We had a quick turnaround, getting home from the Alps at noon Monday, then leaving for Mammoth at 5PM Tuesday afternoon.
The reason for the trip was the regional industry demo event, held every year the week after SIA and the national demo at Copper Mountain. Normally there is a Northern California event at Tahoe Monday/Tuesday and then Mammoth Wednesday/Thursday. There was no Tahoe event this year, so I anticipated the Mammoth event might be busier, but it was not. Registration was more efficient than in past years because a good part of it was done online in advance.
Our own skis and poles were still AWOL and recovered at LAX on Friday after we got home. We didn't need skis but I grabbed some old poles out of a garage closet. I didn't notice that one of the poles my size was splintered vertically and would give way if I planted it hard. Liz had poles too short left over from my kids when they were young. We give a shout out to Leki for letting us use their demo poles for the entire two days. I used their trigger system for 2/3 of Wednesday and Liz for 1/3 of Thursday. https://www.leki.com/uk/innovations/trigger-s/ The trigger system will release with 30lbs of force, making it safe to use in the trees. For me it released only once unexpectedly when I was skating over to Dave's Run. Leki makes a variation that does not release with vertical pressure from skating.
Mammoth had only 11 inches of snow and quite a bit of warm weather since our last visit 4 weeks before, so there has been a net loss of snowpack. Top entries to steeps like Wipe Out/Drop Out and the Paranoids have become sketchy or impassable, though snow is fine once you find a way in. Here's Climax viewed from the gondola.
The mogul run under the gondola has some rocks. The fall lines traversing out looker's left were in good shape and I skied those twice each day.
Here's the view from Dave's Run (also skied twice each day) past Lincoln Mt. into town.
There is no snow on the ground in town and very little natural snow below 8,500 feet. You can see the WROD strip down to Eagle beyond Lincoln. With the demo being out of the Stump parking lot and likely deterioration of snow in the chair 9/22/25 sector, I never skied east of chair 5 on this trip.
Overview of the top and groomed Cornice:
As usual Mammoth grooming was excellent and there were no coverage issues on any of the groomers I skied.
Here's the western side of the upper mountain.
Scotty's was also nicely groomed Wednesday, as can be seen by the spray from the skiers on it here.
Mammoth built big jumps and a 22-foot halfpipe for Olympic trials, viewed here while riding chair 1.
On Thursday we took one set of demos over the top to chair 14. The broad slope below upper Roadrunner has lost most of its snow in the past month.
There are "floater" rocks on Roadrunner as you approach Scotty's/top of 14. If you ski that area it's best to approach from chair 23 and Skyline.
As in other dry spells most of the runs up top and on chairs 3 and 5 preserved chalky winter snow. I was surprised that so few people were skiing the ungroomed considering the shop demo event. I took each of my 12 demos through one ungroomed run off the top and often through the chair 3 or 5 terrain also.
I've read in recent ski reviews that there are few "bad skis" any more. Everything worked well for me, until I got a bit fatigued on the last two demos Thursday. As I'm not actively shopping for new skis, I generally demoed skis that were most appropriate for the conditions with no recent snow, which was also the situation the last two times we have done this event in 2015 and 2016.
I would say that more of the all mountain skis are in the low 90's mm width this year vs. upper 90's in 2015 and 2016. The Kastle F95hp probably impressed me most of those. On Thursday I was trying more skis under 90mm for more optimal firm snow performance. As in prior demos Stockli is a standout in this category, the current ski I tried being the Scale 83.
A couple of skis had more of a soft snow bias, the DPS Cassiar 94 and the Atomic Bent Chetler 100. Both of these were still very easy to initiate turns and good on the upper steeps; they just didn't grip the harder snow at speed quite as well as most of the others.
Liz had a tougher time skiing because her boots were in the AWOL ski bag. She thus used her AT boots Wednesday and was limited to demos compatible with her AT boot soles,which meant either Dynafit-type tech bindings or a Tyrolia binding compatible with both alpine and AT soles. The backcountry oriented skis tended to be too soft for the current snow conditions. For Thursday Liz rented a Dalbello boot from Kittredge, but didn't ski up to par not being in her own boots.
The surprise ski company was Sego, an independent from Victor, Idaho. They have been around for 4 years but this is their first year attempting national distribution and being at the SIA demo events. Liz loved the Sego UP Tour on Wednesday, even though it's a backcountry touring ski. So on Thursday I demoed the Sego Cleaver 88. After a warmup on Fascination, I took it to my most challenging run of the trip on Paranoid 2.
That was a sketchy entry up top which took some time to find and a long run on steep and stiff chalk below.
While I've highlighted some of the shortcomings of current Mammoth snow conditions, Mammoth stands head and shoulders above anywhere else in the southwest quadrant of the US for skiing right now. Mammoth has had a few inches to refresh the surfaces yesterday, and I've read that snowmaking is resuming in the ensuing cold weather, probably to rebuild some thinner areas around Canyon/Eagle.
The reason for the trip was the regional industry demo event, held every year the week after SIA and the national demo at Copper Mountain. Normally there is a Northern California event at Tahoe Monday/Tuesday and then Mammoth Wednesday/Thursday. There was no Tahoe event this year, so I anticipated the Mammoth event might be busier, but it was not. Registration was more efficient than in past years because a good part of it was done online in advance.
Our own skis and poles were still AWOL and recovered at LAX on Friday after we got home. We didn't need skis but I grabbed some old poles out of a garage closet. I didn't notice that one of the poles my size was splintered vertically and would give way if I planted it hard. Liz had poles too short left over from my kids when they were young. We give a shout out to Leki for letting us use their demo poles for the entire two days. I used their trigger system for 2/3 of Wednesday and Liz for 1/3 of Thursday. https://www.leki.com/uk/innovations/trigger-s/ The trigger system will release with 30lbs of force, making it safe to use in the trees. For me it released only once unexpectedly when I was skating over to Dave's Run. Leki makes a variation that does not release with vertical pressure from skating.
Mammoth had only 11 inches of snow and quite a bit of warm weather since our last visit 4 weeks before, so there has been a net loss of snowpack. Top entries to steeps like Wipe Out/Drop Out and the Paranoids have become sketchy or impassable, though snow is fine once you find a way in. Here's Climax viewed from the gondola.
The mogul run under the gondola has some rocks. The fall lines traversing out looker's left were in good shape and I skied those twice each day.
Here's the view from Dave's Run (also skied twice each day) past Lincoln Mt. into town.
There is no snow on the ground in town and very little natural snow below 8,500 feet. You can see the WROD strip down to Eagle beyond Lincoln. With the demo being out of the Stump parking lot and likely deterioration of snow in the chair 9/22/25 sector, I never skied east of chair 5 on this trip.
Overview of the top and groomed Cornice:
As usual Mammoth grooming was excellent and there were no coverage issues on any of the groomers I skied.
Here's the western side of the upper mountain.
Scotty's was also nicely groomed Wednesday, as can be seen by the spray from the skiers on it here.
Mammoth built big jumps and a 22-foot halfpipe for Olympic trials, viewed here while riding chair 1.
On Thursday we took one set of demos over the top to chair 14. The broad slope below upper Roadrunner has lost most of its snow in the past month.
There are "floater" rocks on Roadrunner as you approach Scotty's/top of 14. If you ski that area it's best to approach from chair 23 and Skyline.
As in other dry spells most of the runs up top and on chairs 3 and 5 preserved chalky winter snow. I was surprised that so few people were skiing the ungroomed considering the shop demo event. I took each of my 12 demos through one ungroomed run off the top and often through the chair 3 or 5 terrain also.
I've read in recent ski reviews that there are few "bad skis" any more. Everything worked well for me, until I got a bit fatigued on the last two demos Thursday. As I'm not actively shopping for new skis, I generally demoed skis that were most appropriate for the conditions with no recent snow, which was also the situation the last two times we have done this event in 2015 and 2016.
I would say that more of the all mountain skis are in the low 90's mm width this year vs. upper 90's in 2015 and 2016. The Kastle F95hp probably impressed me most of those. On Thursday I was trying more skis under 90mm for more optimal firm snow performance. As in prior demos Stockli is a standout in this category, the current ski I tried being the Scale 83.
A couple of skis had more of a soft snow bias, the DPS Cassiar 94 and the Atomic Bent Chetler 100. Both of these were still very easy to initiate turns and good on the upper steeps; they just didn't grip the harder snow at speed quite as well as most of the others.
Liz had a tougher time skiing because her boots were in the AWOL ski bag. She thus used her AT boots Wednesday and was limited to demos compatible with her AT boot soles,which meant either Dynafit-type tech bindings or a Tyrolia binding compatible with both alpine and AT soles. The backcountry oriented skis tended to be too soft for the current snow conditions. For Thursday Liz rented a Dalbello boot from Kittredge, but didn't ski up to par not being in her own boots.
The surprise ski company was Sego, an independent from Victor, Idaho. They have been around for 4 years but this is their first year attempting national distribution and being at the SIA demo events. Liz loved the Sego UP Tour on Wednesday, even though it's a backcountry touring ski. So on Thursday I demoed the Sego Cleaver 88. After a warmup on Fascination, I took it to my most challenging run of the trip on Paranoid 2.
That was a sketchy entry up top which took some time to find and a long run on steep and stiff chalk below.
While I've highlighted some of the shortcomings of current Mammoth snow conditions, Mammoth stands head and shoulders above anywhere else in the southwest quadrant of the US for skiing right now. Mammoth has had a few inches to refresh the surfaces yesterday, and I've read that snowmaking is resuming in the ensuing cold weather, probably to rebuild some thinner areas around Canyon/Eagle.
