schubwa
New member
Just put together a nice daisy-chain of days I'd like to tell you about.
Bachelor: a "Board Meeting" with a client last Wed here at home. They were reporting 5" new, still snowing. True that, but with snow-rain-snow overnight it froze the lifts so only Pine Martin ran. Still a fun morning but the new owners Powdr Corp are not winning any popularity contests around here! The lifts have not run, the new ticket system doesn't work, shabby this, lousy that. They'll close the place this April with a 200" base. Watch.
Mt. Rose: We drove our RV to Reno to meet up with my Sistah and family from the Big Island and my Mom and Dad who flew in from SoCal. Dennis suggested we go to Rose as ladies ski for $18 on Thursdays and they had the best snow quality they'd seen so far. Very nice firm winter snow groomers. The Slide Mt. side I prefer due to better fall lines but the snow is harder. The Chutes area really glues the place together, they were firm wind pack and steep! Lots of sun and some clouds, nice day.
Mammoth Mountain: We drove down to Mammoth for three days, hoping for the top to be open and some Cali sunshine. Friday we got just that but with a pre-storm SW wind blowing soft snow for perfect wind pack. Charged the top all day with great conditions all over the mountain. Too bad a big storm was forcasted for Sat., it'll ruin the snow!
It snowed 6-8" by opening and my wife and I headed over to check out Terry's/Agee's/Blue Ox. Lucky for us the 10" threshold hadn't been met so they still had it open. More than that and the top could endanger the runouts of those runs due to avyies. Really nice soft freshies, we got 7 hot laps and then went to Roger's for more. After lunch the avalanche closures were up in what would become a 23" dump. Lots of people, in the old days stormy days were quiet. Not any more. Clear skies forecast for Sunday, we better get up there early!
The clouds blew off at 8 and all eyes were on the top. The powder on the lower slopes was gone in a blink. Lines formed on 3,5,23,9 and Gondy. There has always been lots of competition for freshies at Mammoth. But now the 20-somethings of 30 years ago(me) now have grown kids who ride pow with their parents, all the skiers have fat skis and the boarders have even bigger rides. Result: You get one run. If you made the right move. It was a classic Mammoth day and everybody had a great time.
Heavenly: We dusted off our jackets and started to head home, but with a stop back at Tahoe to break up the long drive. Somehow my wife talked us into going to Heavenly Valley. I've never liked it there, but it changed my mind. It was snowing again, about an inch of cold powder and we started on the Nevada side at Stagecoach. It still doesn't have much curb appeal but the snow was great. We dropped into Mott Canyon for some really deep leftovers from the day before. Wonderful steeps, thigh-deep floaters and fun bumps. Fun chair. The rest of the area is pretty tame but the higher, dryer snow in Nevada made it a quality day. A hairball drive home on some icy roads but what a great family vacation. Oh yeah, I'm homesick for Mammoth already.
Back at home and it's still stormy here. Today's snow report at Bachelor:
127" base and 174" mid, whew!
Bachelor: a "Board Meeting" with a client last Wed here at home. They were reporting 5" new, still snowing. True that, but with snow-rain-snow overnight it froze the lifts so only Pine Martin ran. Still a fun morning but the new owners Powdr Corp are not winning any popularity contests around here! The lifts have not run, the new ticket system doesn't work, shabby this, lousy that. They'll close the place this April with a 200" base. Watch.
Mt. Rose: We drove our RV to Reno to meet up with my Sistah and family from the Big Island and my Mom and Dad who flew in from SoCal. Dennis suggested we go to Rose as ladies ski for $18 on Thursdays and they had the best snow quality they'd seen so far. Very nice firm winter snow groomers. The Slide Mt. side I prefer due to better fall lines but the snow is harder. The Chutes area really glues the place together, they were firm wind pack and steep! Lots of sun and some clouds, nice day.
Mammoth Mountain: We drove down to Mammoth for three days, hoping for the top to be open and some Cali sunshine. Friday we got just that but with a pre-storm SW wind blowing soft snow for perfect wind pack. Charged the top all day with great conditions all over the mountain. Too bad a big storm was forcasted for Sat., it'll ruin the snow!
It snowed 6-8" by opening and my wife and I headed over to check out Terry's/Agee's/Blue Ox. Lucky for us the 10" threshold hadn't been met so they still had it open. More than that and the top could endanger the runouts of those runs due to avyies. Really nice soft freshies, we got 7 hot laps and then went to Roger's for more. After lunch the avalanche closures were up in what would become a 23" dump. Lots of people, in the old days stormy days were quiet. Not any more. Clear skies forecast for Sunday, we better get up there early!
The clouds blew off at 8 and all eyes were on the top. The powder on the lower slopes was gone in a blink. Lines formed on 3,5,23,9 and Gondy. There has always been lots of competition for freshies at Mammoth. But now the 20-somethings of 30 years ago(me) now have grown kids who ride pow with their parents, all the skiers have fat skis and the boarders have even bigger rides. Result: You get one run. If you made the right move. It was a classic Mammoth day and everybody had a great time.
Heavenly: We dusted off our jackets and started to head home, but with a stop back at Tahoe to break up the long drive. Somehow my wife talked us into going to Heavenly Valley. I've never liked it there, but it changed my mind. It was snowing again, about an inch of cold powder and we started on the Nevada side at Stagecoach. It still doesn't have much curb appeal but the snow was great. We dropped into Mott Canyon for some really deep leftovers from the day before. Wonderful steeps, thigh-deep floaters and fun bumps. Fun chair. The rest of the area is pretty tame but the higher, dryer snow in Nevada made it a quality day. A hairball drive home on some icy roads but what a great family vacation. Oh yeah, I'm homesick for Mammoth already.
Back at home and it's still stormy here. Today's snow report at Bachelor:
127" base and 174" mid, whew!
