Waterman's big attraction, as well documented here last Feb. 14, is low skier density powder days. I would be surprised to see the road open for any of those until the hillsides in the Station Fire burn area stabilize.
Angeles Forest Fires Waterman/Baldy
- Thread starter Tom Moriarty
- Start date
Tony Crocker":3ripmz35 said:
Yes, too bad. It was amazing skiing last Valentine's Day, minus my skis not being fat boys. Sort of glad Newcomb's will not be open until they fix the road. That road is treacherous in normal conditions with a lot of accidents.
I wonder if after all the impenetrable soot flows off they will do reforestation? #-o Right now the water will not be absorbed much and the new planting won't get water, or survive mudslides. Did you hear anything about that? Some patrols believe that is the only hope, reforestation.
Updating/correcting some comments above:
Newcomb Ranch is open Thursdays-Sundays. The road detour has not deterred the motorcyclists, who were out in force at Newcomb's on Sunday.
With regard to revegetation, some pictures from Sunday here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9043. North facing slopes are mostly green with ground cover. I don't know whether it's all grass or some seedlings for a new forest. Some isolated pockets of north facing didn't burn at all, and the whole north side of Mt. Wilson plus everything along the Angeles Crest above Newcomb Ranch looks normal. South facing slopes, particularly below 4,000 feet, look like desert with much less new growth, most of it brown from the usual dry summer.
On my hike 8/29/2010 I got to visit with Todd, Mt. Waterman's caretaker and hear his rather scary version of the Station Fire experience. The fire took out his phone line early on, so he was completely on his own. Here's his view from Waterman during the weekend of August 29-30, 2009 when the Station Fire exploded out of control and burned most of Big Tujunga.
By the end of the weekend the fire had burned 7,000 foot Mt. Pacifico, several miles west of Mt. Waterman. Todd has a good camera with a big zoom to capture this.
A couple of days later a helicopter used Mt. Waterman's reservoir to fill up, then flew away to fight the fire elsewhere.
But Todd still had no direct contact with anyone. Once he started seeing smoke coming from Devil's Canyon directly behind the ski area, he took a bulldozer up the the ridgeline and dumped some dirt off the back to form a firebreak. On Sept. 5 the fire climbed up Devil's Canyon close to Todd's firebreak. Here's the view of one of Waterman's upper beginner runs with the Devil's Canyon smoke behind the ridge.
Todd shows me another Sept. 5 smoke picture.
The smoke got thicker, reducing visibility to 10-20 feet but the fire never crossed the ridge into the ski area.
Firefighters finally arrived on the scene at Mt. Waterman on Sept. 6, including a plane with fire retardant.
Here's the ground fire in Winston, which fortunately did not ignite any trees.
And another helicopter using Mt. Waterman's reservoir.
Newcomb Ranch is open Thursdays-Sundays. The road detour has not deterred the motorcyclists, who were out in force at Newcomb's on Sunday.
With regard to revegetation, some pictures from Sunday here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9043. North facing slopes are mostly green with ground cover. I don't know whether it's all grass or some seedlings for a new forest. Some isolated pockets of north facing didn't burn at all, and the whole north side of Mt. Wilson plus everything along the Angeles Crest above Newcomb Ranch looks normal. South facing slopes, particularly below 4,000 feet, look like desert with much less new growth, most of it brown from the usual dry summer.
On my hike 8/29/2010 I got to visit with Todd, Mt. Waterman's caretaker and hear his rather scary version of the Station Fire experience. The fire took out his phone line early on, so he was completely on his own. Here's his view from Waterman during the weekend of August 29-30, 2009 when the Station Fire exploded out of control and burned most of Big Tujunga.
By the end of the weekend the fire had burned 7,000 foot Mt. Pacifico, several miles west of Mt. Waterman. Todd has a good camera with a big zoom to capture this.
A couple of days later a helicopter used Mt. Waterman's reservoir to fill up, then flew away to fight the fire elsewhere.
But Todd still had no direct contact with anyone. Once he started seeing smoke coming from Devil's Canyon directly behind the ski area, he took a bulldozer up the the ridgeline and dumped some dirt off the back to form a firebreak. On Sept. 5 the fire climbed up Devil's Canyon close to Todd's firebreak. Here's the view of one of Waterman's upper beginner runs with the Devil's Canyon smoke behind the ridge.
Todd shows me another Sept. 5 smoke picture.
The smoke got thicker, reducing visibility to 10-20 feet but the fire never crossed the ridge into the ski area.
Firefighters finally arrived on the scene at Mt. Waterman on Sept. 6, including a plane with fire retardant.
Here's the ground fire in Winston, which fortunately did not ignite any trees.
And another helicopter using Mt. Waterman's reservoir.
A
Anonymous
Guest
Didn't hear you say that Todd gave you any pictures to take with you. When we were at Newcomb's on the way home (where we ran into Todd again), I'm pretty sure their sign said they're only closed Mondays and Tuesdays right now. Yeah, I know their website still says they're only open Thur - Sun.