It was surprisingly difficult to get in a ski day in December. Mammoth has had high winds and storms most of the time since we returned from Chile, except for the weekend of Dec. 17-19 when we had other plans. The SoCal local areas had a slow start, got 10 inches mid-December but all rain Dec. 23. So we were pushed into the holiday week, and it seemed logical to wait for after the Wednesday/Thursday which rained about 4 inches in the L.A Basin.
It snowed 2-3 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains but less than a foot in the San Bernardinos. Nonetheless we chose Snow Summit to get in our December ski day on Friday, since Baldy first days of the season tend to be a junkshow and other options had max holiday day ticket rates. We left before 6AM, arrived Snow Summit at 8AM, barely getting one of the last parking spots in the upper lot. New this year at Big Bear are RFID gates and these automated kiosks for picking up advance reserved day tickets.
This was the busiest day I've skied at Snow Summit since high speed lifts were added in the 1990's despite fog all day and some mist in the morning.
We started with two top-to-bottom runs on chair 2 before its line built up, then six runs on chair 6 below the fog line with minimal waits during the mid morning crush. We waited 17 minutes for chair 1 at 11AM to go to lunch at View Haus. After lunch I went to refill my water bottle and noticed that the drinking fountain had been removed. I then asked the bartender to refill it and he said he didn't have water (?) and furthermore wasn't permitted to refill a bottle due to COVID protocol. Air dryers in the restrooms are also disabled, and someone took exception to that.
We can debate whether certain COVID protocols are reasonable or excessive, but the water issue has been easily resolved at Mammoth. All F&B areas at Mammoth have water dispensers to fill cups or bottles. Since the ski areas are in the same state and under the same management, I have no clue why Big Bear would shut down the drinking fountains without providing the obvious alternative. This solution should be implemented ASAP at Big Bear, particularly since normal weather up there is very conducive to dehydration.
Coming out of lunch the lines were still big at the base at 12:20 so we never went back down there until we were done.
We skied 3 runs on chair 2, which like chair 7 had a manageable line of less than 5 minutes. Lights on Ego Trip due to the fog.
Then we moved to the Wall, which had no line and more fog.
The Southern California Heelslide® was much in evidence here, though hard to see in the pic due to the fog.
We skied East Why and Off Chute that were marked closed though well covered. Liz' knee started to act up so she bailed at 2:30 to the bar at the base.
We got on the road at 3:30 after I skied 3 more runs on chair 6. We got out of Big Bear OK despite lots of holiday visitors like these at Boulder Bay.
Unfortunately my phone didn't show traffic on highway 330. It was ugly through Running Springs and took two hours to get down to Highland. We had dinner at the same Italian place in Cucamonga where we dined "on the down low" last January.
My next to last run was another ungroomed foray down Dicky's. I heard a metallic sound but thought little of it until I got to the bottom.
These are the skis where I pulled an edge out in Utah last January. Liz' friend Andy knew someone who repaired them by the end of last season. The reality is that I'm lucky I got 4 more full days out of them. It would have been a real nuisance if that edge had blown out again on one of the Mammoth trips in October or November.
It snowed 2-3 feet in the San Gabriel Mountains but less than a foot in the San Bernardinos. Nonetheless we chose Snow Summit to get in our December ski day on Friday, since Baldy first days of the season tend to be a junkshow and other options had max holiday day ticket rates. We left before 6AM, arrived Snow Summit at 8AM, barely getting one of the last parking spots in the upper lot. New this year at Big Bear are RFID gates and these automated kiosks for picking up advance reserved day tickets.
This was the busiest day I've skied at Snow Summit since high speed lifts were added in the 1990's despite fog all day and some mist in the morning.
We started with two top-to-bottom runs on chair 2 before its line built up, then six runs on chair 6 below the fog line with minimal waits during the mid morning crush. We waited 17 minutes for chair 1 at 11AM to go to lunch at View Haus. After lunch I went to refill my water bottle and noticed that the drinking fountain had been removed. I then asked the bartender to refill it and he said he didn't have water (?) and furthermore wasn't permitted to refill a bottle due to COVID protocol. Air dryers in the restrooms are also disabled, and someone took exception to that.
We can debate whether certain COVID protocols are reasonable or excessive, but the water issue has been easily resolved at Mammoth. All F&B areas at Mammoth have water dispensers to fill cups or bottles. Since the ski areas are in the same state and under the same management, I have no clue why Big Bear would shut down the drinking fountains without providing the obvious alternative. This solution should be implemented ASAP at Big Bear, particularly since normal weather up there is very conducive to dehydration.
Coming out of lunch the lines were still big at the base at 12:20 so we never went back down there until we were done.
We skied 3 runs on chair 2, which like chair 7 had a manageable line of less than 5 minutes. Lights on Ego Trip due to the fog.
Then we moved to the Wall, which had no line and more fog.
The Southern California Heelslide® was much in evidence here, though hard to see in the pic due to the fog.
We skied East Why and Off Chute that were marked closed though well covered. Liz' knee started to act up so she bailed at 2:30 to the bar at the base.
We got on the road at 3:30 after I skied 3 more runs on chair 6. We got out of Big Bear OK despite lots of holiday visitors like these at Boulder Bay.
Unfortunately my phone didn't show traffic on highway 330. It was ugly through Running Springs and took two hours to get down to Highland. We had dinner at the same Italian place in Cucamonga where we dined "on the down low" last January.
My next to last run was another ungroomed foray down Dicky's. I heard a metallic sound but thought little of it until I got to the bottom.
These are the skis where I pulled an edge out in Utah last January. Liz' friend Andy knew someone who repaired them by the end of last season. The reality is that I'm lucky I got 4 more full days out of them. It would have been a real nuisance if that edge had blown out again on one of the Mammoth trips in October or November.
