I returned to Baldy Tuesday, alone again as Liz had another appointment. I was the one with a dental appointment Monday, so I didn't get up there first thing after the 8 inches that fell over the weekend. I heard that Monday was quite busy, not only for the new snow but because San Diego and a few other school districts had the day off. Tuesday was very quiet, didn't even fill completely the upper parking lot.
It was 33F when I arrived, 10F warmer than last Thursday. However there was thin overcast in the morning that thickened after 1PM. Winds increased in the afternoon too, so there was much less softening in sunny exposures than last Thursday.
Here's the first view of Bentley's riding chair 1.
There's more debris in there than last week though much of it is pine needles.
Sugarpine about halfway up with the bottom of Nightmare at right:
Sugarpine had more noticeable ice patches, as it probably got a fair amount of weekend traffic. Also, those huge rime deposits last week fall out of the trees, and the resulting death cookies tend to roll downhill into gully runs like Sugarpine. I was concerned about this, but on Thunder there were not so many in Emile's, Robin's and Bonanza. I think the weekend new snow helped a lot with that.
Approaching the notch:
Rime has melted off the building. Most of what's on the trees is probably from the weekend storm.
I was on Thunder by 9:05. First view there, quite similar to last Thursday:
There was more grooming than Thursday, notably Skyline. The upgraded groomers from the Tom Treaccar era ~9 years ago are still much appreciated. My first 3 runs on Fire Road/Bonanza, Skyline and Short Cut/Robin's were soft packed powder and skied like a dream, and not much different a couple of hours later as so few people were there. View down Shortcut near the top of chair 3:
Cajon Pass is in the background.
I skied Emile's and Goldridge, which were similar to last Thursday, then ventured into South Bowl, which had been closed then.
South Bowl had patches of untracked, a bit thick two days later but still manageable.
South Bowl's skiing was good, but the traverse out was heinous, especially in the morning.
Those death cookies were solid ice and much of the underlying surface was frozen granular.
After that traverse was when I reran a couple of those ego pleasing groomers. By 11AM the sun was above the top of Thunder, illuminating the parts of Liftline that you didn't want to ski.
I wondered if the weekend new snow would reduce those hard spots, which they did a little bit.
Robin's trees and those between Skyline and Emile's were excellent, just like last week. Also like last week, the drops off the Fire Road still had a mix of packed powder and frozen granular.
After 11 runs on Thunder I took a short lunch break. As it wasn't all that warm I waited until after noon to try chair 4. View from the lift, skier on Turkey Shoot at left:
Ungroomed on chair 4 was only partially softened, and probably the same Monday because it wasn't that icy either, more of a variable crunch. Groomers were not as soft as on Thunder but still decent. Here's the view of Thunder from the other chair 4 groomer Rollercoaster:
The tubing park has been expanded and now blocks the gravity ski from the base of chair 4 into Beginner Gulch. I squeezed from the end of Rollercoaster through a couple of narrow openings beyond the end of the tubing park to avoid having to hike up the hill past the Notch restaurant.
As it was now 1:30 I gave South Bowl another shot. This time I traversed far along the ridgeline to where the fall line drops steep and north facing. View back across to where the open and still icy part of South Bowl drops off Skyline's ridge:
Here's looking down where I skied:
The traverse out was tedious but less so than earlier as some of the subsurface was softer.
I repeated a few of the better runs on Thunder until 3PM. As the clouds above thickened, the clarity of the air below improved. This view of Catalina was about as sharp as it gets 76 miles distant.
Even more noteworthy was the view of San Clemente Island 110 miles away. San Clemente is about as long as Catalina but less mountainous, so only visible from anywhere on the mainland with very clear skies.
For my run to the bottom I decided to look for Psych Out beyond Bentley's which I had last skied in December 2004.
This is not advised for people who have not been there before as you can get cliffed out, but fortunately I ended up in the right place. I put the second track in there, then bailed skier's right when I saw an opening into Bentley's.
At the bottom of Bentley's the skier's right side that had softened Thursday afternoon was still firm in the overcast today. But overall coverage down below was similar.
I skied 22,700 vertical with some bits and pieces of powder and was home before 5PM.
It was 33F when I arrived, 10F warmer than last Thursday. However there was thin overcast in the morning that thickened after 1PM. Winds increased in the afternoon too, so there was much less softening in sunny exposures than last Thursday.
Here's the first view of Bentley's riding chair 1.
There's more debris in there than last week though much of it is pine needles.
Sugarpine about halfway up with the bottom of Nightmare at right:
Sugarpine had more noticeable ice patches, as it probably got a fair amount of weekend traffic. Also, those huge rime deposits last week fall out of the trees, and the resulting death cookies tend to roll downhill into gully runs like Sugarpine. I was concerned about this, but on Thunder there were not so many in Emile's, Robin's and Bonanza. I think the weekend new snow helped a lot with that.
Approaching the notch:
Rime has melted off the building. Most of what's on the trees is probably from the weekend storm.
I was on Thunder by 9:05. First view there, quite similar to last Thursday:
There was more grooming than Thursday, notably Skyline. The upgraded groomers from the Tom Treaccar era ~9 years ago are still much appreciated. My first 3 runs on Fire Road/Bonanza, Skyline and Short Cut/Robin's were soft packed powder and skied like a dream, and not much different a couple of hours later as so few people were there. View down Shortcut near the top of chair 3:
Cajon Pass is in the background.
I skied Emile's and Goldridge, which were similar to last Thursday, then ventured into South Bowl, which had been closed then.
South Bowl had patches of untracked, a bit thick two days later but still manageable.
South Bowl's skiing was good, but the traverse out was heinous, especially in the morning.
Those death cookies were solid ice and much of the underlying surface was frozen granular.
After that traverse was when I reran a couple of those ego pleasing groomers. By 11AM the sun was above the top of Thunder, illuminating the parts of Liftline that you didn't want to ski.
I wondered if the weekend new snow would reduce those hard spots, which they did a little bit.
Robin's trees and those between Skyline and Emile's were excellent, just like last week. Also like last week, the drops off the Fire Road still had a mix of packed powder and frozen granular.
After 11 runs on Thunder I took a short lunch break. As it wasn't all that warm I waited until after noon to try chair 4. View from the lift, skier on Turkey Shoot at left:
Ungroomed on chair 4 was only partially softened, and probably the same Monday because it wasn't that icy either, more of a variable crunch. Groomers were not as soft as on Thunder but still decent. Here's the view of Thunder from the other chair 4 groomer Rollercoaster:
The tubing park has been expanded and now blocks the gravity ski from the base of chair 4 into Beginner Gulch. I squeezed from the end of Rollercoaster through a couple of narrow openings beyond the end of the tubing park to avoid having to hike up the hill past the Notch restaurant.
As it was now 1:30 I gave South Bowl another shot. This time I traversed far along the ridgeline to where the fall line drops steep and north facing. View back across to where the open and still icy part of South Bowl drops off Skyline's ridge:
Here's looking down where I skied:
The traverse out was tedious but less so than earlier as some of the subsurface was softer.
I repeated a few of the better runs on Thunder until 3PM. As the clouds above thickened, the clarity of the air below improved. This view of Catalina was about as sharp as it gets 76 miles distant.
Even more noteworthy was the view of San Clemente Island 110 miles away. San Clemente is about as long as Catalina but less mountainous, so only visible from anywhere on the mainland with very clear skies.
For my run to the bottom I decided to look for Psych Out beyond Bentley's which I had last skied in December 2004.
This is not advised for people who have not been there before as you can get cliffed out, but fortunately I ended up in the right place. I put the second track in there, then bailed skier's right when I saw an opening into Bentley's.
At the bottom of Bentley's the skier's right side that had softened Thursday afternoon was still firm in the overcast today. But overall coverage down below was similar.
I skied 22,700 vertical with some bits and pieces of powder and was home before 5PM.