Despite Liz’ imminent departure for Africa this weekend, we skied Monday-Wednesday at Mammoth because of the WWSRA industry demo. I convinced Liz that 3 days of exercise at 10,000 feet would be good for her before her Kilimanjaro hike next week.
The last new snow was when were here last on Jan. 8. Nonetheless at least half of the mountain has had no melt freeze. That meant ungroomed terrain on chairs 1, 3 and 5 was in good shape. The steeps had a lot of tight chalk and many runs up there were intimidating and rarely skied. I only saw patrol on Climax and just a handful of skiers on the Wipe Outs. We never saw anyone skiing chair 22 either, though were not on that side of the hill much.
All 3 days were sunny. Monday highs were upper 30s and the other days low 40’s. Breeze was only on top. Tuesday night froze a bit harder than Sunday or Monday.
Monday was a recon day so we would know suitable places to test the demos the next two days. After warmups on Stump, Broadway and Andy’s, we tired Cornice, where we had read of a treacherous entry but it was freshly groomed to a decent width.
Halfway up is the starting gate for junior downhill training. The race course all the way through lower St. Antoin is fenced off all week.
After the Cornice, I rode 23 and tried Drop Out 1, where we had seen skiers. This had the tight chalk, requiring the precision and effort that is now problematic for me past age 70. So I am reminded to be pickier about forgiving conditions on runs like that.
Past the bottom of Chair 23 I ran into Elissa and some friends. I called Liz and we skied a few runs together.
We rode chair 10, observing the section of Solitude which some of us call Multitude.
It is not necessary to ski that part if you know your way around. The ~11AM timing was good for chair 9, where we skied Gold Hill and Slot. Elissa went to lunch while Liz and I skied 3 runs on Chair 5, overview while riding 10:
We skied Triangle, Face of 5 (pic below) and Sanctuary.
By 1PM we had taken 2 and 23 to ski the backside and meet Elissa again. The off piste from top of Roadrunner that I had skied 4 weeks ago was still covered but rock solid. Once below the top of 14 conditions were excellent. Often there are upslope winds during these long dry spells, mostly a negative but 14 is the one area that gets blown-in snow in that scenario. So we wound up taking 4 runs there.
Early in morning I had observed skiers on Monument.
So I hiked up from 14 to ski that. Here Liz is hiking farther to inspect Scotty’s.
It was narrow at the entry, so she returned to the front side via Roadrunner.
I passed on skier’s left side of Monument that had a convex rollover where I could not see below, given my prior Drop Out run. I traversed partway to Scotty’s, then skied a few steep moguls, carefully as there were a few rocks exposed. Once below them the snow was wide open smooth chalk, softer than Drop Out and not quite as steep, so I would return the next two days.
That downhill course starting mid-Cornice extended far down lower St. Anton, so a path was groomed from the bottom of Scotty’s to Bristlecone. From there I met Liz at chair 12. We traversed into Bark Bowl, and from where saw a clean line to St. Anton. We thought it was near the bottom of that fence, but no. We had to get on the ground and slide under it.
It was about 3:15 so we knew the racers were done, but we later heard that because it was downhill training the public was not allowed on it all week. I skied 26,000 vertical Monday.
The last new snow was when were here last on Jan. 8. Nonetheless at least half of the mountain has had no melt freeze. That meant ungroomed terrain on chairs 1, 3 and 5 was in good shape. The steeps had a lot of tight chalk and many runs up there were intimidating and rarely skied. I only saw patrol on Climax and just a handful of skiers on the Wipe Outs. We never saw anyone skiing chair 22 either, though were not on that side of the hill much.
All 3 days were sunny. Monday highs were upper 30s and the other days low 40’s. Breeze was only on top. Tuesday night froze a bit harder than Sunday or Monday.
Monday was a recon day so we would know suitable places to test the demos the next two days. After warmups on Stump, Broadway and Andy’s, we tired Cornice, where we had read of a treacherous entry but it was freshly groomed to a decent width.
Halfway up is the starting gate for junior downhill training. The race course all the way through lower St. Antoin is fenced off all week.
After the Cornice, I rode 23 and tried Drop Out 1, where we had seen skiers. This had the tight chalk, requiring the precision and effort that is now problematic for me past age 70. So I am reminded to be pickier about forgiving conditions on runs like that.
Past the bottom of Chair 23 I ran into Elissa and some friends. I called Liz and we skied a few runs together.
We rode chair 10, observing the section of Solitude which some of us call Multitude.
It is not necessary to ski that part if you know your way around. The ~11AM timing was good for chair 9, where we skied Gold Hill and Slot. Elissa went to lunch while Liz and I skied 3 runs on Chair 5, overview while riding 10:
We skied Triangle, Face of 5 (pic below) and Sanctuary.
By 1PM we had taken 2 and 23 to ski the backside and meet Elissa again. The off piste from top of Roadrunner that I had skied 4 weeks ago was still covered but rock solid. Once below the top of 14 conditions were excellent. Often there are upslope winds during these long dry spells, mostly a negative but 14 is the one area that gets blown-in snow in that scenario. So we wound up taking 4 runs there.
Early in morning I had observed skiers on Monument.
So I hiked up from 14 to ski that. Here Liz is hiking farther to inspect Scotty’s.
It was narrow at the entry, so she returned to the front side via Roadrunner.
I passed on skier’s left side of Monument that had a convex rollover where I could not see below, given my prior Drop Out run. I traversed partway to Scotty’s, then skied a few steep moguls, carefully as there were a few rocks exposed. Once below them the snow was wide open smooth chalk, softer than Drop Out and not quite as steep, so I would return the next two days.
That downhill course starting mid-Cornice extended far down lower St. Anton, so a path was groomed from the bottom of Scotty’s to Bristlecone. From there I met Liz at chair 12. We traversed into Bark Bowl, and from where saw a clean line to St. Anton. We thought it was near the bottom of that fence, but no. We had to get on the ground and slide under it.
It was about 3:15 so we knew the racers were done, but we later heard that because it was downhill training the public was not allowed on it all week. I skied 26,000 vertical Monday.
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