With Mammoth finally in midwinter form (7-10 foot base) I had to squeeze in a couple of days before we leave for Canada Friday. Liz unfortunately couldn't go as she schedules doctor appointments between our destination trips.
Weather was unsettled in advance of last night's storm. Tuesday was mostly sunny early but intermittently cloudy after noon with high temps mid-20's. Gusty winds were not far from average for Mammoth Tuesday and did not affect any lift operations.
I'm staying with a friend of Lonnie's who had three other retired skiers visiting. I gave one of them, Bill, a ride up to Main Lodge where he has a season locker, then parked at Stump as usual. I took warm up laps on Broadway, Fascination, Cornice and Stump, then met Bill at 9:15. He is 78 and requested only groomers and nothing off the top. I told him that was fine with me for awhile and that I had just skied similar parameters with James at Val d'Isere after he aggravated his hip injury. I was pleased to see the frontside race course runs open to the public at opening bell, Bill on Andy's here.
World Cup and Terry's were runs used for race training both of these days.
We skied Face of 3 and Coyote to 5, then a lap on Solitude. Next time up 5 we skied Gold Hill.
Tuesday's wind was from the NW, the right direction as it was depositing loose snow on leeward runs like this. The bottom of SE facing Gold Hill had a slight crunch from the warmer weather Sunday and Monday.
Chair 25 was not running with the light crowd so we continued on to Eagle, then 22 up to another SE cruiser Quicksilver. We skied to Canyon Lodge and the new 6-pack lift, where I should have but did not take pics. This lift is straight out of Austria, with enclosed buildings both top and bottom, a moving carpet for loading and what looked like wiring for possibly heating the chairs. Chair 1 out of Main Lodge is probably being replaced with something similar this summer.
The chair 16 ride was quite windy, so I told Bill I needed to get in my gondola runs in case weather got worse. View over West Bowl and Saddle Bowl of upper gondola:
View the other way from chair 23 to the Paranoids:
My first ungroomed run after 13K of groomers was Dave's Run.
You can see some bumps in there. Most of the ungroomed steeps had lots of moguls, probably due to last weekend, the first of the season with a deep base thanks to the 77 inches of new snow first week of February.
To looker's far right of Dave's under the rocks Huevos Grande is unsually bare.
I suspect it slid to the ground sometime during last week's storms. But the usually wind stripped Rockgarden between Dave's and Huevos is covered.
Climax was more strenuous skiing than Dave's as the moguls were bigger and there was not as much blown in loose snow. My final gondola run Tuesday was Rockgarden.
I continued down to chair 5 via Triangle.
These little trees were all buried last season.
There were lots of moguls on 5 except for Face of 5 here.
This also had abundant windsift.
I moved next to chair 23. The best snow was on the Wipe Out side of the lift, particualry where these people are skiing the Hump.
I skied variations of that twice plus one run on Drop Out 3. This was a day I felt the effects of quantity vs. challenging terrain with age, as I was over 20K when got to chair 23. I passed on the steepest runs, especially with moguls, in favor of the smoother and softer areas like in the pic above.
The last time up 23 I skied off the back to chair 14. The upper ungrromed off Roadrunner was firm froim the direct wind after two warm days but the groomers Santiago and Arriba were excellent. View riding 14, sketchy Dos Passos under the lift and the rarely open "No Passos" to the right of the big rock.
I rode 13 and took a couple of laps on 12 before taking chair 1 on the way to my car. I got to the Mill just before 3PM. After skiiing nostop since 8:40 I was ready for Taco Tuesday, but it is no more.
The kitchen is open for lunch but closed long before 3PM now, when only the bar is open.
Nonetheless a great day, 31,800 vertical, most since April 2022 at Mt. Bachelor.
Wednesday had high winds predicted for the afternoon, which was one reason I pushed the vertical Tuesday. After skiing Tuesday I arranged to get home in time to go out for dinner Wednesday with Liz and some friends.
So I was out Wednesday at 8:30 opening bell. There was thick overcast so I put on goggles after one run. With legs well cooked from Tuesday I skied mostly groomers, mostly repeating highlights. I thought there might be more wind deposition overnight but there was not. Wind on lower lifts was similar to Tuesday but was stronger up top. I was not surprised to see the upper gondola close at 11AM as the cloud statred to lower on to the mountain. However it reopened during a sunny break half an hour later.
My only gondola runs were Cornice and Dave's before 10AM. The only pic I took was of this snow fence in the saddle between Dave's and Gold Hill.
The wooden fence is supported by metal poles. The fence was buried last season, but on Memorial Day Patrick hit the top of one of those metal poles, falling abruptly and dislocating his elbow. Notice I'm low tech and have to hand draw circles as opposed to ChrisC's more professional illustrations.
The only other expert run I skied was Shaft on chair 22. I did not feel up to the heavily mogulled avalanche chutes. I skied 19,200 on Wednesday and left chair 2 parking at 12:30.
Weather was unsettled in advance of last night's storm. Tuesday was mostly sunny early but intermittently cloudy after noon with high temps mid-20's. Gusty winds were not far from average for Mammoth Tuesday and did not affect any lift operations.
I'm staying with a friend of Lonnie's who had three other retired skiers visiting. I gave one of them, Bill, a ride up to Main Lodge where he has a season locker, then parked at Stump as usual. I took warm up laps on Broadway, Fascination, Cornice and Stump, then met Bill at 9:15. He is 78 and requested only groomers and nothing off the top. I told him that was fine with me for awhile and that I had just skied similar parameters with James at Val d'Isere after he aggravated his hip injury. I was pleased to see the frontside race course runs open to the public at opening bell, Bill on Andy's here.
World Cup and Terry's were runs used for race training both of these days.
We skied Face of 3 and Coyote to 5, then a lap on Solitude. Next time up 5 we skied Gold Hill.
Tuesday's wind was from the NW, the right direction as it was depositing loose snow on leeward runs like this. The bottom of SE facing Gold Hill had a slight crunch from the warmer weather Sunday and Monday.
Chair 25 was not running with the light crowd so we continued on to Eagle, then 22 up to another SE cruiser Quicksilver. We skied to Canyon Lodge and the new 6-pack lift, where I should have but did not take pics. This lift is straight out of Austria, with enclosed buildings both top and bottom, a moving carpet for loading and what looked like wiring for possibly heating the chairs. Chair 1 out of Main Lodge is probably being replaced with something similar this summer.
The chair 16 ride was quite windy, so I told Bill I needed to get in my gondola runs in case weather got worse. View over West Bowl and Saddle Bowl of upper gondola:
View the other way from chair 23 to the Paranoids:
My first ungroomed run after 13K of groomers was Dave's Run.
You can see some bumps in there. Most of the ungroomed steeps had lots of moguls, probably due to last weekend, the first of the season with a deep base thanks to the 77 inches of new snow first week of February.
To looker's far right of Dave's under the rocks Huevos Grande is unsually bare.
I suspect it slid to the ground sometime during last week's storms. But the usually wind stripped Rockgarden between Dave's and Huevos is covered.
Climax was more strenuous skiing than Dave's as the moguls were bigger and there was not as much blown in loose snow. My final gondola run Tuesday was Rockgarden.
I continued down to chair 5 via Triangle.
These little trees were all buried last season.
There were lots of moguls on 5 except for Face of 5 here.
This also had abundant windsift.
I moved next to chair 23. The best snow was on the Wipe Out side of the lift, particualry where these people are skiing the Hump.
I skied variations of that twice plus one run on Drop Out 3. This was a day I felt the effects of quantity vs. challenging terrain with age, as I was over 20K when got to chair 23. I passed on the steepest runs, especially with moguls, in favor of the smoother and softer areas like in the pic above.
The last time up 23 I skied off the back to chair 14. The upper ungrromed off Roadrunner was firm froim the direct wind after two warm days but the groomers Santiago and Arriba were excellent. View riding 14, sketchy Dos Passos under the lift and the rarely open "No Passos" to the right of the big rock.
I rode 13 and took a couple of laps on 12 before taking chair 1 on the way to my car. I got to the Mill just before 3PM. After skiiing nostop since 8:40 I was ready for Taco Tuesday, but it is no more.
The kitchen is open for lunch but closed long before 3PM now, when only the bar is open.Nonetheless a great day, 31,800 vertical, most since April 2022 at Mt. Bachelor.
Wednesday had high winds predicted for the afternoon, which was one reason I pushed the vertical Tuesday. After skiing Tuesday I arranged to get home in time to go out for dinner Wednesday with Liz and some friends.
So I was out Wednesday at 8:30 opening bell. There was thick overcast so I put on goggles after one run. With legs well cooked from Tuesday I skied mostly groomers, mostly repeating highlights. I thought there might be more wind deposition overnight but there was not. Wind on lower lifts was similar to Tuesday but was stronger up top. I was not surprised to see the upper gondola close at 11AM as the cloud statred to lower on to the mountain. However it reopened during a sunny break half an hour later.
My only gondola runs were Cornice and Dave's before 10AM. The only pic I took was of this snow fence in the saddle between Dave's and Gold Hill.
The wooden fence is supported by metal poles. The fence was buried last season, but on Memorial Day Patrick hit the top of one of those metal poles, falling abruptly and dislocating his elbow. Notice I'm low tech and have to hand draw circles as opposed to ChrisC's more professional illustrations.
The only other expert run I skied was Shaft on chair 22. I did not feel up to the heavily mogulled avalanche chutes. I skied 19,200 on Wednesday and left chair 2 parking at 12:30.
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