I got a chance to go snowboarding at Crystal Mountain today which is good, because prior to now, the only place I've been boarding or skiing in Washington has been at Stevens Pass.
Crystal is huge and is about as far away from me at Stevens...but this early in the season (and with the snowfall thus far) most of the runs had plants or gravel showing through in spaces. I wasn't particularly concerned about my equipment (rental!) but falling onto a half-inch of snow packed over gravel hurts a hell of a lot more than falling into a few inches of groomed and packed snow.
So I hurt, a bunch. Ouch.
Some of the ski area's here dont even have trailmaps, and most are carved into old landfill's.
Hah I talked about snowboarding at lunch today with a guy who used to live in Michigan.
He doesn't ski because of specifically that fact. It's not particularly fun to ski off of a landfill.