Amazing views, super fun downhills.

Expense, distance, you'll lose plastic.

I found the hole photos on this site to be misleading. Maybe the course changes over time? Walk down the gravel road and there is a smaller gravel road that bends to the right to hole 1. Holes 1 and 2 use the gravel road as a fairway, are quite short, and only play slightly downhill. You cannot see 1's basket, but you're shooting down the gravel road over the sewer grates wrapping right. After you get started, they connect a bit better, noting that hole 3's tee is a good walk down from 2's basket. Holes 12 and 13 play back up hill, and we were so used to looking downhill for the next tee that it was hard to find... Hole 14's tee is also uphill, look for a very subtle sign pointing to the right (the tee is uphill, but you play back down). 14-17 play on the left of the road and 18 is on the right. There are two baskets in front of you for 18, and the map implies it's the one on the right. I think the left one is for the lower course.

This course plays down from the top of the Gondola. I have no idea if it sells out, but they sell lift tickets online in one-hour time slots. Mine were $19 each when I put them in the shopping cart, but worked out to $32 with taxes and fees.

As for discs to bring:
- Don't bring anything you can't bear to lose, because you will lose some.
- I recommend slightly more stable than you usually throw, but no need to overdo it. If you flip a throw, it can sail forever and gonzo. And maybe slightly more stable than that if the headwind is strong.
- There are only 2 holes that play uphill, so one less-stable distance driver will work for that.
- More mids and fairway drivers than normal

Technique for big downhill shots:
- Vertically, take a high backswing and aim straight down the mountain. Like pick a spot 100' in front of you and aim to clear it at a height of 5'.
- Watch your nose angle, so in addition to your downward arm swing, keep that nose angle in line. Doesn't do any good to throw down the mountain if you air bounce it.
- Aim way right of your target (RHBH). Just like you would aim a bit right on any throw to account for the fade, but WAAAAAY right. And then aim right some more.
- Throw it hard, but no giant rips needed. If you properly throw it downward, it will pick up all the speed it needs.
- Footing can be sketchy, and I just threw standstills and managed to almost park the 1000' foot hole. Just get lots of snap/spin on it, since rotation helps more than arm speed.
- Throw lower speed discs. I threw a distance driver on some holes that weren't so insanely downhill, but mid-range up to 10 speed was my sweet spot. For reference, hole 3 is the first big downhill, and we threw mid-ranges (Buzzz and Compass) and did fine.

Here is weather for base and summit, though it felt much warmer to me, so maybe the summit weather station is in the shade or has delays: https://www.crystalmountainre...ain-report...

Gear: I'm a big guy and not so young, so I wore hiking boots and took hiking poles and was glad to have them. My buddy is younger and more spry and did fine in just trail running shoes. Small binoculars might not be a bad idea. Sunscreen. Cell service is sketchy, but mostly available. Verizon and AT&T were best, Sprint was in & out. There is a ski lodge with bathrooms and a restaurant at the top, but after you start down, there are no amenities till you get to the bottom. The lodge's water fountains were shut off (for COVID?).

We took about 5 hours total, including the gondola ride.

Challenging course due to winds, TIGHT fairway, massive ravines, and just a lot of challenging throws. The scenery is the best you are going to find on a disc golf course anywhere. Just throwing long isn't going to get you down the hill on this course, but placement is key.

VERY Windy, more likely than not that you will lose at least one or two discs on the top 5. LOTS of steep terrain to traverse. Can take 5-6 hours to play 18 holes (most taken up on the first 5 holes...)

This was an INCREDIBLE course. Others have said "not like ANY other course..." and that is true. I have never played or seen another course like this. It is challenging, difficult, but amazing and breathtaking. By the time I made it to the bottom, my calves were screaming from climbing down ravines to look for discs. All-in-all, this is still probably one of my favorite courses and I look forward to next year's Mountain High Tournament.

If you want to throw far and watch your discs soar for a long time, the Summit course at Crystal Mountain is the place to go. The scenery is tremendous. There's a little restaurant at the top of the mountain by hole 1 and another at the end by 18.

You can pay $20 and ride the gondola to Hole 1 or you can hike straight up for 2,000 or more feet for free. Trust me, take the gondola.

Absolutely be prepared to lose a disc or two, or three or maybe four. Possible to lose five. Bring some discs that you don't care if you lose them. Why would someone rate this course 2 stars because they lost a disc or two? That is pretty weak.

The first two holes at the top are usually pretty windy and have drop offs if you veer off the fairway. From there, it's bombs away as the course heads down the mountain ski runs to the base lodge. There's a few level holes here and there but it's mostly long open downhill bombs where it takes a few seconds for your disc to land. Can't remember one uphill hole on the Summit course. That's my kind of disc golf, and why I rate this course so high despite the lack of variety of holes. I kept throwing the same disc over and over but it was so fun I didn't complain. The Summit course plays to the same #12 basket as the base course now, and holes 13-18 are the same holes on both the Summit and Base course.