Baldy 2/10/2010, with pics

[baldyskier]

Mike Bernstein and I skied Baldy on Wednesday, as he mentioned. I had to wait 45 min. in the ticket line, even though I got there at 8:00 AM. 7:30 would have been better. Goldridge trees had the best snow, but it did get tracked out fairly quickly (probably because Chair 4 was delayed in opening- the Chair 3 line disappeared once 4 opened). While waiting for Chair 4 to open, Mike and I decided to climb up a ways and drop into the parking lot run. Apparently the sun had done its damage (even though it had been cloudy all morning, at least up top), as the snow was snowball wet and deep. That was a long run (survival mode for me, trying to keep the oatmeal from grabbing my skis). I eagerly hit South Bowl soon after it was opened, but was a bit disappointed. It was blown off/icy at the top, and very thick windblown below that. Near the bottom there was beautiful powder, but only a couple turns before the long traverse back. I did one run up Chair 4 at about 3:00. The snow was decent, but pretty well tracked by then. I headed down to Bentley's for my last run of the day. I hit some icy spots that made me think I was in danger of a long slide d

own, so I traversed back to a more skied off area. All in all a good day, though I was a little spoiled by the powder back on Friday, 1/22/2010. The weather was nicer on Wednesday, though, esp. after the sun came out. I got some decent pictures of the flocked trees. I enjoyed skiing with Mike, though I had a little trouble keeping up (some wider skis would probably help). Baldy is definitely getting more popular, particularly on these powder days. I was surprised on 1/22 and yesterday by how many people were up there, even though the weather was rough all day on 1/22 and early yesterday (windy, foggy). Maybe with improvements in equipment more people are able to enjoy the deeper snow. Probably Baldy's marketing and $50.00 season ticket sale back in the fall are having an effect, too. I'm still hoping this new popularity will somehow translate to the backside expansion becoming a reality (a guy can dream, right?)
(sorry about the way this post got chopped up; I saved it as a draft, then resumed adding photos, and the text got separated in the process).

View attachment 3

 

[SoCal Rider]

Beautiful pics. I guess we have to go to Utah or CO for unharmed blower pow, eh?

 

[jojo_obrien]

thanks for posting .....classic baldy

i envy those skiiers that can get away from work midweek!!!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Those pics are indeed classic Baldy. It's rare for the trees not to be coated with that ice/rime from high winds/varying snow levels during storms. The ice/rime on lift towers is often a big reason for delayed chair openings. This report also illustrates why you have to get up there early that first day and live with road, ticket line and chair delays. The sun will nearly always come out and hammer the snow on chairs 1 and 4. The wind-stripping on exposed ridges is not unusual either. Probably not top 25% given the comments about the chair 1 runs, which Garry confirmed. The powder down there is usually heavier than on Thunder, but it can ski very well with the consistent pitch.

 

[Mike Bernstein]

Those pics are indeed classic Baldy. It's rare for the trees not to be coated with that ice/rime from high winds/varying snow levels during storms. The ice/rime on lift towers is often a big reason for delayed chair openings. This report also illustrates why you have to get up there early that first day and live with road, ticket line and chair delays. The sun will nearly always come out and hammer the snow on chairs 1 and 4. The wind-stripping on exposed ridges is not unusual either. Probably not top 25% given the comments about the chair 1 runs, which Garry confirmed. The powder down there is usually heavier than on Thunder, but it can ski very well with the consistent pitch.

Obviously Garry and baldyskier have more experience than me, but I found that if you were smart about where you chose your lines, there was very nice snow to be had off Ch 1, at least on the north facing stuff. It was a tricky weather pattern to deal with - winds were hammering out of the East (which I would guess is unusual), so in the morning you had to look for sheltered runs, preferably with an aspect a tick West of North. Because of the different funnels, fingers and gullies that seem to permeate Baldy's topography, that wasn't hard to find. Then, as the day wore on, the sun started hitting that stuff with the W aspect so you had to really hunt for the sheltered gullies if you wanted something soft. I found lots of soft snow out near Bentley's. I'd go for a few hundred verts, and then traverse left every so often to milk it and find more soft shots. If you started anywhere up near the summit of Ch 1, you dealt with scraped off garbage. There is very good coverage on the Ch 1 runs, with only a few lone rocks or dead trees sticking out, and all easily avoidable. I was really able to let the skis run. I don't know if that constitutes top 25%, but it was all good down there if you knew what to look for.