It was very cold Friday night and still below average on Saturday, so despite the sunny weather, everything remained bulletproof on Saturday until about 11. Rock solid corduroy combined with the metal on metal connection of Dynafit bindings meant my legs went numb for an hour due to the vibration :-k
Around 11:30, I went up 23 since Drop Out 1 looked decent. There was one very small line of wind buff, but it ended after 150 vertical feet or so. Below that was entirely frozen coral reef type snow. It was simply impossible to ski, so everyone traversed out to the groomed Cornice Bowl. Around this time, Stump Alley and Broadway were starting to soften just enough, so we took a few laps there. I noticed a Stockli demo tent below the race courses, so I went to try some skis out. However, they claimed the demos were only for PSIA professionals, as hordes of 40-60 year old elitist wannabe racers had taken over the mountain for some western regional conference. I didn't give up, though, and after about 10 minutes of annoying the Stockli guy, he finally let me take out the new for 2012 Stormrider 95 for one run. The skis at a 183cm length have a 22.2m turn radius, a small amount of tip rocker and two sheets of Titanal. They were WAY heavier than my Bro/Dynafit setup, and I'd never seriously consider skiing with them. At the top of Drop Out 1 where the snow was softer, I definitely preferred the light weight of the Bros, but on the coral reef below, the Stocklis were very impressive. They were by far the dampest skis I have ever tried: much more so than the Kastle MX108 that still had metal. Once I got onto the groomers, the Stocklis could snap out quicker turns than the Bros due to the smaller turning radius, but at speed and with bigger turns, they were unbelievably stable. I've never really skied on a very good groomer ski before, and these really showed me how much better Stocklis are compared to Praxis/PM Gear. Too bad they cost $1400.
Sunday was a big warmer, but I ended up just skiing one run. We started on Dave’s, which was firm chalk. From there, we skied absolutely perfect corn down to Chair 9 before taking the short skin out to Roller Coaster. This is where the Dynafit setup really shined. Even on the awful, old skins, I felt like I could basically run up the mountain all day. Hopefully we’ll be able to tackle some larger BC objectives this upcoming weekend.
Right now, Mammoth is moving into full spring mode. This past weekend was kind of an awkward condition, but the corn will be perfect in a day or two. Next weekend will be my last of the season, which is really quite a shame as the spring season is just getting started. The amount of snow left is truly amazing.
Around 11:30, I went up 23 since Drop Out 1 looked decent. There was one very small line of wind buff, but it ended after 150 vertical feet or so. Below that was entirely frozen coral reef type snow. It was simply impossible to ski, so everyone traversed out to the groomed Cornice Bowl. Around this time, Stump Alley and Broadway were starting to soften just enough, so we took a few laps there. I noticed a Stockli demo tent below the race courses, so I went to try some skis out. However, they claimed the demos were only for PSIA professionals, as hordes of 40-60 year old elitist wannabe racers had taken over the mountain for some western regional conference. I didn't give up, though, and after about 10 minutes of annoying the Stockli guy, he finally let me take out the new for 2012 Stormrider 95 for one run. The skis at a 183cm length have a 22.2m turn radius, a small amount of tip rocker and two sheets of Titanal. They were WAY heavier than my Bro/Dynafit setup, and I'd never seriously consider skiing with them. At the top of Drop Out 1 where the snow was softer, I definitely preferred the light weight of the Bros, but on the coral reef below, the Stocklis were very impressive. They were by far the dampest skis I have ever tried: much more so than the Kastle MX108 that still had metal. Once I got onto the groomers, the Stocklis could snap out quicker turns than the Bros due to the smaller turning radius, but at speed and with bigger turns, they were unbelievably stable. I've never really skied on a very good groomer ski before, and these really showed me how much better Stocklis are compared to Praxis/PM Gear. Too bad they cost $1400.
Sunday was a big warmer, but I ended up just skiing one run. We started on Dave’s, which was firm chalk. From there, we skied absolutely perfect corn down to Chair 9 before taking the short skin out to Roller Coaster. This is where the Dynafit setup really shined. Even on the awful, old skins, I felt like I could basically run up the mountain all day. Hopefully we’ll be able to tackle some larger BC objectives this upcoming weekend.
Right now, Mammoth is moving into full spring mode. This past weekend was kind of an awkward condition, but the corn will be perfect in a day or two. Next weekend will be my last of the season, which is really quite a shame as the spring season is just getting started. The amount of snow left is truly amazing.