Skiace
Member
No pics (it was low vis most of the day anyway) but I figure folks might want a quick report.
The storm brought more snow sooner than expected, leaving ~26" at Main by 2am last night. Woke up today to bluebird, but a quick check of the radar warned that the clear sky wouldn't last long. Fighting the crowds at Canyon, I got to the lift line at 22 just before they opened the chair, about 9am. My first lap was Viva down the chair line, and it was spectacular; one of my best runs of the season. Yet again we lucked out and got minimal wind during the storm, plus the snow was quite dry by Mammoth standards. It wasn't quite the epic Utah blower we had at the end of January, but it was close. On my second ride up 22, the lift stopped and had maintenance trouble. They closed the line and when we finally got going again, patrol was handing out drink vouchers at the top.
Since we figured 22 would be down for awhile, we did avi 2 down to chair 10, hitting the old chair 10 line on the way. Avi 2 was great, more tracked than the first lap but still very soft. The old chair 10 line was deep as usual, so we went back for a second lap. On the second ride up 10, we saw 22 was open again so we headed back for another few clean up laps. The weather was moving in now, and it snowed steadily the rest of the day. By 12:30 the lift line had emptied out and the snow was thoroughly tracked. It turns out chair 9 had opened about 11:30, but we didn't know at the time. I went in for a quick bite to refuel and catch my breath, where I saw the news about 9 and headed back out.
Chair 9 had no lift line, so I traversed out towards Dragon's Tail in hopes that I could find a few scraps left. To my surprise, when I got out the traverse even the glades just before the tail looked virtually untouched so I dropped in early. The trees delivered a completely untracked run, at times I found myself taking 5-6 turns between even seeing other tracks; and this was at about 1pm on a Saturday! Needless to say, I milked laps on the Tail the rest of the afternoon, ending up taking 7 runs out there. The chair never developed a lift line, and the goods got tracked slowly over the rest of the day. The snow out on the steep pitches was deeper and just as soft as the morning on 22.
I was in awe all afternoon at how long the pow lasted. This was one of my best powder days at Mammoth, probably the best of the season, and easily the best on a weekend. 26,000 vert on the day and the majority of it was deep and light. The top never opened by the way, and Sunday is supposed to be bluebird all day. Can't wait for round two tomorrow, hopefully I'll snag a few pics.
The storm brought more snow sooner than expected, leaving ~26" at Main by 2am last night. Woke up today to bluebird, but a quick check of the radar warned that the clear sky wouldn't last long. Fighting the crowds at Canyon, I got to the lift line at 22 just before they opened the chair, about 9am. My first lap was Viva down the chair line, and it was spectacular; one of my best runs of the season. Yet again we lucked out and got minimal wind during the storm, plus the snow was quite dry by Mammoth standards. It wasn't quite the epic Utah blower we had at the end of January, but it was close. On my second ride up 22, the lift stopped and had maintenance trouble. They closed the line and when we finally got going again, patrol was handing out drink vouchers at the top.
Since we figured 22 would be down for awhile, we did avi 2 down to chair 10, hitting the old chair 10 line on the way. Avi 2 was great, more tracked than the first lap but still very soft. The old chair 10 line was deep as usual, so we went back for a second lap. On the second ride up 10, we saw 22 was open again so we headed back for another few clean up laps. The weather was moving in now, and it snowed steadily the rest of the day. By 12:30 the lift line had emptied out and the snow was thoroughly tracked. It turns out chair 9 had opened about 11:30, but we didn't know at the time. I went in for a quick bite to refuel and catch my breath, where I saw the news about 9 and headed back out.
Chair 9 had no lift line, so I traversed out towards Dragon's Tail in hopes that I could find a few scraps left. To my surprise, when I got out the traverse even the glades just before the tail looked virtually untouched so I dropped in early. The trees delivered a completely untracked run, at times I found myself taking 5-6 turns between even seeing other tracks; and this was at about 1pm on a Saturday! Needless to say, I milked laps on the Tail the rest of the afternoon, ending up taking 7 runs out there. The chair never developed a lift line, and the goods got tracked slowly over the rest of the day. The snow out on the steep pitches was deeper and just as soft as the morning on 22.
I was in awe all afternoon at how long the pow lasted. This was one of my best powder days at Mammoth, probably the best of the season, and easily the best on a weekend. 26,000 vert on the day and the majority of it was deep and light. The top never opened by the way, and Sunday is supposed to be bluebird all day. Can't wait for round two tomorrow, hopefully I'll snag a few pics.