A friend just emailed Seattlest, gushing with glee that our season's passes to the Summit (Alpental, really) grant us 5 free days of skiing at Crystal Mountain. We'd already written about how the ownership of the Summit by Boyne Mountain (who also owns Crystal Mt.) might be a good thing for mountain bikers. So it sounded like it was already working out for those of us that go mostly to Alpental (due to sheer proximity, especially for occasional drinking night skiing forays) yet like to make the trek to Crystal or Baker occasionally.

We say sounded, because despite all the urging from the Summit to Buy Our Season Passes Early!, the bonus Crystal days are only included in their Big S Unlimited PLUS! season pass. It may be Big, and Unlimited, and PLUS!, but it certainly wasn't so superlatively available when we bought ours back in September.

That said, if you do plan to hit Crystal this year, it's worth the upgrade. We called the Summit, and having bought our Unlimited Pass for $339, it would cost us $130 to upgrade. That's almost 3 free days at Crystal (single day adult ticket=$58), plus unlimited free skiing at Brighton (another Boyne resort) should we happen to wander home to Utah during the holidays. Though we'd just as likely pay to go to Alta instead. Mmmmmm, hero snow....