Mammoth, CA 5/21-22/2018

[tseeb]

After skiing Squaw on Sunday, I stayed at So. Tahoe wher I had a before 4 AM alarm and before 5 AM departure for the 2nd day in a row. I arrived Mammoth about 7:15. Some vehicles heading downhill and roofs around the main lodge showed new snow. After getting Mammoth pass from next year's Ikon, I was on chair 1 about 7:45. Visibility was poor for the top quarter to third of chairs 1 and 2. I skied Broadway, then Andy's Double Gold and Ralphie's. There was enough new snow ~2 cm to leave some tracks, but it was mostly wet and surface underneath was inconsistent.

I tried chair 2 which was no better, then moved to higher chair 3 where visibility was worse, but snow was a little better. Skiing was better where subsurface was consistently semi-frozen and you wanted it to be smooth as visibility was in the 75-200 foot range above mid-mountain. I also skied from top of chair 3 to base of chair 2 via Coyote then only route open past base of chair 5. The only jacket I had brought on this Spring skiing trip was getting soaked so I went into base lodge about 10 and hung it on bar chair in front of fireplace and hung my gloves up higher and got a hot chocolate/coffee and ate my 1/2 sandwich in empty bar while precipitation ended.

I returned to car where I added a warm mid-layer and changed gloves and went out again. After a warmup lap on chair 1, I rode chair 3 five times; twice off the back into Saddle Bowl and twice off the front into Center Bowl. Snow was OK, but visibility was tough. Then I skied Coyote to chair 5 where I thought I was poaching chair that was only running for Big Air clinics. I rode it five times and found some almost good untracked snow in Triangle and Triangle Trees although even cutting to right above avy debris towards bottom it was hard to get to chair without pole-ing as it got sticky at base.

At the top, I used gap in fence a couple of time which required removing skis for about twenty feet and got me into better untracked snow. I went back to chair 3 for a few more laps before quitting at 1:20 with, according to my watch, 25 lifts and 24K. While at the car visibility improved, rain returned and continued into evening, hard at times.

 

[tseeb]

Previous pictures overstate the visibility. This one is how usually looked while riding or skiing a lot of chair 3.

Picture taken on my second to last ride @12:49.

 

[tseeb]

5/22/2018 My semi-cursed Spring skiing at Mammoth returns after the last previous years when I've had two days of the warm days/cold nights weather you want for Spring skiing and corn. Three times in years before that going back to Spring of 2011, I had high winds, some r--n and snow, and in early May of 2015, 12" new on top of thin snowpack with limited lifts the first day and big crowds and some core shots the second day.

Somebody on pugski posted "the first hour and a half were great". I thought great was a little strong, but it did exceed my expectations. I also wondered if the poster worked for Mammoth. Visibility early on Tuesday was much better than on Monday. Snow surface was also more consistent and very good on groomers. It was great to be able to see enough on chair 3 to make some tracks between top of chair and West Bowl (although soft snow in the bowl was not very good) and to be able to see and ski the edge of Center Bowl (where new snow was no as deep and skied better).View attachment 6View attachment 5

A dense and very wet fog moved in about 9 and quickly turned to mixed precipitation at top of chairs 1 and 2. After about 45 minutes of waiting out the r--n in the Mill while drying jacket and gloves in front of fireplace, I went out again with a real estate guy from LA I'd met there. We found snow had gotten sticky on all the runs we tried on chair 3. Harder packed runs, Broadway and Stump Alley, that had some salt in them were better. I thought left edge of Andy's was OK, but you needed to go fast to be mostly free from soft, wet snow. We also tried the soft bumps on Gravy Chute that were OK, but getting back to Broadway was a chore. Picture of Gravy Chute was taken before 845.

View attachment 4View attachment 3

I quit before noon after 21 lift rides and just over 20K vertical. It looked like it had cleared enough that 23 could have opened, but lift operator supervisor had earlier told me they had decided it would be closed for the day. I drove back to Bay Area via Tioga Pass, which opened on Monday after being closed since Nov. I purchased my Senior Park Pass entering Yosemite. (I had missed by 12 says being old enough last August before price went up 8x.). My stops included Whoa Nellie Deli at base of Tioga for carnitas tacos, Olmstead Point for the views, Yosemite Creek for a break at picnic table by the water and Stockton, where Appliance Graveyard had a part I needed. I also stopped SE of Livermore, at Altamont Beer Works for a pint and get my growler filled with Maui Waui. It was the third afternoon in a row I got to try a new to me CA brewpub. I may try again for Spring skiing in Mammoth next month, but not if any weather is predicted.