Garry Klassen inquired Monday whether I would be interested in an early trip to Mammoth. I would normally not make the trip with what was open last weekend, a handful of runs on chairs 1 and 3 plus the Cornice. But the Sunday/Monday storm promised to add some more terrain, and it’s easier to justify a more speculative trip with shared driving and lodging. We drove Tuesday and stayed at the Mammoth Mt. Inn across from Main Lodge, useful when that’s the only lift served base and we could use the bonus gift cards from last spring’s season ticket renewal.
Wednesday Nov. 11
In addition to the new snow, Veteran’s Day festivities attracted quite a few people. At 8:15AM some Navy Seal paratroopers landed on Broadway.
Weather had still been unsettled Tuesday morning, but it cleared out and the top opened at 2PM. The locals made short work of much of that, as here’s the view at Wednesday opening.
The only lifts open were 1, 3 and the gondola, which accounts for our explorations later in the morning.
Reports and signs showed early morning temps at Main Lodge of 10F, so we dressed accordingly. But there was zero wind and clear Wednesday, so it warmed up rapidly. It was so calm that a small inversion developed and it was actually warmer up top than at Main at 9AM.
After a Saddle Bowl/World Cup/race course warmup, we loaded the gondola at the bottom. Up top I intended to take Roadrunner around to the Scotty’s/Monument area which had less activity Tuesday. But from Roadrunner the open bowl to the left looked worth trying. From there we could rejoin Roadrunner, take it around past Chair 12 to return to Main. I have done this several times in Memorial Day corn. This time I got bit low and it was not so easy to get back up to the road. Garry was on the road above me, but the area I was in was too tempting.
These are our tracks viewed from above when we returned for an encore. There was some concern about deadfall in those trees below, but by angling skier’s right we could stay in pristine low angle powder all the way to the bottom of Chair 14, with adequate spacing to avoid obstacles.
Now we had to hike to the saddle far skier’s left of the top of Chairs 12 and 13. Fortunately the road was plowed at a gradual incline and a fairly easy 15 minute walk, easy enough for us to return to what we thought was the best powder left at Mammoth.
This time I took pictures. Garry in the upper bowl.
Below the road, heading for the trees.
We loaded our third gondola about 10:15AM. We got lucky again, arriving at the top just as patrol dropped the rope to Dave’s Run. It was bit of a slog over there, so we were far from the first to arrive. But here’s the view down.
I took my chances with the untracked but shallower line to the left, carefully negotiating a couple of reefy sections. I just got new powder skis last week, so my 2009 Head Jimis are now fair game for runs like this.
Garry took the deeper center section, which was more tracked but still skied well, as shown here from below.
Speaking of reefs, here’s the long traverse out of Dave’s.
This is one of those places where you don’t want to be the first skier.
Most people traversed back to Chair 3, but we thought the Chair 5 area would be worth a look, even though we would have take a bus shuttle from the closed Chair 2. This was our best decision of the day.
I put the second track of the season on Sliver.
Garry followed with the third track, and the pics speak for themselves.
Not too shabby for November 11!
View up from base of closed Chair 5.
Needless to say, this route was also worth a revisit. Dave’s was chowder by then and more work. Some people climbed up to the top 5 instead of traversing in like we did. This snowboarder reaped the reward.
The prime routes of our first run were tracked so we traversed more to get lower angle freshies through Face of 5 trees and the open apron below. After another bus up to Main, we took a run on Broadway about 1:30PM. The limited number of groomed runs had taken a beating by then. Our legs were not up to the washboard surface so we took a late lunch break. The road was parked solid to nearly half a mile below Chair 2. I thought the lift lines would get bad but they peaked at about 10minutes for our third gondola at 10:15AM.
After lunch we went up top one more time and traversed from Cornice to the open area below Drop Out 3 which is usually a safe bet for good snow. In November it’s a bit less wide open.
The snow was in that awkward stage between powder and packed and thus a lot of work as we had seen on the second run on Dave’s. So we called it a day after 14.300 vertical but with about 6K of quite impressive powder.
Thursday Nov. 12
We packed up and got on the hill just before 9AM. As we expected after Wednesday, this was mostly a groomer day due to the condition of both the snow and our legs. Fortunately the mountain cooperated in our preference. The key was that Chair 2 opened, so Wednesday’s crazy parking situation is history. Chair 2 also added Stump Alley, Mambo and Patrolmen’s to the groomer list.
And there were maybe 1/3 as many people skiing, so the groomers stayed in good shape all day.
It was again clear and calm, a bit warmer getting up to 46F.
After a couple of runs we met Karen and Marty, a couple of Garry’s Baldy friends. We skied the face of 3, which is only groomed 1/3 of the way up until there is a deeper base. So Center Bowl as well as West Bowl sported moguls. The mogul skiing was decently spaced in good snow, but our legs were good for only about 300 vertical at a time before we needed a rest. Cornice was similar except the top of Cornice has quite a few rocks to dodge.
Climax opened while we were skiing Chair 3, but there ‘s not much room for error up there yet.
If we had been lucky in timing its opening like Dave’s Wednesday, I might have given it a shot.
So we returned to Chair 2 for cruisers, though Garry sniffed out a few powder turns to the side of Patrolmen’s.
I went over to Chair 1 to ski Gravy Chute, which was tight but snow was good.
Our other adventure was to check out Scotty’s. This is the only way in if you care about your skis.
No surprise it was mostly chowder. The easiest snow had been packed by snowboarders.
About 1PM we skied Christmas Bowl to Coyote. I figured Christmas would be packed out and it did ski well. Since most people head back to 3, the mellow center section provided our final powder of the trip. Coyote had a narrow groomed strip to exit, though Garry wandered off for a couple of fresh turns near the bottom.
We finished the day with the Saddle Bowl/World Cup/race course route, which had the best groomer conditions. Total when we quit 1:30PM was 19,700 vertical with a few scraps of powder. This trip was my 5th earliest opening to a ski season and far exceeded expectations.
Mammoth has about 800-1,000 acres of skiing, second in North America to Wolf Creek, which has a similar level of coverage.
While it’s warm during the day, the sun is low and the snow is not melt/freezing. It’s still 20F at night, so snowmaking is ongoing on the lower mountain. The second storm snowed 20 inches over the mountain as far as Canyon Lodge, but at lower elevation there is not the solid base from the first storm with heavier snow. I was informed that Chairs 4 and 5 are likely to be open by the weekend of Nov. 21-22.
I would expect a trail or two to Canyon Lodge by Thanksgiving based upon my observations during recent past lean seasons that didn’t have the natural snow start that we have now. The next storm early next week is projected to be a modest 8 inches, but the cold air with it will help snowmaking get more runs open for Thanksgiving.
Wednesday Nov. 11
In addition to the new snow, Veteran’s Day festivities attracted quite a few people. At 8:15AM some Navy Seal paratroopers landed on Broadway.
Weather had still been unsettled Tuesday morning, but it cleared out and the top opened at 2PM. The locals made short work of much of that, as here’s the view at Wednesday opening.
The only lifts open were 1, 3 and the gondola, which accounts for our explorations later in the morning.
Reports and signs showed early morning temps at Main Lodge of 10F, so we dressed accordingly. But there was zero wind and clear Wednesday, so it warmed up rapidly. It was so calm that a small inversion developed and it was actually warmer up top than at Main at 9AM.
After a Saddle Bowl/World Cup/race course warmup, we loaded the gondola at the bottom. Up top I intended to take Roadrunner around to the Scotty’s/Monument area which had less activity Tuesday. But from Roadrunner the open bowl to the left looked worth trying. From there we could rejoin Roadrunner, take it around past Chair 12 to return to Main. I have done this several times in Memorial Day corn. This time I got bit low and it was not so easy to get back up to the road. Garry was on the road above me, but the area I was in was too tempting.
These are our tracks viewed from above when we returned for an encore. There was some concern about deadfall in those trees below, but by angling skier’s right we could stay in pristine low angle powder all the way to the bottom of Chair 14, with adequate spacing to avoid obstacles.
Now we had to hike to the saddle far skier’s left of the top of Chairs 12 and 13. Fortunately the road was plowed at a gradual incline and a fairly easy 15 minute walk, easy enough for us to return to what we thought was the best powder left at Mammoth.
This time I took pictures. Garry in the upper bowl.
Below the road, heading for the trees.
We loaded our third gondola about 10:15AM. We got lucky again, arriving at the top just as patrol dropped the rope to Dave’s Run. It was bit of a slog over there, so we were far from the first to arrive. But here’s the view down.
I took my chances with the untracked but shallower line to the left, carefully negotiating a couple of reefy sections. I just got new powder skis last week, so my 2009 Head Jimis are now fair game for runs like this.
Garry took the deeper center section, which was more tracked but still skied well, as shown here from below.
Speaking of reefs, here’s the long traverse out of Dave’s.
This is one of those places where you don’t want to be the first skier.
Most people traversed back to Chair 3, but we thought the Chair 5 area would be worth a look, even though we would have take a bus shuttle from the closed Chair 2. This was our best decision of the day.
I put the second track of the season on Sliver.
Garry followed with the third track, and the pics speak for themselves.
Not too shabby for November 11!
View up from base of closed Chair 5.
Needless to say, this route was also worth a revisit. Dave’s was chowder by then and more work. Some people climbed up to the top 5 instead of traversing in like we did. This snowboarder reaped the reward.
The prime routes of our first run were tracked so we traversed more to get lower angle freshies through Face of 5 trees and the open apron below. After another bus up to Main, we took a run on Broadway about 1:30PM. The limited number of groomed runs had taken a beating by then. Our legs were not up to the washboard surface so we took a late lunch break. The road was parked solid to nearly half a mile below Chair 2. I thought the lift lines would get bad but they peaked at about 10minutes for our third gondola at 10:15AM.
After lunch we went up top one more time and traversed from Cornice to the open area below Drop Out 3 which is usually a safe bet for good snow. In November it’s a bit less wide open.
The snow was in that awkward stage between powder and packed and thus a lot of work as we had seen on the second run on Dave’s. So we called it a day after 14.300 vertical but with about 6K of quite impressive powder.
Thursday Nov. 12
We packed up and got on the hill just before 9AM. As we expected after Wednesday, this was mostly a groomer day due to the condition of both the snow and our legs. Fortunately the mountain cooperated in our preference. The key was that Chair 2 opened, so Wednesday’s crazy parking situation is history. Chair 2 also added Stump Alley, Mambo and Patrolmen’s to the groomer list.
And there were maybe 1/3 as many people skiing, so the groomers stayed in good shape all day.
It was again clear and calm, a bit warmer getting up to 46F.
After a couple of runs we met Karen and Marty, a couple of Garry’s Baldy friends. We skied the face of 3, which is only groomed 1/3 of the way up until there is a deeper base. So Center Bowl as well as West Bowl sported moguls. The mogul skiing was decently spaced in good snow, but our legs were good for only about 300 vertical at a time before we needed a rest. Cornice was similar except the top of Cornice has quite a few rocks to dodge.
Climax opened while we were skiing Chair 3, but there ‘s not much room for error up there yet.
If we had been lucky in timing its opening like Dave’s Wednesday, I might have given it a shot.
So we returned to Chair 2 for cruisers, though Garry sniffed out a few powder turns to the side of Patrolmen’s.
I went over to Chair 1 to ski Gravy Chute, which was tight but snow was good.
Our other adventure was to check out Scotty’s. This is the only way in if you care about your skis.
No surprise it was mostly chowder. The easiest snow had been packed by snowboarders.
About 1PM we skied Christmas Bowl to Coyote. I figured Christmas would be packed out and it did ski well. Since most people head back to 3, the mellow center section provided our final powder of the trip. Coyote had a narrow groomed strip to exit, though Garry wandered off for a couple of fresh turns near the bottom.
We finished the day with the Saddle Bowl/World Cup/race course route, which had the best groomer conditions. Total when we quit 1:30PM was 19,700 vertical with a few scraps of powder. This trip was my 5th earliest opening to a ski season and far exceeded expectations.
Mammoth has about 800-1,000 acres of skiing, second in North America to Wolf Creek, which has a similar level of coverage.
While it’s warm during the day, the sun is low and the snow is not melt/freezing. It’s still 20F at night, so snowmaking is ongoing on the lower mountain. The second storm snowed 20 inches over the mountain as far as Canyon Lodge, but at lower elevation there is not the solid base from the first storm with heavier snow. I was informed that Chairs 4 and 5 are likely to be open by the weekend of Nov. 21-22.
I would expect a trail or two to Canyon Lodge by Thanksgiving based upon my observations during recent past lean seasons that didn’t have the natural snow start that we have now. The next storm early next week is projected to be a modest 8 inches, but the cold air with it will help snowmaking get more runs open for Thanksgiving.
