Snow Summit 10/30/04

Last week's storm was cold enough to snow 1-2 feet in the Southern California mountains, so 4 areas opened by today. I chose Snow Summit for several reasons:
1. The storm snowed more at Big Bear than in the closer San Gabriel Mts, the opposite of the normal pattern.
2. The other 3 areas opened Thursday or Friday, so I figured that Summit's snow would be less chewed up on its opening day.
3. Snow Summit's long established reputation of management competence in grooming and snowmaking.

This is the probably the first October opening of Southern California ski areas on record. Thus it was a very different experience from a typical day at Snow Summit. See my report and pics from last January 10 to compare.

Snow Summit was caught off-guard by the early storm. Its normally informative website had almost no info. The 800 number snow report said 4 lifts would run today, so I was convinced to go. Snow on the walk up to chair 1 was still in its natural state.


But the snow machines are on to try to keep core runs going in November.


Early morning grooming was up to Snow Summit's usual standards.


Chair 10 was not running but it was worth skiing for the powder, a bit heavy this far down,


East Why was quiet enough for two powder runs.


Riding chair 2.


View of San Gorgonio:


Bare spots are emerging late in the day on Log Chute.


I skied 26,000 vertical, 6K of powder, probably the best day I've ever skied at Big Bear. Nornally I'm at Baldy for SoCal powder days.

This was my first attempt with pics in the new format. Sizing the pics is easier as I can always get the 480x360 with one multiple reduction instead of the old trial and error method to get under 40K file size.

Unfortunately it appears that if you load all your pics at once, they will appear in the reverse order from which you posted them. I must be missing something here. And how do you post more text below the last picture? Do you preview after each picture to get the order right?

Ordering is fixed many years later with the insert function. Captions within the pics were lost with the Xenforo conversion. Fortunately due to limits on the captions I soon began routinely putting comments between the pics instead in captions. I've inserted a few comments to replace the captions.

I now also notice that picture descriptions are limited in length. How do you do text between and after pictures?

Tone says:

This was my first attempt with pics in the new format. Sizing the pics is easier as I can always get the 480x360 with one multiple reduction instead of the old trial and error method to get under 40K file size.

Click to expand...

a mutltiple reduction? huh? i keep doing it the trial and error way. takes forever it seems. good thing i don't post that many pics.

good questions you have too. i was wondering the same thing.

NOTE: the reply to these questions may be a new post in the FYI section of Liftlines. har har har har.

Gee, is that your own sitzmark in ch3_pow8.JPG? :wink:

I've replied separately to the picture formatting questions in the "FYI" forum.

another nice report from the epic preseason out west. Keep getting out there and enjoying it for us east coasters that havn't even had cold enough weather to blow snow yet.

I am pleased to report that my tracks are the 8's at left which lead out the lower left corner of the pic. The sitzmarks are from a snowboarder who came to a halt in the flat spots. There was a flat section just below me where they had to posthole for 50 yards or so. Given Big Bear's 70+% snowboarder ratio and Snow Summit's low intermediate reputation, I almost had the freshies to myself

It was heavy snow, and I was pretty beat when I stopped for lunch at 12:30 having skied 18K, with 6K of that untracked. I left at 3:30 with 26K, definitely one of my better opening days.

With regard to the epic start, it is confined to the Sierra and Utah at the moment. I would not hesitate to recommend early season destination trips to either. You won't be disappointed.

can someone explain what a sitzmark is?

never heard the word or expression before. thanks

hamdog":393rrxjx said:

can someone explain what a sitzmark is?

never heard the word or expression before. thanks

Click to expand...

It's the mark that's made when you sitz in the snow - usually unintentionally. ;-)

geez. i was being really ignorant. sitz as in "sits". i see. a butt mark. thanks for clearing that up for me. lol

much respect to being able to close your own eights! definitely a rare thing to get to do on a powder day.