Mammoth also retained enough snow for me to claim my 11th consecutive month on skis (with #12 coming at Las Lenas).
There has been a lot of thunderstorm activity this summer. We had 2 of them driving up Friday night, one midday in Yosemite Saturday and another on the way back to Mammoth just before sunset Saturday night. And it was hailing in Mammoth at 4PM Sunday as we drove out of town.
But fortunately it was calm and sunny in the 50's when I arrived at the top of Mammoth around 10AM Sunday. There was a short but steep climb over the lip of Cornice Bowl to the top of the snowbank, which was fortunately flat and easy to switch gear. Cornice offered 480 vertical of skiing. The snow was suncupped but had softened about the right amount when I started skiing about 10:30. The irregularity threw me off and I had to sit down ending my first turn, but I got used to it after that.
From the bottom of Cornice there was a break and I hiked laterally and up a bit to upper Saddle Bowl, which had about 200 vertical of fairly smooth cruisable snow before I had to bail out left to follow the snaking ribbon of Gremlin's Gulch/upper St. Anton. At Mammoth it appears that these gullies that fill up with 20-30 feet of wind-blown snow midwinter stay covered longer than steep Couloirs like Gunsight/Hangman's/Wipe Out etc.
A stream forms underneath this snow at the bottom of the gullies, and partway down Gremlin's it broke through to the surface. I skied fast over a thin snow bridge which broke behind me, and a bit farther I had to take the skis off and walk down 20 vertical feet to where the ribbon resumed and connected to the final 200 vertical cruise on St. Anton. Total skiable vertical was 1,340 feet plus just 2 short breaks.
Gremlin's ribbon viewed from Minaret Summit:
Zoom of Cornice from chair 2 parking lot:
Viw across Climax toward Dave's from upper Saddle Bowl:
Top of gondola before walk down to Cornice:
Start of skiing on Cornice:
View up Conrice from halfway down:
There has been a lot of thunderstorm activity this summer. We had 2 of them driving up Friday night, one midday in Yosemite Saturday and another on the way back to Mammoth just before sunset Saturday night. And it was hailing in Mammoth at 4PM Sunday as we drove out of town.
But fortunately it was calm and sunny in the 50's when I arrived at the top of Mammoth around 10AM Sunday. There was a short but steep climb over the lip of Cornice Bowl to the top of the snowbank, which was fortunately flat and easy to switch gear. Cornice offered 480 vertical of skiing. The snow was suncupped but had softened about the right amount when I started skiing about 10:30. The irregularity threw me off and I had to sit down ending my first turn, but I got used to it after that.
From the bottom of Cornice there was a break and I hiked laterally and up a bit to upper Saddle Bowl, which had about 200 vertical of fairly smooth cruisable snow before I had to bail out left to follow the snaking ribbon of Gremlin's Gulch/upper St. Anton. At Mammoth it appears that these gullies that fill up with 20-30 feet of wind-blown snow midwinter stay covered longer than steep Couloirs like Gunsight/Hangman's/Wipe Out etc.
A stream forms underneath this snow at the bottom of the gullies, and partway down Gremlin's it broke through to the surface. I skied fast over a thin snow bridge which broke behind me, and a bit farther I had to take the skis off and walk down 20 vertical feet to where the ribbon resumed and connected to the final 200 vertical cruise on St. Anton. Total skiable vertical was 1,340 feet plus just 2 short breaks.
Gremlin's ribbon viewed from Minaret Summit:
Zoom of Cornice from chair 2 parking lot:
Viw across Climax toward Dave's from upper Saddle Bowl:
Top of gondola before walk down to Cornice:
Start of skiing on Cornice:
View up Conrice from halfway down:
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