We finished up our two week road trip with annual WWSRA industry demo event at Mammoth. This year during pre-registration we discovered that attendees got a discount to stay at the Mammoth Mountain Inn across the street from Main Lodge. In addition to the skiing convenience to the demo, we appreciated upon arriving after 6PM from Mt. Rose not needing to go out that evening. Mammoth Mountain Inn is full of retro pictures like this one:
The original chair 1 was built at a fixed loading height, requiring in early season the sidestep up a ramp and the occasional domino effect if someone lost their balance. I recall that ramp before chair 1 was replaced with a high speed in 1988. All other chairs at Mammoth were built with adjustable loading stations for snowpack level.
I've been to six of these demo events and this is the fourth during an extended dry spell. The current dry spell is now a midwinter record, just this weekend breaking the 44-day mark set two years ago. However conditions were overall better than two years ago or in 2015. Compared to three weeks ago, the only negative change was that outlying chairs 9 and 14 had melt/frozen. Presumably that was also true at Eagle and some areas near Canyon Lodge. The runs off the top were mostly smooth chalk top to bottom.
Weather was sunny both days, maybe hit 40F on Tuesday with upslope wind just on top. Wednesday was a touch cooler with the wind slightly more.
As in some previous demos, I mostly tried skis in the 80's underfoot range to see if/how they might be better on firmer/packed snow than my daily driver Blizzard Bonafides 98mm wide. On Tuesday morning I started with Stockli SR88 and skied Face of 3, Drop Out 3, St. Anton and Stump Alley. Next up was the Salomon Stance 90, skiing Ralphie's, Climax, Coyote and Sanctuary. On the first day there is a bratwurst/hot dog lunch break, when Liz noticed this dog hanging out.
After lunch I first skied the Nordica Enforcer 94 on Broadway, Dave's, Gold Hill and Solitude, more similar to my Blizzard Bonafides. Skiers spraying snow on groomed Cornice and Saddle Bowl in early afternoon:
Liz skiing Roma's after I skied Dave's:
Our final skis we skied a couple extra runs as we thought we might be too late to take out a fifth demo. I was on the Kastle MX88's for Andy's, Drop Out 3, then off the back to Chair 14, returning via Monument (skier packed out enough to ski better than in January), lower St. Anton and Patrolmen's. I skied 22,900 vertical Tuesday.
Early Wednesday morning we had this view of the Paranoids as we headed out of the Mammoth Mountain Inn.
The December fracture lines are still evident, and it seems obvious that only Monument at far left of the pic has seen even a minimum of skier traffic. Those extensive slides are the one area where Mammoth looks worse than at the previous demo events.
I started again at Stockli, this time with a more dedicated carving ski, the Montera AR80 at 172cm. Liz was able to demo a similar ski from Stockli, the Laser AC72 at 158cm. I skied these on Patrolmen's, Drop Out 3, St. Anton and Stump Alley. Even more than the 88's, these skis can lock in the tail and carve at high speed. As on Tuesday, you can really put on the speed on lower St. Anton after skiing the upper steeps. I'd be tempted to get a ski like this for packed conditions.
Overview of demo area in chair 2 parking lot Wednesday:
Most years there are a couple of brands we have not seen before. This year it was https://crspskis.com/ CRSP from Winter Park. They had one women's ski which Liz tried Tuesday and grew on her over the time she skied it. When I was there Wednesday the rep was out and the tech did not know details. I took out the Park model (not necessarily a terrain park ski but named after a pro who works with CRSP) to Stump Alley, Quicksilver and Solitude.
My new (as of last April) Lange XT3 boots have tech fittings, so I next decided to try a Dynafit ski, the Free 97. I took these to Andy's, Dave's, Solitude, Triangle and Dry Creek. The lightweight binding was reminiscent of the Salomon Pilots that Adam and I demoed 20+ years ago. The skis' performance was not far off normal weight alpine skis of similar dimensions.
By this time I was getting tired, so my next demo was the Armada Declivity 88. I've always found Armada skis versatile and forgiving in past demos. After warming up on Fascination I finally checked out the Wipe Out side of chair 23 for the first time in 2022.
Snow here was not as stiff as 3 weeks ago so I had a nice run on Wipe Out 2 into St. Anton and returned to the demo via Mambo. By this time it had clouded over some, so Liz did not want to go to the top again in flat light. My final demo was the Atomic Bent 90. We went off the back of 3 and skied Sanctuary down the chair 5 lift line. That snow had seemed stiff Tuesday morning but was more forgiving late in the day.
I regained some energy so after skiing Ralphie's I tried Gravy Chute as a substitute challenge comparable to the top runs. Upon Liz' recommendation I finished with Rodger's Ridge, which surprisingly had smooth chalk despite its east exposure which usually sets up a mogul field.
I finished Wednesday with 25,400 vertical. As we left the Mammoth Mountain Inn here's the view of the halfpipe and lower part of slopestyle used last month for Olympic trials.
The original chair 1 was built at a fixed loading height, requiring in early season the sidestep up a ramp and the occasional domino effect if someone lost their balance. I recall that ramp before chair 1 was replaced with a high speed in 1988. All other chairs at Mammoth were built with adjustable loading stations for snowpack level.
I've been to six of these demo events and this is the fourth during an extended dry spell. The current dry spell is now a midwinter record, just this weekend breaking the 44-day mark set two years ago. However conditions were overall better than two years ago or in 2015. Compared to three weeks ago, the only negative change was that outlying chairs 9 and 14 had melt/frozen. Presumably that was also true at Eagle and some areas near Canyon Lodge. The runs off the top were mostly smooth chalk top to bottom.
Weather was sunny both days, maybe hit 40F on Tuesday with upslope wind just on top. Wednesday was a touch cooler with the wind slightly more.
As in some previous demos, I mostly tried skis in the 80's underfoot range to see if/how they might be better on firmer/packed snow than my daily driver Blizzard Bonafides 98mm wide. On Tuesday morning I started with Stockli SR88 and skied Face of 3, Drop Out 3, St. Anton and Stump Alley. Next up was the Salomon Stance 90, skiing Ralphie's, Climax, Coyote and Sanctuary. On the first day there is a bratwurst/hot dog lunch break, when Liz noticed this dog hanging out.
After lunch I first skied the Nordica Enforcer 94 on Broadway, Dave's, Gold Hill and Solitude, more similar to my Blizzard Bonafides. Skiers spraying snow on groomed Cornice and Saddle Bowl in early afternoon:
Liz skiing Roma's after I skied Dave's:
Our final skis we skied a couple extra runs as we thought we might be too late to take out a fifth demo. I was on the Kastle MX88's for Andy's, Drop Out 3, then off the back to Chair 14, returning via Monument (skier packed out enough to ski better than in January), lower St. Anton and Patrolmen's. I skied 22,900 vertical Tuesday.
Early Wednesday morning we had this view of the Paranoids as we headed out of the Mammoth Mountain Inn.
The December fracture lines are still evident, and it seems obvious that only Monument at far left of the pic has seen even a minimum of skier traffic. Those extensive slides are the one area where Mammoth looks worse than at the previous demo events.
I started again at Stockli, this time with a more dedicated carving ski, the Montera AR80 at 172cm. Liz was able to demo a similar ski from Stockli, the Laser AC72 at 158cm. I skied these on Patrolmen's, Drop Out 3, St. Anton and Stump Alley. Even more than the 88's, these skis can lock in the tail and carve at high speed. As on Tuesday, you can really put on the speed on lower St. Anton after skiing the upper steeps. I'd be tempted to get a ski like this for packed conditions.
Overview of demo area in chair 2 parking lot Wednesday:
Most years there are a couple of brands we have not seen before. This year it was https://crspskis.com/ CRSP from Winter Park. They had one women's ski which Liz tried Tuesday and grew on her over the time she skied it. When I was there Wednesday the rep was out and the tech did not know details. I took out the Park model (not necessarily a terrain park ski but named after a pro who works with CRSP) to Stump Alley, Quicksilver and Solitude.
My new (as of last April) Lange XT3 boots have tech fittings, so I next decided to try a Dynafit ski, the Free 97. I took these to Andy's, Dave's, Solitude, Triangle and Dry Creek. The lightweight binding was reminiscent of the Salomon Pilots that Adam and I demoed 20+ years ago. The skis' performance was not far off normal weight alpine skis of similar dimensions.
By this time I was getting tired, so my next demo was the Armada Declivity 88. I've always found Armada skis versatile and forgiving in past demos. After warming up on Fascination I finally checked out the Wipe Out side of chair 23 for the first time in 2022.
Snow here was not as stiff as 3 weeks ago so I had a nice run on Wipe Out 2 into St. Anton and returned to the demo via Mambo. By this time it had clouded over some, so Liz did not want to go to the top again in flat light. My final demo was the Atomic Bent 90. We went off the back of 3 and skied Sanctuary down the chair 5 lift line. That snow had seemed stiff Tuesday morning but was more forgiving late in the day.
I regained some energy so after skiing Ralphie's I tried Gravy Chute as a substitute challenge comparable to the top runs. Upon Liz' recommendation I finished with Rodger's Ridge, which surprisingly had smooth chalk despite its east exposure which usually sets up a mogul field.
I finished Wednesday with 25,400 vertical. As we left the Mammoth Mountain Inn here's the view of the halfpipe and lower part of slopestyle used last month for Olympic trials.
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