Recent content by Tony Crocker

FIFY. Proximity to the ocean makes coastal climates, particularly west coasts in the temperate zones, warmer in winter and cooler in summer than locations farther inland. There is more glacial ice on Mt. Rainier than the rest of the lower 48 states combined. Mt. Rainier exemplifies the...

Above, how I've classified them. Though I've come around to the view Les Menuires is separate I'm going to leave that one aside in my records for now as I skied exactly one run on Pointe de la Masse during my week in Val Thorens in 2022 and none on the even more beat up opposite side. Maybe...

Hard to argue with that logic. I resisted it because the geographic separation of Orelle looks more clear cut, and since no one seems to separate Orelle, why should Les Menuires be separate? But if a cheaper lift ticket for only Les Menuires is available, that's the same as AltaBird and...

Mt. Bachelor has the classic 360 exposure. Mammoth's optimal spring skiing can last all day via a combination of altitude and exposure. Even when it's really warm the chair 23 runs on the Wipe Out side are generally best after 1PM. Mammoth's best spring days have clear skies for an overnight...

And Mammoth after the Cottonwoods close:

On closing day Alta's crowd would disperse gradually, though Snowbird would still make a 4:30 departure tedious. And if you hang around for festivities (we were on top of Highboy until 5:30 in 2011 and didn't leave until after 7PM) I doubt the drive down would be too bad.

Fond memories of 2011 Alta closing, part of Liz' and my first week together. Hopefully jimk made it to the Highboy party scene. Jimk might or might not have noticed former admin, who might or might not have brought his deep fryer for parking lot festivities as in 2011.

I don't get this. Once you live there and aren't paying for transport and lodging, that $2,700 is a drop in the bucket. And once you live there, the shoulder seasons (Alta early and Snowbird late) are usually far superior to the other places. As a retiree you could easily go through the 7...

More diversity in big cities, but we found Thai in Moutiers this year. We eat at a lot of Asian restaurants in SoCal, and most North American ski towns have them. I'd say that's our only complaint about what's sometimes missing in the Alps. Pasta menus nearly always have vegetarian options.

Not at all. I agree that Kirkwood is a difficult mountain to rack up big verticals with key lifts being slow speed. But tseeb often complains that EpicMix is not always accurate, and I distrust depending on battery gobbling phone apps. I occasional "audit" my watch at areas where I know all...

We do not understand sbooker's Euro food comments at all. Liz is always looking for some veggies when we dine out, and she does not recall ever complaining about this on our Alps trips. We are a little weird that we don't eat lunches on the mountain that often in Europe: 1) Often our breakfast...

Kirkwood has never had lift verticals on its trail map. I recall having to go into an office in the 1980's to get that info. But surely tseeb should have this vertical memorized by now as much as he skis Kirkwood. :icon-lol:

The other big issue after Memorial Day is that is when the gondola is down for about 3 weeks of annual maintenance. With both chair 1 and the gondola down, it will be difficult for Mammoth to operate for public skiing. It would be essential for chair 2 to be open and Stump Alley to be skiable.

We got out about 10 minutes earlier than on Thursday. The overnight freeze was lighter than Thursday as evidenced by our first run on Stump Alley. It was sunny with only thin clouds but still windy in the morning. As on Thursday we took two laps through the corn on lower Gold Hill, but did not...

Thursday dawned sunny, and with the clear night the overnight freeze was firmer than Wednesday, part of that being our getting on the hill at 9AM. Unloading area of chair 2 was then solid frozen granular, moderating only when Stump Alley rolled over to its steeper pitch. So it was obvious to...