Best place to go skiing mid-June 2005???

[Patrick]

I am a bit discourage with the long-term propect of the Eastern Ski season so far.

Where should I go, if I want to ski mid-June?

Anything in the East. Unless Winter turns around radically, Tuckerman should only be a patch of snow by then?

Chic Chocs in the Gaspe Peninsula?

Out West? Blackcomb, Mt Hood, any others?

I am waiting for your suggestion.

Southern Hemisphere and Europe wouldn't an options this year, but I would love to heard about them.

I need your input and comments!!!

 

[JimG.]

A-basin...their high elevation means good snow preservation and they often try to stay open until July 1. In addition, Colorado often gets alot of late season snow and snowfall in May/June is certainly not unheard of. Oh, did I mention that A-basin is probably my favorite ski area in Colorado and that it's just a great expert area?

Check it out.

 

[Tony Crocker]

A-Basin is below average in snow so far. It might be open, but the chances of the good stuff (Paliviccini etc.) being skiable aren't good unless the spring snowfall is much better than normal.

Mammoth is the clear-cut choice for lift service this June based upon the season so far. And if it's limited the steep stuff (Climax, Cornice, Hangman's) is what's going to be open.

I might also add that you'll have tremendous backcountry ski options in the Eastern Sierra.

 

[hamdog]

lift served? no. fairly limited in that area i think. backcountry corn? yes.
Beartooth Pass between cooke and red lodge, mt. off piste off terrain, so
your group should all be expert skiers/riders. pass opens the end of
may. lots of camping options. minimal hotels in red lodge; even less in cooke city.

 

[Chromer]

Where should I go, if I want to ski mid-June?

Lift served? PNW: Mt. Hood, Blackcomb. Probably too early for southern hemisphere, equivalent to November here...

IIRC you wouldn't be allowed to ski the snowfields on Mt. Jacques Cartier in the Gaspe at that time of year because of the protection measures for the caribou herd.

 

[Geoff]

Where should I go, if I want to ski mid-June?

Lift served? PNW: Mt. Hood, Blackcomb. Probably too early for southern hemisphere, equivalent to November here...

Whistler has a 50" base at the moment. Unless things change, they aren't going to last very long this year. I was mulling grabbing the last day of June and the first day of July up on the glacier so I can say I skied every month but I'm not hopeful that it'll be open to the general public.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The extreme distress in the NW this year is why I didn't recommend Hood and Whistler.

Backcountry is going to correlate to the lift service in the same region. So if current trends don't reverse the Sierra will have the deepest backcountry snowpack as well as the most lift service at Mammoth.

I've seen Beartooth Pass and the terrain is impressive but the window of opportunity is short. You need to get there as soon as the road opens.

The decline in snowpack is swift week by week in late spring/early summer. If you can push it back to late May you'll likely gain quite a bit in coverage/conditions.

 

[mapadu]

Here's a compelling argument for Colorado:

Last June, I skied this:

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

and this

That was on the 22nd, with 12" of fresh powder. 3,000' vertical feet of it.

then this:

BAM!

and this one on the last day of June

And July was pretty good too, this was one of many:

But you only asked about June. The winter prior was fairly average in terms of snowfall here, and in some places, well below average. Best of all, it cost 0$ for lift tickets.

There are so many mining roads in the mountains of CO that many of these trips don't even take half a day, up and down. I challenge anyone to show me such fine June skiing with such easy access.

Come on out to CO Patrick, I know a thing or two about a thing or two around here in June...

 

[Tony Crocker]

Mapadu is correct about road access. There are many passes in the 12,000 foot range in Colorado. In the Northern Rockies Beartooth Pass is the only one that convenient to summer-skiable backcountry, and Tioga Pass similarly in the Sierra (see my report from Memorial Day 2003 http://216.250.243.13/discus2/messages/ ... 1054171250 ). This year's mid-June Sierra snowpack should be vary similar to the late May 2003 snowpack in the pics.

You need to evaluate your own interests, conditioning and how much time you have. If you fly from sea level to Denver and start climbing at 12,000+ with mapadu (who lives at 9,000+) the next day you will be in a lot of trouble unless you have some kind of rare altitude immunity. So if your primary interest is backcountry and you have 2 weeks, I would say yes, go to Colorado.

If you have only one week and you're like the rest of us mortals, you'll be skiing what's left of A-Basin or maybe some road shuttle skiing at Berthoud, Loveland or Mt. Evans for the first half of the week at least until you get acclimatized. Last March I did a hike above Silverton's top lift at 12,200, which felt "normal" because it was my 8th day in Colorado. Frida Waara (whose fitness was sufficient to cross-country ski to the North Pole a few years ago) still felt slowed by altitude on her 4th day in Colorado.

If you come to Mammoth you'll probably have 1,000+ acres and 2,100 vertical of pretty interesting lift service while you get acclimatized. Then you could do some backcountry out of Tioga or Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows later in the week. And the backcountry will be 9,000 - 12,000 instead of 11,000 - 14,000 in Colorado. One downside of Mammoth is that the closest commercial airport is Reno, which is 3 hours away.

 

[hamdog]

how come we only get TR's from Red and your backyard? ....if all this is
so easy to get to? some impressive terrain it looks like. to bad i don't
have pics of the Beartooths to compare. were's that first pic of July? go
to colorado......if you want to ride with mapadu. did you read his "close
calls" post? wtf!?! :shock:

how long you got in June? maybe do a road trip starting at the
Beartooths, then maybe some sh*t in WY (teton and togwotee pass?)
and down to ColoRADo. tony's analysis is dead on.

 

[Anonymous]

You need to evaluate your own interests, conditioning and how much time you have.
(...)
If you have only one week and you're like the rest of us mortals.

Thanks guys!!!

I wasn't planning a trip out west initially, my goal was to find snow for this year birthday and make a few turns, however the odds of finding them in the East are somewhat limited this year. I would be limited in time and would probably be solo if I go. Backcountry would be great, but I would be solo is not going to happen, I don't have that problem in the East.

I didn't have any problem skiing on my birthday in 1988 (Blackcomb), 1992 (Killington) and 1997 (Killington - 4day after my bday), HOWEVER this was before house and kids. I am sure I can easily find snow, getting to it is a whole different matter. :roll: How much does this mean to me without affecting to much my future trip budgets? Now, that's the question :?:

Thanks Chromer for info on the Chic Chocs, I didn't realise that this area would be off-limits.

 

[Patrick]

#-o Forgot to login... again.

 

[salida]

Matt that report is classic... I second the colorado option.

-porter

 

[Tony Crocker]

Fanatic though I am, sometimes it makes sense to mix one's interests on a vacation, especially in a situation like this where the skiing will be limited. For example, I'm sure your whole family would enjoy a week in Yellowstone, and you could go check out Beartooth Pass for a day. Splitting a week between Mammoth and Yosemite would work well also. And in Colorado one of those 12,000 foot roads goes through Rocky Mountain National Park.

Your situation is somewhat like my interest in being in southern Africa for the total solar eclipse on my 50th birthday. But I also saw Cape Town, several game parks and rafted the Zambezi below Victoria Falls to make a trip of that magnitude worth the time and expense.

 

[Anonymous]

... and does anybody have tips on skiing Austria early-June?

(I guess you know you're a true skier when spend time in the Winter planning for your Summer skiing )

 

[hamdog]

(I guess you know you're a true skier when spend time in the Winter planning for your Summer skiing )

:roll: ya, but more importantly, do you have enough energy bars
for your next time out? now that's true priority. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

how come we only get TR's from Red and your backyard? ....if all this is
so easy to get to?

The key word in this thread is JUNE. I repeat: JUNE. IE: consolidated corn snowpack, snow melted off all the mining roads, etc, etc, etc. Wait 'til this June, you'll probably try even harder to pick at me for all the ski posts coming your way from various, beautiful locations.

were's that first pic of July?

La Plata Peak off Independance Pass.

go
to colorado......if you want to ride with mapadu. did you read his "close
calls" post? wtf!?! :shock:

It takes more courage to admit mistakes than to take cowardly pot-shots like the above from hundreds of miles away. I feel a "you misunderstood me" coming on, but don't even bother with that lying bs. Oh, and I mean it in the best possible way :lol:


You outta come down here too, hamdog, for some real nice turns in June. Know me as a real person and not an internet correspondence before making such assertions. After riding with me, then you have a valid opinion of how safe/fun I am to tour with. That close call post is a product of pure volume as much as anything - - when you make thousands upon thousands of runs in such a short period of time, sh!t will happen sometimes.

 

[Anonymous]

how come we only get TR's from Red and your backyard? ....if all this is
so easy to get to?

The key word in this thread is JUNE. I repeat: JUNE. IE: consolidated corn snowpack, snow melted off all the mining roads, etc, etc, etc. Wait 'til this June, you'll probably try even harder to pick at me for all the ski posts coming your way from various, beautiful locations.

were's that first pic of July?

La Plata Peak off Independance Pass.

go
to colorado......if you want to ride with mapadu. did you read his "close
calls" post? wtf!?! :shock:

It takes more courage to admit mistakes than to take cowardly pot-shots like the above from hundreds of miles away. I feel a "you misunderstood me" coming on, but don't even bother with that lying bs. Oh, and I mean it in the best possible way :lol:


You oughtta come down here too, hamdog, for some real nice turns in June. Know me as a real person and not an internet correspondence before making such assertions. After riding with me, then you have a valid opinion of how safe/fun I am to tour with. That close call post is a product of pure volume as much as anything - - when you make thousands upon thousands of runs in such a short period of time, sh!t will happen sometimes.

 

[Patrick]

Fanatic though I am, sometimes it makes sense to mix one's interests on a vacation, especially in a situation like this where the skiing will be limited. For example, I'm sure your whole family would enjoy a week in Yellowstone (...)

Your situation is somewhat like my interest in being in southern Africa for the total solar eclipse on my 50th birthday.

It will be number 40th for me, it's a great plan to have the family vacations tied into it, however the fact that my daughter will still be in school makes it difficult.

I don't feel sorry, I had a few occasion to ski on my birthday and I have taken fully advantage in the past of visiting my wife's family in France.

The only question is, do I spend the money and go now, or put it some aside for our planned trips: Newfoudland (maybe this Summer) and Iceland/France in 2006 (wedding anniversary). All these would be with the whole family, meaning $$$$ :roll: :shock:

 

[Pajarito-Bred]

hmmm,
for a quick summer-ski trip west, both Mammoth (you could fly into Vegas cheap) or Reno-Tahoe (for Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, maybe Kirkwood) would be tempting-- I was up at A-basin yesterday, and the snow on the Pali chair was repotedly sketchy- especially for this time of year. The Basin is an awesome summer ski place (but might not be this year) their base is now 47", and the storm last night only flaked off another two, and both of those were blown into the trees by high winds.
Yes, I was there but didn't ski it - Instead of a knee-deep experience the day before, it was deep-in-the knee, the extent of which I'll find out tomorrow.
Mammoth, especially, is a great summer mountain. Memorial day weekend is an ideal time to ski the Sierras after a year like this one.
I'd caution against visiting those lovely chutes that Mapadu recommends unless you are with him or someone else who knows the local terrain and exposures well. Those steep narrow chutes look sweet with soft spring corn but if the clouds move in and a chill breeze refuses to let the snow soften up, it can get scary and/or very dangerous.