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More support for the prime criterion of a cult ski area.

Many SoCal skiers have Mammoth car stickers. I couldn't resist getting this one when Mountain Monster was handing some out at a spring chair 2 tailgate a couple of years ago.

The new picture at the top of this Forum page was taken that same day after skiing as I was driving north for whitewater rafting the next day.

Confirmation of the prerequisite criterion of a cult ski area. The recurring poor snow seasons can't be helping the situation there. Strongly disagree. Avid skiers from outside the region flock to these places after mid-April precisely because the quality of skiing remains high after most...

Did you have to download the tram? Third pic looks like groomed Chip's mid-mountain. No pics from Little Cloud?

It has dawned upon me that all the areas on the SnowBrains list, plus others cited here like Taos, Jackson, Snowbird, Red Mt., Whitewater, Fernie, Castle and Aspen Highlands, are noted for abundant expert terrain and more modest quantity or quality of intermediate terrain. Also Mt. Baldy...

That sounds like agreement with Mammoth could be considered a fail by that standard, though James disputes that we SoCal regulars are local. Time will tell where Ikon adds significant more people, especially from NorCal, to that fanbase. Recall also that Mammoth’s access from points east is...

In terrain scale and quality (also snowfall, though Taos suffers in bad years more due to its rugged terrain) there's a big gap in New Mexico between Taos and whoever you want to call #2. It's not as extreme as the difference between Mammoth and the SoCal locals, but the same principle...

was listed along with Kirkwood as #7in the SnowBrains article. Excellent points, and I should have thought of this due to Paul Kulas being a firm member of that cult. He regularly commuted from Eagle to ski Highlands Bowl and rarely patronized the other Aspen areas. Paul also had an A-Basin...

That was my reaction too (see Chris Steiner of ZRankings). Whistler is another glaring omission (see Larry Schick and @takeahike46er, and I'm sure they are far from the only PNW skiers with that loyalty). Palisades and Whistler are probably home to the largest number of elite level...

For destination visitors, more compressed than that: Stick to January and first half of February. But that compression is why the powder probability during that time window is so much higher than anywhere else. Some ski regions like the Alps and most of western North America have almost...

We knew there was a modest storm forecast Monday, but it was supposed to clear out by Wednesday. Tuesday morning had thick fog above 9,500 feet with possible lift delays (Monday had a lightning closure for an hour), so we did not get out until 10AM. That’s when we found out I had left my boot...

Total solar eclipses are the conspicuous exception to that generalization. We rarely travel beyond drive distance from home for other astronomical events though we are well informed about them from SEML. That does allow me to see some of them If incorporated into a trip I'm doing mainly for...

Yes, I joined Adam's subscription last fall. I don't think it's that difficult to find 4 skiers to share. Some of the recent season recaps by the local forecasters have been informative. Me neither. But for my purposes I want to see the local write-ups for each state/province, even the ones...

All of my Southern Hemisphere ski trips have included significant time devoted to other activities. Yes, it’s not a big deal to take clothing. I do recommend taking your ski boots though.

The 10% adjustment is for in season reporting when a lower mountain number is not available. At the end of the season Jay provides me with monthly upper (the ones they post in season) and lower numbers. I average those for each month. The spread between upper and lower is generally around 20%...

I have most eastern snowfall totals now. Jay average of upper and lower 335.5 inches Smuggs 312 Stowe 310 But Keweenaw Counyty in U.P. Michigan, home of Mt. Bohemia, had 360 inches. This is record high for its 20 years of data. Mt. Baker as usual leads North America, but its 427 inches in...

Not likely. Cliff Mass has analyzed that as the most anomalous weather event of the 21st century anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. That article attracted quite a few comments. Over the past 30 years the PNW has a gradually increasing trend of record high temps while record low temps have...

My observation is that no one in North America other than Mammoth and maybe Timberline can open enough lifts/terrain to offer quality July skiing without horrendous overcrowding by people seeking the novelty factor. I sent that Sunshine link to Patrick, but if Sunshine doesn't open those two...

Conversely, Timberline has announced its closing date will be July 19, first ever before August. It closed Aug. 18 in 2005 and Aug. 2 in 2015. A SnowBrains article from 2015 implies that at that time those were the only two failures to make it to Labor Day. Patrick skied Timberline in...