In my recently (Sept. 30) retired state I took the opportunity to ski a few midweek days at Mammoth. It was as empty as I've ever seen, so empty that they did not run chairs 12-14.
I drove up Monday morning and got on the hill at 11:45. It was colder than usual ~15F and the overnight low was 4F. There was a strong upslope wind that blasted you as you dropped in from the top but fortunately little wind while riding chairs. Adam and the other powderhounds had tracked up the powder, but with the cold temps much of the off trail snow was still soft so I was probably right to be skiing the BD Verdicts with the new Marker Baron bindings.
I warmed up with a few cruisers on chairs 1&2 plus a run on the face of 3, which they are not grooming yet as it probably needs more base. Riding the gondola up I noticed the Unbound terrain park, where they were blowing snow, and they have also put in as a regular feature the inflatable air mattress they tried out last spring.
Adam had warned me about the extensive avalanches from the storm of Nov. 20-23, so after a windblasted run on Cornice I headed over to Dave's for the best snow on the upper mountain. Afternoon light is low so Dave's pic here is from Wednesday morning.
I cruised down Gold Hill to chair 9 and then took the bony traverse out Ricochet to search for some soft snow. This Chair 9 pic is also from Wednesday.
On Monday there was still soft powder among the small trees. Lower down I traversed skier's right but soon bailed back into the main runs after hitting bottom a couple of times. I cruised on down to Eagle and noted that there were few tracks in the trees between the intermediate runs there. So I hung around there for a couple of low angle powder runs.
By 2:30 the sun was behind the mountain so I went into Canyon to put on a warmer layer. Then up chair 22 to some soft snow in Grizzly per Adam's review from Sunday. That one wore me out so I finished with a short tree run near the old chair 10 area. 18,700 for the afternoon and I was pretty beat. I have concluded that the early AM drive to Mammoth and ski plan may not be best for me. Better to drive up the day before and get a night's sleep at 8,000 feet before skiing.
Tuesday/Wednesday weather was more normal for Mammoth: 25-30F with the prevailing wind from the NW. So there was a steady breeze in your face riding chairs 2 and 16 but it was much more comfortable up top than on Monday. I skied 2 runs on Climax, which was only open at the top on far skier's left due to the big slide a week ago, seen here as an overview from chair 5.
That fracture line was quite a bit deeper originally before the foot or so of snow over Thanksgiving weekend. There was a similar slide in Drop Out, so the only direct skiing from chair 23 is on the Wipe Out side. I skied a run along the boundary line left of the Cornice and traversed into the apron below Drop Out Tuesday afternoon. By this time the snow was firming up from the wind and unfortunately not completely smooth. Areas like this will become easier to ski with more traffic on the weekends. I did ski Wipe out, where Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory was giving a tour to few visitors. And I skied a later run on Monument. The Paranoids are mostly off limits due to another avalanche during the big storm. I also skied a few runs on chair 5 and totalled 23,300 for the day.
Wednesday I got out just after 9AM, skied the usual warmups plus Gravy Chute under chair 1 before heading up top to Cornice and Wipe Out 2. I then decide to take Roadrunner around the back to see what the chair 14 terrain looked like. To my surprise I saw these 2 kiteboarders in action.
The one on the right may be slightly lifted off the ground.
I could see coverage lower down on chair 14 was fine, although there were lots of wind waves so I suspect they will groom a couple of runs before opening the lift on the weekends. Back up the gondola to Dave's, Gold Hill and around to chair 22. I poked my way in very carefully to Avalanche 2.
After a couple of runs on chair 5 and 20,900 for the day I hit the road by 2PM.
Overall it's great to have the early snow, 88 inches so far. There have been only 6 other seasons where Mammoth had 80+ inches by Nov. 30. However, coverage and available terrain is well below those 6 other seasons, as those who skied late October and November of 2004 can attest. This November's snow was very low in water content, and was compounded by nearly half of the upper mountain avalanching. The mid and lower mountain is in better shape, including much of the steep terrain on chair 22. However it would be nice to get a couple of refresher storms before the Christmas crowds arrive.
I drove up Monday morning and got on the hill at 11:45. It was colder than usual ~15F and the overnight low was 4F. There was a strong upslope wind that blasted you as you dropped in from the top but fortunately little wind while riding chairs. Adam and the other powderhounds had tracked up the powder, but with the cold temps much of the off trail snow was still soft so I was probably right to be skiing the BD Verdicts with the new Marker Baron bindings.
I warmed up with a few cruisers on chairs 1&2 plus a run on the face of 3, which they are not grooming yet as it probably needs more base. Riding the gondola up I noticed the Unbound terrain park, where they were blowing snow, and they have also put in as a regular feature the inflatable air mattress they tried out last spring.
Adam had warned me about the extensive avalanches from the storm of Nov. 20-23, so after a windblasted run on Cornice I headed over to Dave's for the best snow on the upper mountain. Afternoon light is low so Dave's pic here is from Wednesday morning.
I cruised down Gold Hill to chair 9 and then took the bony traverse out Ricochet to search for some soft snow. This Chair 9 pic is also from Wednesday.
On Monday there was still soft powder among the small trees. Lower down I traversed skier's right but soon bailed back into the main runs after hitting bottom a couple of times. I cruised on down to Eagle and noted that there were few tracks in the trees between the intermediate runs there. So I hung around there for a couple of low angle powder runs.
By 2:30 the sun was behind the mountain so I went into Canyon to put on a warmer layer. Then up chair 22 to some soft snow in Grizzly per Adam's review from Sunday. That one wore me out so I finished with a short tree run near the old chair 10 area. 18,700 for the afternoon and I was pretty beat. I have concluded that the early AM drive to Mammoth and ski plan may not be best for me. Better to drive up the day before and get a night's sleep at 8,000 feet before skiing.
Tuesday/Wednesday weather was more normal for Mammoth: 25-30F with the prevailing wind from the NW. So there was a steady breeze in your face riding chairs 2 and 16 but it was much more comfortable up top than on Monday. I skied 2 runs on Climax, which was only open at the top on far skier's left due to the big slide a week ago, seen here as an overview from chair 5.
That fracture line was quite a bit deeper originally before the foot or so of snow over Thanksgiving weekend. There was a similar slide in Drop Out, so the only direct skiing from chair 23 is on the Wipe Out side. I skied a run along the boundary line left of the Cornice and traversed into the apron below Drop Out Tuesday afternoon. By this time the snow was firming up from the wind and unfortunately not completely smooth. Areas like this will become easier to ski with more traffic on the weekends. I did ski Wipe out, where Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory was giving a tour to few visitors. And I skied a later run on Monument. The Paranoids are mostly off limits due to another avalanche during the big storm. I also skied a few runs on chair 5 and totalled 23,300 for the day.
Wednesday I got out just after 9AM, skied the usual warmups plus Gravy Chute under chair 1 before heading up top to Cornice and Wipe Out 2. I then decide to take Roadrunner around the back to see what the chair 14 terrain looked like. To my surprise I saw these 2 kiteboarders in action.
The one on the right may be slightly lifted off the ground.
I could see coverage lower down on chair 14 was fine, although there were lots of wind waves so I suspect they will groom a couple of runs before opening the lift on the weekends. Back up the gondola to Dave's, Gold Hill and around to chair 22. I poked my way in very carefully to Avalanche 2.
After a couple of runs on chair 5 and 20,900 for the day I hit the road by 2PM.
Overall it's great to have the early snow, 88 inches so far. There have been only 6 other seasons where Mammoth had 80+ inches by Nov. 30. However, coverage and available terrain is well below those 6 other seasons, as those who skied late October and November of 2004 can attest. This November's snow was very low in water content, and was compounded by nearly half of the upper mountain avalanching. The mid and lower mountain is in better shape, including much of the steep terrain on chair 22. However it would be nice to get a couple of refresher storms before the Christmas crowds arrive.
, and as of Sunday it looked best for me to finish skiing Mammoth Wednesday. As it was the 1995 Maxima needed to be jump started 3x on the Mammoth trip and is therefore getting a new starter today.