Liz and I finished our season over Memorial Day weekend at Mammoth. While May has been cooler than average there were enough warm spells to create widespread suncups in some unskied areas, notably much of the chair 5 terrain. Some of this was due to midweek gondola maintenance over the past 2 weeks. However overall coverage was still good enough to keep lots of runs open, and for the weekend both chair 23 and the gondola ran, a key reason for us being there over the holiday. Tseeb drove to Mammoth and skied Friday alone and Saturday with us, then went home.
All 3 days there was just a light overnight freeze and it was totally clear until 10AM. As a result Stump Alley was already in corn mode when we got on the hill by 8AM and most of the mountain softened by 9AM. On Saturday Liz, Tseeb and I warmed upon Stump Alley, then met Elissa and Scott from Mammoth Forum. Here we are at the sign on top: Elissa, Tseeb, Scott, Liz and me:
We skied 4 gondola laps, 2 on Cornice and 2 on Climax, both in their prime 9-11AM with slight NE tilt. On one of the gondola rides we met Soulskier in person for the first time, here with Tseeb and Liz.
Here are Soulskier’s custom MRA skis.
On one of the Climax runs we ventured into the chair 5 terrain. The rest of the group skied Dry Creek, Tseeb and Scott here:
I explored skier’s right, finding severely suncupped snow, then cut back to ski a better line in Triangle to rejoin the group.
Now it was time to move to chair 23, where we first skied Drop Out. Elissa here:
She and Scott went into Main Lodge for a break while Tseeb, Liz and I explored skier’s left on chair 23. Surprisingly the Wipe Out 2 entry required a walk over about 5 feet of scree. From there Tseeb and I squeezed through a rocky entry to Monument while Liz started down Scotty’s and then joined me lower on Monument.
Clouds started to roll in around 10AM and by 11:30 it was completely overcast but still warm with little wind. About this time we were joined at chair 1 by Adam, who was at his ski house for its final weekend of season rental. We skied Drop Out first, then the same squeeze into upper Monument but this time traversed (a sticky slog) to get to P1. Adam on P1:
We then skied Wipe Out 1 and 2, then Adam and I skied a couple of chair 1 laps on Gravy Chute and Fascination while Tseeb stayed up top and skied until 1:45 to finish his season.
Adam, Liz and I bailed at 1PM as some of the snow as getting heavy and we had two more days ahead of us. I skied 21,100 vertical. We had some concern thunderstorms might close the lifts midday, but the only rain we saw was around 3PM while in the hot tub.
Sunday’s weather started identically to Saturday, clear until 10AM, then partial clouds. This time the clouds remained scattered with no real threat of thunder or rain. Liz and I started on Stump at 8AM, then skied Cornice to Broadway in nice corn. Continuing to time the sun we skied from 3 to Coyote, then 2 gondola runs on Climax and Dave’s. Much of Dave’s had deteriorated, but there was a diagonal line of good skier packed snow angling to skier's right, which meant a long traverse back. We dropped into the chair 5 terrain to skier-packed Sliver, well timed just after 10AM.
We had noticed Sunday was much busier than Saturday but as yet had not waited in lines. While heading up top we noticed a moderate line of ~30 people on chair 3, but we skied Scotty’s/Monument under similar conditions as Saturday. When we got to the bottom the gondola line was down the stairs and into the snow ~10:30. That line was close to 15 minutes because it turned out to be a record day for scenic gondola riders, who are sent up top separately from skiers. There were comments on Mammoth Forum about the big crowds Sunday, more chewed up snow and occasional lift stoppages, but fortunately this one gondola line was the only congestion effect upon us all day.
We skied skier’s left Climax (the more mogulled side) to get to Gremlin’s/St. Anton which had just been opened after the racers were done. We then ran top to bottom laps on chairs 1 and 23, skiing Drop Out, Wipe Out and the Hump up top and the race course runs Andy’s Double Gold, Fascination and Ralphy’s lower down. We also took a chair 1 run on Baby Gravy before quitting again at 1PM with another 21,100 vertical.
I forgot my camera Sunday but Liz got a couple of noteworthy pics. Here’s an interesting snowboarder costume as we were booting up at the chair 2 parking lot.
On the high rocks overlooking Wipe Out, the Hulk is still there after 15 months!
Monday was slightly warmer than the previous 2 days, particularly after 10AM when there were only a few clouds. Liz and I started at 8AM again with a similar sun chasing pattern as before: Stump, Cornice to Broadway, Climax to Coyote, Climax to Triangle by 9:45AM.
As usual Monday has the lightest crowds of Memorial Day weekend, so lower mountain groomers held up better than Sunday despite being warmer. When we rode 23 to ski Monument we noticed smooth corn on the Gremlin’s/St. Anton race course which was only occasionally in use. Therefore we skied that after our next runs on Saddle Bowl, Drop Out 3 and DropOut 1. Liz, then feeling some Killington Superstar nostalgia, wanted to ski the bump zipper line in West Bowl.
By this time ~11:45 I had heard from Lonnie, with whom I had skied with Rainbow Jenny 3 weeks earlier. We met at the top of the gondola with his friends John and Natasha and skied MJB and World Cup, the latter just vacated by the racers, leaving pristine corn behind. We rode up 23 together, but I skied Wipe Out and got separated from the rest who had gone to the Drop Out/Cornice side.
Liz called it a day but I reconnected with Lonnie, who this time had met Volkl rep Mike and his friend Anja. Mike had hiked up to the Paranoids Sunday and that sounded like a great season finale to me. Mike leading the ~5 minute hike:
Lonnie and Anja behind me:
The tricky part was climbing over the rocks to get into P2. When I reached the snow I postholed my right foot up to the knee and got stuck. My first instinct was to dig with a pole and it too became encased in the wet spring snow. I remembered from a couple of lost ski incidents in 2012 to dig with a ski not a pole, and so with Mike also using my other ski my foot was extricated in few minutes. Looking back Anja, Lonnie and another skier are climbing down the rocks.
Fortunately the skiing was worth the effort. Mike:
Lonnie:
They went back up for more, but they had started later and I was done after 23,100 vertical and the final adventure on Paranoid 2.
Overview of Mammoth snowpack from Hwy 395 on May 31:
The ski area will be open through June 12. However, Chair 2 and its parking are done for the season and the gondola will be closed June 1-9.
All 3 days there was just a light overnight freeze and it was totally clear until 10AM. As a result Stump Alley was already in corn mode when we got on the hill by 8AM and most of the mountain softened by 9AM. On Saturday Liz, Tseeb and I warmed upon Stump Alley, then met Elissa and Scott from Mammoth Forum. Here we are at the sign on top: Elissa, Tseeb, Scott, Liz and me:
We skied 4 gondola laps, 2 on Cornice and 2 on Climax, both in their prime 9-11AM with slight NE tilt. On one of the gondola rides we met Soulskier in person for the first time, here with Tseeb and Liz.
Here are Soulskier’s custom MRA skis.
On one of the Climax runs we ventured into the chair 5 terrain. The rest of the group skied Dry Creek, Tseeb and Scott here:
I explored skier’s right, finding severely suncupped snow, then cut back to ski a better line in Triangle to rejoin the group.
Now it was time to move to chair 23, where we first skied Drop Out. Elissa here:
She and Scott went into Main Lodge for a break while Tseeb, Liz and I explored skier’s left on chair 23. Surprisingly the Wipe Out 2 entry required a walk over about 5 feet of scree. From there Tseeb and I squeezed through a rocky entry to Monument while Liz started down Scotty’s and then joined me lower on Monument.
Clouds started to roll in around 10AM and by 11:30 it was completely overcast but still warm with little wind. About this time we were joined at chair 1 by Adam, who was at his ski house for its final weekend of season rental. We skied Drop Out first, then the same squeeze into upper Monument but this time traversed (a sticky slog) to get to P1. Adam on P1:
We then skied Wipe Out 1 and 2, then Adam and I skied a couple of chair 1 laps on Gravy Chute and Fascination while Tseeb stayed up top and skied until 1:45 to finish his season.
Adam, Liz and I bailed at 1PM as some of the snow as getting heavy and we had two more days ahead of us. I skied 21,100 vertical. We had some concern thunderstorms might close the lifts midday, but the only rain we saw was around 3PM while in the hot tub.
Sunday’s weather started identically to Saturday, clear until 10AM, then partial clouds. This time the clouds remained scattered with no real threat of thunder or rain. Liz and I started on Stump at 8AM, then skied Cornice to Broadway in nice corn. Continuing to time the sun we skied from 3 to Coyote, then 2 gondola runs on Climax and Dave’s. Much of Dave’s had deteriorated, but there was a diagonal line of good skier packed snow angling to skier's right, which meant a long traverse back. We dropped into the chair 5 terrain to skier-packed Sliver, well timed just after 10AM.
We had noticed Sunday was much busier than Saturday but as yet had not waited in lines. While heading up top we noticed a moderate line of ~30 people on chair 3, but we skied Scotty’s/Monument under similar conditions as Saturday. When we got to the bottom the gondola line was down the stairs and into the snow ~10:30. That line was close to 15 minutes because it turned out to be a record day for scenic gondola riders, who are sent up top separately from skiers. There were comments on Mammoth Forum about the big crowds Sunday, more chewed up snow and occasional lift stoppages, but fortunately this one gondola line was the only congestion effect upon us all day.
We skied skier’s left Climax (the more mogulled side) to get to Gremlin’s/St. Anton which had just been opened after the racers were done. We then ran top to bottom laps on chairs 1 and 23, skiing Drop Out, Wipe Out and the Hump up top and the race course runs Andy’s Double Gold, Fascination and Ralphy’s lower down. We also took a chair 1 run on Baby Gravy before quitting again at 1PM with another 21,100 vertical.
I forgot my camera Sunday but Liz got a couple of noteworthy pics. Here’s an interesting snowboarder costume as we were booting up at the chair 2 parking lot.
On the high rocks overlooking Wipe Out, the Hulk is still there after 15 months!
Monday was slightly warmer than the previous 2 days, particularly after 10AM when there were only a few clouds. Liz and I started at 8AM again with a similar sun chasing pattern as before: Stump, Cornice to Broadway, Climax to Coyote, Climax to Triangle by 9:45AM.
As usual Monday has the lightest crowds of Memorial Day weekend, so lower mountain groomers held up better than Sunday despite being warmer. When we rode 23 to ski Monument we noticed smooth corn on the Gremlin’s/St. Anton race course which was only occasionally in use. Therefore we skied that after our next runs on Saddle Bowl, Drop Out 3 and DropOut 1. Liz, then feeling some Killington Superstar nostalgia, wanted to ski the bump zipper line in West Bowl.
By this time ~11:45 I had heard from Lonnie, with whom I had skied with Rainbow Jenny 3 weeks earlier. We met at the top of the gondola with his friends John and Natasha and skied MJB and World Cup, the latter just vacated by the racers, leaving pristine corn behind. We rode up 23 together, but I skied Wipe Out and got separated from the rest who had gone to the Drop Out/Cornice side.
Liz called it a day but I reconnected with Lonnie, who this time had met Volkl rep Mike and his friend Anja. Mike had hiked up to the Paranoids Sunday and that sounded like a great season finale to me. Mike leading the ~5 minute hike:
Lonnie and Anja behind me:
The tricky part was climbing over the rocks to get into P2. When I reached the snow I postholed my right foot up to the knee and got stuck. My first instinct was to dig with a pole and it too became encased in the wet spring snow. I remembered from a couple of lost ski incidents in 2012 to dig with a ski not a pole, and so with Mike also using my other ski my foot was extricated in few minutes. Looking back Anja, Lonnie and another skier are climbing down the rocks.
Fortunately the skiing was worth the effort. Mike:
Lonnie:
They went back up for more, but they had started later and I was done after 23,100 vertical and the final adventure on Paranoid 2.
Overview of Mammoth snowpack from Hwy 395 on May 31:
The ski area will be open through June 12. However, Chair 2 and its parking are done for the season and the gondola will be closed June 1-9.
