Mammoth, CA, April 12, 2021

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
Warm and calm weather prevailed at Mammoth since Friday so the entire mountain has spring conditions. But with warm and calm in April the mountain softens sequentially by altitude/exposure so it’s possible to ski nearly ideal corn snow all day long. High winds were predicted for Tuesday, so with that being a likely short day there was good reason to ski all out bell to bell Monday.

Adam and Alexa had skied Saturday afternoon and Sunday and they told me that the SE facing terrain softened by 9:30. So I arrived there then on Monday after warmups on Broadway, Cornice, Face of 3 and Stump Alley. Alexa cruising the corn on Quicksilver:
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Adam:
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Both of them below me with Sherwins in the background:
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Adam and me on an encore run:
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With less traffic than last week, we skied two more on 25 plus Gold Hill before moving on. We skied Coyote to chair 2, then Cornice and Scotty’s from 23. We then took the gondola to Dave’s Run, Alexa there:
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It was now 11:45,so they skied to their car at chair 15 to drive home to San Diego. I returned to chairs 2 and 23. I skied Drop Out 3 and then Monument, which had been rock hard Thursday but was sun softened today. I took another gondola and called Tseeb’s friend Lenny. I skied Climax and met him and his friend Jeff at chair 3 about 12:45.

I knew from both my experience last week and Adam’s report that this was time to hit the backside. We rode 23 and were able to ski soft ungroomed snow on Red’s Lake run off upper Roadrunner. We then skied the same smooth corn laps on Arriba that I had enjoyed last week.

Lenny and Jeff were both on telemark skis so I inquired about their comfort in exposed terrain. They said fine if it wasn’t icy. So I led them to Paranoid 1 because the exposed traverse was soft, not at all like last Thursday. Lenny got down Paranoid 1 right behind me, but here’s Jeff farther up.
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It’s now past 2PM and starting to cloud over. The runout was more manageable for me on alpine skis as the snow got a bit heavier down low.
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Jeff was experiencing some vertigo so he rested in Main Lodge while Lenny and I took the gondola to Dave’s Run. Lenny on Dave’s:
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We were positioned to ski chair 5 next, which is generally a good place to be in late afternoon in spring. Snow on Face of 5 was sometimes heavy, but it was excellent on Triangle, Sliver and Sanctuary. I finally got a good pic of Lenny’s telemark turn under chair 5.
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It was now past 3PM but I next planned to max the end of day vertical on the chair 1 race course runs. Terry’s and Fascination had ideal corn as they had been roped off for racing in the morning. I also skied Andy’s and Gravy Chute and mixed in a chair 3 ride to World Cup and a Fascination encore. I loaded my last chair 1 at 3:57PM and skied to the car.
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Once again I had a highlight ski day at Mammoth after 80+% of ski areas have called it quits for the season.

This was my 9th lifetime day over 40K and third at Mammoth. Three others have been at Mt. Bachelor, where I will meet Liz this weekend. The others were at Snowbird, Sun Valley and Saalbach.

By month the 40K days have been one each in Dec, Jan, Feb and Mar, with the other 5 being during the first half of April.
 
Coverage on the Paranoids is rough this year for April. With maybe the exception of runs with man-made snow I don't see how Mammoth will ski until Memorial Day. It's been a tough year for snow.
 
Relative coverage on the top runs varies season to season based upon wind deposition during major storms. The Wipe Out side of chair 23 got shortchanged this season. Probably not coincidentally chair 14 did relatively well. Dos Passos was skiable in late March and quite popular.

Overall this season is not nearly as bad as 2012, 2014 and 2015. Cornice, Climax and the traverse under the Drop Outs should remain skiable and possibly Dave’s Run. A key question is whether Stump Alley can be maintained for parking access. I hope to get to Mammoth in May but hopefully before the very end.
 
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