I took advantage of my senior free skiing yesterday, but without Liz who would have had to pay $139. Weather forecast was still for sun and highs in the 40's, though wind might pick up in advance of the upcoming storm.
The bottom of East does not look appetizing.
The lower pitch of Goldrush at right has adequate coverage on less than half its width, mostly in the shade. Olympic Bowl has coverage but is obviously bulletproof in current conditions and I never saw anyone ski it.
The bottom of Sundance at left is wider but not full width.
Canyon at right was probably a river during the rain of Feb. 18-19 and is closed.
With no new snow or snowmaking effort and Mt. High neglect, East might have no more than a week or two left. That's a shame because its 1,600 vertical has SoCal's best groomer skiing. That was greatly enhanced by the lack of crowds. Here's the top third of vertical which everyone must ski.
Below that you have choice of Sundance/Wildcard skier's right and Goldrush skier's left. The only variation was the Rangers cutoff under the lift. I was on the lift just after 10AM and soon the middle half of Sundance's vertical was in smooth corn mode. I ran 9 laps and 14,500 vertical in less than two hours. Here's the middle section of Goldrush about 11:30.
Notice that corduroy stripes are still visible. This was elite Orelle-in-March-2022 corn perfection, the condition I most enjoy groomer skiing and as a non racer the only time I feel 100% carved turns. There is an upside to Mt. High East's stepchild status.
At 12:15 I skied down the closed beginner chair on East and skated/walked the trail to West. After a blue sky morning, the weather changed abruptly with fog rolling in.
Half an hour later here's my temporary view riding the Conquest chair at West.
It remained overcast but only occasionally that foggy.
I was over there to ski the Inferno Ridge runs.
These get morning sun and skied fairly well.
I thought the north and west facing single blacks might be solid frozen granular, but only Silverspur was roped off. Others like Calamity, Vertigo and even Gunslinger had been groomed, had loosed up some during the morning and had easily edgeable hardpack. The bottom of West had clumpy but not sticky spring snow from skier traffic.
I skied another 9,800 vertical at West, finished just before 2PM. I waited for the shuttle, not tempted at all to ski Sawmill Canyon back to East after the rain. I left home at 8:15 and was back by 4PM. There are times when day skiing in SoCal is very convenient and this one definitely had its highlights.
The bottom of East does not look appetizing.
The lower pitch of Goldrush at right has adequate coverage on less than half its width, mostly in the shade. Olympic Bowl has coverage but is obviously bulletproof in current conditions and I never saw anyone ski it.
The bottom of Sundance at left is wider but not full width.
Canyon at right was probably a river during the rain of Feb. 18-19 and is closed.
With no new snow or snowmaking effort and Mt. High neglect, East might have no more than a week or two left. That's a shame because its 1,600 vertical has SoCal's best groomer skiing. That was greatly enhanced by the lack of crowds. Here's the top third of vertical which everyone must ski.
Below that you have choice of Sundance/Wildcard skier's right and Goldrush skier's left. The only variation was the Rangers cutoff under the lift. I was on the lift just after 10AM and soon the middle half of Sundance's vertical was in smooth corn mode. I ran 9 laps and 14,500 vertical in less than two hours. Here's the middle section of Goldrush about 11:30.
Notice that corduroy stripes are still visible. This was elite Orelle-in-March-2022 corn perfection, the condition I most enjoy groomer skiing and as a non racer the only time I feel 100% carved turns. There is an upside to Mt. High East's stepchild status.
At 12:15 I skied down the closed beginner chair on East and skated/walked the trail to West. After a blue sky morning, the weather changed abruptly with fog rolling in.
Half an hour later here's my temporary view riding the Conquest chair at West.
It remained overcast but only occasionally that foggy.
I was over there to ski the Inferno Ridge runs.
These get morning sun and skied fairly well.
I thought the north and west facing single blacks might be solid frozen granular, but only Silverspur was roped off. Others like Calamity, Vertigo and even Gunslinger had been groomed, had loosed up some during the morning and had easily edgeable hardpack. The bottom of West had clumpy but not sticky spring snow from skier traffic.
I skied another 9,800 vertical at West, finished just before 2PM. I waited for the shuttle, not tempted at all to ski Sawmill Canyon back to East after the rain. I left home at 8:15 and was back by 4PM. There are times when day skiing in SoCal is very convenient and this one definitely had its highlights.
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