I had been led to expect good conditions by recent reports, and I was not disappointed. It's completely winter still, as it was overcast and very windy after the 20 inch storm 2-3 days before. Lots of race activity this weekend, this the only pic from Friday:
On Friday 4/2 Adam and I first headed out Dragon's Tail after his experience the day before. It was still mostly powder but stiffened up some by the wind, not worth a long repeat trek out there. So we spent the rest of the morning on the top. The wind was strong, but no more so than on some other lifts, notably Gold Rush. Visibility was occasionally impaired by blowing snow, but we also reaped its benefits. There were large sections of wind sifted snow that are some of Mammoth's finest skiing. There tended to be more of it on skier's left of chair 23, but the best was under the Drop Outs. We did 3 of those, plus one each on Climax, Wipe Out, Paranoid 2 and 3.
We made the error of stopping for lunch at noon. We got one run after lunch on 23 before it closed for wind and visibility. Over to 12 and down to 14, also closed. We crossed the mountain to chair 22, based upon a favorable report from one of Adam's friends, only to find it just closed also. So we called it a day at 2PM with snow now added to the wind and fog, after 21,400 of very high quality skiing. Like admin, I sometimes come home from trips far afield to greater appreciation of ski quality on home turf. Friday was also my first test of the Head Jimis on Mammoth's upper terrain and they are quite suitable for that as expected.
Friday afternoon and evening it snowed 6 inches, but with very high winds. After the previous day I had high expectations for Saturday, but the snow was more windpacked and not quite as much soft blow-in as on Friday, despite the smooth early view of the top before it opened.
Since the top had an hour delay opening, we hit the opening of chair 5 for a couple runs.
We then moved to chair 22 for the Avy chutes. Best snow was on skier's left of Avy 2 as Adam rips it up here.
We saw the top opening and so headed for chair 23, taking a pass on the gondola which had lines out the building. We hit Drop Out, Wipe Out and P2, then went in for an early lunch to beat the weekend crowd.
Snow was very soft in the upper steep sections. Below the rocks some sections were now wind stripped, but you could traverse a short distance to get smoother or softer snow.
Saturday weather was supposed to be sunny and fairly warm, but the weather forecasters were wide of the mark. The clear skies were thin overcast by 10AM, cloudier by the hour after that. Wind was moderate though less than Friday but temps were somewhat colder. At noon we headed up the gondola, and were informed when we came out of the top building that it would be closing. So we went to check out Hangman's. Adam dropped in just as the weather descended. I watched him ski to the throat very conservatively and decided to play it safe and ski by braille on Cornice instead.
We did a couple runs on 3, which had good snow but not good visibility, and decided to go lower. We did 3 runs on 22: Viva trees, Grizzly and an encore on Avy 2. At 2:30 it started snowing hard graupel, so once again we called it a day. 26,300 total.
Adam skied his Gotamas Friday and his new ON3P Billy Goats Saturday. He said the conditions were borderline in terms of which ski would be better. My Head Jimis would fall between those 2 skis in powder orientation. The Billy Goats have tip and tail rocker similar to the Armada JJ or Rossi S7.
Sunday the snow was more packed out than Friday/Saturday, probably due as much as anything to Saturday being very busy. But it was a little colder, so no hint of spring yet, and a storm of 2 feet or so was expected later in the day. It was overcast and got gradually darker as the morning wore on, not an abrupt deterioration like the previous 2 days, though we skied only to 12:30. So we got out early on regular skis, Gotamas and Recons, warmup on face of 3, then Cornice (another Hangman's for Adam), Climax and Dave's, which still had some good wind sift. Over to 23 for Drop Out, Wipe Out, Monument and P2. We went back up the gondola to check out Huevos Grande. It's now accessible from the top, but still more intimidating than in the biggest snow years:
However, once below the DFU zone the snow was smooth and still soft. We took one more one out Dave's and Ricochet, making 21,000 total before our early departure. It was just starting to snow when we left town at 1PM.
On Friday 4/2 Adam and I first headed out Dragon's Tail after his experience the day before. It was still mostly powder but stiffened up some by the wind, not worth a long repeat trek out there. So we spent the rest of the morning on the top. The wind was strong, but no more so than on some other lifts, notably Gold Rush. Visibility was occasionally impaired by blowing snow, but we also reaped its benefits. There were large sections of wind sifted snow that are some of Mammoth's finest skiing. There tended to be more of it on skier's left of chair 23, but the best was under the Drop Outs. We did 3 of those, plus one each on Climax, Wipe Out, Paranoid 2 and 3.
We made the error of stopping for lunch at noon. We got one run after lunch on 23 before it closed for wind and visibility. Over to 12 and down to 14, also closed. We crossed the mountain to chair 22, based upon a favorable report from one of Adam's friends, only to find it just closed also. So we called it a day at 2PM with snow now added to the wind and fog, after 21,400 of very high quality skiing. Like admin, I sometimes come home from trips far afield to greater appreciation of ski quality on home turf. Friday was also my first test of the Head Jimis on Mammoth's upper terrain and they are quite suitable for that as expected.
Friday afternoon and evening it snowed 6 inches, but with very high winds. After the previous day I had high expectations for Saturday, but the snow was more windpacked and not quite as much soft blow-in as on Friday, despite the smooth early view of the top before it opened.
Since the top had an hour delay opening, we hit the opening of chair 5 for a couple runs.
We then moved to chair 22 for the Avy chutes. Best snow was on skier's left of Avy 2 as Adam rips it up here.
We saw the top opening and so headed for chair 23, taking a pass on the gondola which had lines out the building. We hit Drop Out, Wipe Out and P2, then went in for an early lunch to beat the weekend crowd.
Snow was very soft in the upper steep sections. Below the rocks some sections were now wind stripped, but you could traverse a short distance to get smoother or softer snow.
Saturday weather was supposed to be sunny and fairly warm, but the weather forecasters were wide of the mark. The clear skies were thin overcast by 10AM, cloudier by the hour after that. Wind was moderate though less than Friday but temps were somewhat colder. At noon we headed up the gondola, and were informed when we came out of the top building that it would be closing. So we went to check out Hangman's. Adam dropped in just as the weather descended. I watched him ski to the throat very conservatively and decided to play it safe and ski by braille on Cornice instead.
We did a couple runs on 3, which had good snow but not good visibility, and decided to go lower. We did 3 runs on 22: Viva trees, Grizzly and an encore on Avy 2. At 2:30 it started snowing hard graupel, so once again we called it a day. 26,300 total.
Adam skied his Gotamas Friday and his new ON3P Billy Goats Saturday. He said the conditions were borderline in terms of which ski would be better. My Head Jimis would fall between those 2 skis in powder orientation. The Billy Goats have tip and tail rocker similar to the Armada JJ or Rossi S7.
Sunday the snow was more packed out than Friday/Saturday, probably due as much as anything to Saturday being very busy. But it was a little colder, so no hint of spring yet, and a storm of 2 feet or so was expected later in the day. It was overcast and got gradually darker as the morning wore on, not an abrupt deterioration like the previous 2 days, though we skied only to 12:30. So we got out early on regular skis, Gotamas and Recons, warmup on face of 3, then Cornice (another Hangman's for Adam), Climax and Dave's, which still had some good wind sift. Over to 23 for Drop Out, Wipe Out, Monument and P2. We went back up the gondola to check out Huevos Grande. It's now accessible from the top, but still more intimidating than in the biggest snow years:
However, once below the DFU zone the snow was smooth and still soft. We took one more one out Dave's and Ricochet, making 21,000 total before our early departure. It was just starting to snow when we left town at 1PM.
