Mammoth had reported a trace of new snow Thursday night that had been accompanied with high winds. Riding up Broadway on the first run, there really wasn’t any sign of new snow whatsoever. However, I spotted some tracks on Scotty’s that looked nice, so I headed straight there. Amazingly, Scotty’s had about 4 inches of powder, and I skied the entire run without bottoming out once. Scotty’s was getting tracked out, so for the next run, I went all the way out to the top of P4, where the entrance was soft but kind of rocky. P4 seemed pretty nice (and completely untracked), but the lifty at 23 had suggested Philippe’s, so I gave it a look.
It’s hard to believe, but I had some of my best powder lines of the year following a trace of new snow. Philippe’s had no less than 2 feet of blower, and although rocky, the snow was so soft that I had no worries about doing a few small airs. I got the first three tracks down Philippe’s and all had faceshots. The runout was phenomenal for the first 100 or so feet and then became more wind-affected. Nevertheless, it remained untracked the entire day. I stayed on 23 all day and skied significant sections of untracked on every run.
The winds picked up again late Friday afternoon and I could tell that 23 no longer had great snow. Therefore, I headed over to Dragon’s Tail, where another member of my group had reported good snow the previous day. The chutes before the Tail were decent. They had some soft snow, but the layer below that was very firm. The tail, however, was excellent. It wasn’t blower powder like in Philippe’s the previous day, but the majority of Dragon’s Tail had about 1 foot of heavy, stale, yet untracked powder. Despite the weekend crowds in the Head Chutes, absolutely no one was skiing Dragon’s Tail. I literally did not see another person skiing it all day (although it’s easy t o hide in the trees). I managed to personally track out the 3 gullies/chutes just before the end of the tail. Once again, every single run had a nice section of untracked powder.
I am unsure how to label these days. I’d like to call them powder days since I was skiing untracked powder all day, but at the same time, there was no reported measurable new snow. All in all, it was probably the best weekend of skiing anyone could have following just a trace of snow in the past week.
Note about the pictures (if they show up). These were all taken after noon on Friday 3/26. It was too untracked before then to stop.
It’s hard to believe, but I had some of my best powder lines of the year following a trace of new snow. Philippe’s had no less than 2 feet of blower, and although rocky, the snow was so soft that I had no worries about doing a few small airs. I got the first three tracks down Philippe’s and all had faceshots. The runout was phenomenal for the first 100 or so feet and then became more wind-affected. Nevertheless, it remained untracked the entire day. I stayed on 23 all day and skied significant sections of untracked on every run.
The winds picked up again late Friday afternoon and I could tell that 23 no longer had great snow. Therefore, I headed over to Dragon’s Tail, where another member of my group had reported good snow the previous day. The chutes before the Tail were decent. They had some soft snow, but the layer below that was very firm. The tail, however, was excellent. It wasn’t blower powder like in Philippe’s the previous day, but the majority of Dragon’s Tail had about 1 foot of heavy, stale, yet untracked powder. Despite the weekend crowds in the Head Chutes, absolutely no one was skiing Dragon’s Tail. I literally did not see another person skiing it all day (although it’s easy t o hide in the trees). I managed to personally track out the 3 gullies/chutes just before the end of the tail. Once again, every single run had a nice section of untracked powder.
I am unsure how to label these days. I’d like to call them powder days since I was skiing untracked powder all day, but at the same time, there was no reported measurable new snow. All in all, it was probably the best weekend of skiing anyone could have following just a trace of snow in the past week.
Note about the pictures (if they show up). These were all taken after noon on Friday 3/26. It was too untracked before then to stop.