Crystal Mountain Resort

Small mountain with relatively manageable crowds. Nice wide green and blue runs. Lots of double blacks and blacks at the top. Decent destination for a day trip. You can easily ride every run in a day.
I don’t advise on staying overnight (horrible accommodations in the Crystal hotel options).

Love this place. It is only about an hour and half away from Seattle and it is definitely worth the drive. We went to go watch the Seahawks game and snowboard and the employees at the bar at the base of the mountain were extremely nice. The snow and the runs are also great. We took the gondola up and it was nice and roomy. You can fit 8 people in there. I would love to come back

I prefer Crystal to Stevens and Snoqualmie. However, I still don’t like how institution-​y it feels.
Bad food, bad service, long lines, cramped spaces, crowds, grumpy people, screaming kids… it’s like my nightmare.
When the lifts were closed for wind this AM and everyone was inside watching the football game, somehow the coffee shop in the lodge was closed.
The cafeteria-​style seating situation in the lodge was a pain-​in-​the-​a**, I watched people literally get mad when someone had to squeeze by them to get in or out because they had to adjust… I’m a size 2 and people had to move so I could get by… We are humans, not sardines!!!
«The Grill» is like an overpriced school cafeteria.
The bathrooms aren’t well maintained — the floor is always wet.
There’s lots of room for improvement.

Without a doubt, Crystal is the nicest resort I’ve ever been to. I’ve loved this place for almost 15 years now!
The mountain itself is huge and the lifts are well maintained, so wait time is minimal.
The lower level lodge can get crowded, so head to the cambell basin lodge at the top of forest queen. Way cleaner/​nicer/​roomier and great food selection!

Both my boyfriend and I don’t know shit about snowshoeing, which is why we decided to reduce the risk of us dying under a huge ass pile of snow and do Crystal’s 2-​hour guided tour.
The good: beautiful views. They take you out into the back country after the mountain closes to skiers, so you get the whole place to yourself. The guides are friendly, knowledgable and don’t mind helping you tighten the straps on your snowshoes after they fall off. Which happened to me… twice.
The bad: if your night vision sucks, remember to bring a headlamp. We didn’t realize that they were strongly encouraged and the second hour of the tour is pretty much in the dark. The group was HUGE (20+ people) and the experience would’ve been vastly improved if we split up into three groups each with a separate guide. Everyone had a different pace so we often found ourselves waiting for folks to catch up.
The food (pasta, breadsticks, broccoli with cheese) at the free dinner (Bullwheel lounge, I think) is terrible. If the food was a little better, it would’ve justified the price (~$ 60), but it was basically summer camp fare. My boyfriend didn’t give a shit about the food and gleefully piled his plate high, so, your mileage may vary.
Facilities (bathrooms especially) were old and not clean. The lodge was swarming with kids when we arrived, I’m pretty sure I tripped over one or two. If you don’t like entitled Mommy Zombies blocking an entire aisle with a stroller and then blankly staring at you when you kindly ask them to move, just skip the lodge entirely and wait in the car before the tour starts.
I would recommend doing it if only for the knowledge you can get from the guides. We talked to one of our guides (young guy, super nice) for a while and he gave us all sorts of tips for how to go out snowshoeing on our own. You know, the kind of knowledge you can’t just find on google. Oh, and the beautiful sunset views: the mountains are actually glowing. But I wouldn’t recommend it for photographers unless you like to lose the tips of your fingers. It was freaking cold without gloves.

We had an awesome family day on the mountain. It was a crystal clear day with sunshine and mounds of fresh powdery snow everywhere. The gondola ride to the summit restaurant was purely majestic, and the restaurant was superb. Our family had the Mountain Burger, Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Halibut Fish & Chips and Chicken Wraps. The Garlic-​Truffle Fries were quite tasty and not too overly pungent with garlic and the entrée portions were quite large as well. Everything looked and tasted g-​r-​e-​a-​t! We ate, took pictures then headed down the mountain. Our grandboys wanted to sled, but it wasn’t allowed on the slopes, so down the road a bit there was an area that everyone was sledding and they got their fill of snow sledding. It was a wonderful and memorable day with our grandkids — just seeing them smile and hearing them laugh made this visit truly priceless.

Normally I would give a better review… This year was different. Every year we come to Crystal on Christmas an until now it has been a good experience. It seems as if this year they let things go and/​or cut corners. As usual we get our lift tickets, that went good, very expensive but good. Then we go stand in the rental line, fill out the paperwork and pay for our rental gear. We are then instructed to stand in another line to get the gear. After being in line for 1.5 hrs we are told they don’t have enough gear to accommodate our families visit today. I also learn at this point I would need to stand in another line to get credit back… things went downhill from here. I found out they also quit selling snowboarding gear this year as well nore do they have any older gear for sale. The guy that reimbursed our family said they changed all that this year and he was very sorry. 3 hour drive to have a snow ball fight. 2 stars for that.

Great snow this season! The last few years have been sad but we’ve had so much snow! A short drive and lots of fun! Pray to the snow gods!

This place is mismanaged. No toilet seat covers in the base bathrooms. Dirty bathrooms. They don’t do RFID cards anymore so you have to wait in line for ski tickets and can’t pay ahead on the website. You’ll get all kinds of excuses why these deficiencies exist, but none are valid. E.g. All other resorts across America have seat covers and RFID tickets.
Lift line ropes come un done all the time, lines unruly. Rude people at the pro shop cashier. Food is mediocre at best in all locations, esp. the summit house where soup is routinely cold. The summit house atmosphere in general is cold.
Bad signage at top of gondola/​rainier chair. Not easy to know how to take the back trail which is the green way down.
Yes it’s the best ski destination in Seattle, but they know it and charge high because they’re the best game in town.
Pros: expansive ski area (why you’re here), fast lifts, and the summit house does take reservations if you call ahead. Nice place for families.

There’s really not too many options for lodging so we chose crystal mountain resort. It’s definitely out dated and very remote. I can handle no internet and no phone but the price for what we got was pretty steep. No tv in the rooms… you can pay $ 50 (I think) for a room with a tv but not sure if there’s cable. So the only entertainment at night is the bar/​deli. Now one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever ate was at this deli. It’s expensive, no doubt, but the food was pretty darn good. The breakfast buffet and the food in the ski lodge was another issue. Very expensive for quick serve and not good. All in all I would go back but I would never stay. And I would pack a lunch. Very expensive place to stay. Very nice and helpful people though.

I love Crystal Mtn BUT not happy with the high priced super cheap food in the Bullwheel lounge. They invested millions in the exterior but forgot to buy quality food items. Definitely grab one if the awesome beers on tap. Stay away from the cold velveta spinach dip.
Oh, & dbl check your room before you check in. I came expecting a queen size bed & got 4 bunk beds. Thankfully, they had another room but the queen size bed is super small in there too. The rooms are very nice & come with nice amenities & the staff is very nice.

I’ve been here both in the winter and the summer quite a few times. Beautiful all year round. The winter is great for snow sports. Just don’t break any bones as I feel their facilities and staff are ill-​equipped to handle the given situation. I can literally vouch for that! The spring and summers are beautiful! It’s a great place to go for a hike. There are numerous hiking paths. You can take the gondola up and go for a hike in their many trails starting from the top. Or you can choose to just hike all the way to the top of you have the time. The price of the gondola is $ 24 per person round trip. A tad bit expensive but worth it just for the experience. I advise taking some fresh peanuts in a shell. The chipmunks at the top are friendly and love them. Plus they’re so cute! I never ate at any of the restaurants as I usually bring my own food/​snacks whenever I visit. On a clear day, you have an amazing view of Mt. Rainier from the top. I highly recommend visiting!

The Summit Restaurant has a crazy view and the Gondola was really relaxing and fun. Restaurant staff lectured me when a Chipmunk climbed up my leg and onto the table to steal a French frie that had fallen off my plate on how I shouldn’t be feeding them. Which somehow was my fault? Anyway, minimal price is $ 13, unless you get just a salad. I will say the view is a definite win.

Restaurant at the top of gondola served our food cold. They did give us a discount because of this. I can’t say that their ingredients are really fresh or that they have a good cook or manager. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by Chef Ramsey. Service staff was top notch though.

This is for the restaurant at the top The Summit restaurant. I couldn’t find them on Unilocal so I’m gonna hit Crystal Mountain Ski Resort. This is a bad customer service review so as soon as they correct the problem I would give them 4 stars! The view gets 3 though and half to chipmunks that we got to feed. When my parents and aunt & uncle were getting hot they went for a table behind us the manager came and told us that we could not change seats once we had ordered. They were inept to adapt and unwilling to accommodate. For this I wouldn’t leave a top but drop this gripe!

I always come back to this ski/​board locale because of the view. It can’t be beat. Well, except for the views of Lake Tahoe from the slopes… For Washington this place takes the cake. But that’s really where the goodness ends. I can honestly say I’m a fan of maybe two runs here total. Our mild winter here has absolutely ruined our ski conditions this season so far. I’ve been here a few times before where the conditions were almost as bad in previous years. I don’t know why they don’t invest in some snow making machinery. Stevens makes snow to compensate for bad snow years and hasn’t in all the times I’ve visited ever had tons of exposed rock/​dead grass/​vast ice fields in place of runs like Crystal does. They really should offer people half their money back if after they ski a few runs they realize the conditions are unacceptable. C’mon $ 76 is pretty steep for terrible conditions and not even trying to do anything about it. This should be an embarrassment to the establishment. On top of that, the food offerings in the main lodge were awful for a weekend — one section was even closed, really limiting lunch options.
Oh, and ski patrol was not at all patient when at the end of the day my friends were slowly making it down the green run that resembles a vertical ice skating rink off of the Forest Queen chairlift. One of the older guys actually said «you guys need to get to the bottom.» My response was «yeah, I’ve been helping all three of them down this run for a while now. They are doing the best they can.» I couldn’t believe how callous he was. And they really should get around to changing the signs on that run to reflect the actual difficulty for people trying it and thinking it is «easy». It is completely misleading and dangerous. There were all of two friendly ski patrol people that I encountered, so I’m glad there are actually positive team members there. Also Darwin, the search and rescue dog is pretty cool.

I had an absolute great time here few weeks ago. I always underestimated Crystal in my mind. Never realized how big this mountain is and how many various lifts are actually available.
You want to pay those $ 8 for gondola. If not for 1 direct ride (instead of 2 – 3) to the top — do it to relax, take off your gloves/​googles and enjoy the view.
Food is crazy expensive (typical resort) and not anything special at all (dollar menus at well-​known fast food places might be better). I’d bring a few sandwiches or meal with me next time.
It was a great day overall. I’ll certainly be back!

Pretty solid option with legit bowls. Unfortunately the snow situation wasn’t great when I visited recently. Lots of grassy patches.
The morning of new year’s day wasn’t too crowded and didn’t have to wait in lines much. The afternoon got pretty nuts though. The six-​lift by the base was a hot mess of people crowding towards the RFID gates.
Could def see this being a pretty decent mountain with some fresh pow on an uncrowded weekday.
Also, I came here after a visit to the mountains in CO and appreciated the reverse sticker shock.

I love crystal mountain.
It’s a bit of a drive from the city, however, well worth it especially when it’s a good powder day or even a gorgeous blue bird day. I like to bring hot soup in a thermos and take some snacks in my backpack.
They have a lot of food options incase you get hungry or forget to bring a packed lunch.
Crystal has a lot of chairs to choose from for beginners and for experienced riders. Also had a gondola which is one of the only mountains that had one in Washington state. (Or the only mountain in the state, I’m not positive)
They have a restaurant at the top of the mountain when you ride the gondola up. I love it. It’s beautiful up there when you can see clear.
I went up to crystal on the opening day and had a great day. The snow was better than I’d expected, we got about 5 – 6 runs in. It was a lot of fun.
If you have yet to go to crystal, you should definitely check it out.

No wonder my boyfriend loves Crystal… It’s a rad ski spot! Considering its proximity to Seattle where we live, this is a great spot to hit up in the AM and ski for a quick day. We were glad to see that even in April when the sun is out, you can still hit the slopes. It’s imperative to check the weather and their website before making the trek up there, but even this late in the year most of the slopes were open.
The various lodges had snacks, hot drinks, cold drinks and a tons of concessions and options for re-​fueling. There are bars, kids areas, plenty of clean bathrooms, shops for people who need to repair or purchase gear, and ample parking.
During the week you’ll find less of a crowd, and of course later in the ski season the crowds are thinner as well.
Every interaction I had with any staff member there was also great. Riding the gondola up the mountain I never had to put my skis on the rack because the employees always politely grabbed them and did the heavy lifting while I hopped into the gondola. The gondolas themselves were clean and roomy, large enough for up to 8 adults.
Like Steven’s Pass, this is a great option for day skiing and hitting the slopes if you’re near the Seattle area. It’s not the size of Whistler but it sure beats driving 4 hours to get there and paying $ 100 a day to ski! Sad that I likely won’t make it back here till this next Winter, but excited to get back on the slopes.