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Though I had far less ski ability than college racers, Left Gully is a very close match for Wipe Out 1 at Mammoth so I felt some familiarity there. The "late spring" snow is also the most forgiving to me for skiing steep terrain. Patrick definitely had better coverage than I did. Nothing was skiable below Lunch Rocks on the way down on my day.
No I'm fairly sure that was a partially frozen crust. Still a very talented skier to handle that stuff fluidly in tight quarters.
I don't even consider what some of the "extreme" skiers do on extremely steep (and narrow) terrain (like here) to be even "skiing". They just throw their skis back and forth across the fall line (with "jump turns") and try to set an edge to stop their momentum down the slope. IMHO, more like survival skiing. No doubt it requires some skiing skill and very strong legs and upper bodies to make a series of these turns but not the same skiing fluidity and skill of a talented skier arcing turns down a slope. However, I do understand the challenge of it (and some of it I consider to be dangerously stupid). I also admit I watch way too many Youtube videos of such skiing antics.
