steps for awhile

Found some tracks in the forest, and decided to follow them.

Decided not to continue up this chute, as it seemed it was mainly a place where back country skiers came down.

 Continued up through the forest on a narrow track

 Kept going until we decided it was time to return.

















Stopped for a lunch break where we had a nice view overlooking the ski basin

Continued back down to the resort, enjoying our day in the snow!