I got up early and parked by bus stop A about 6:45 on Friday and walked to the gondola building to await the 7:30 opening. There I met Scott from the old Mammoth Forum and we skied about 10 runs together. We exited at McCoy station and walked to chair 3 as Climax has been closed since Tuesday and there are no snow strips through its rock band now.
Weather has cooled since the July heat waves. Overnight lows in the 40's plus salting meant shaded Saddle Bowl and Gremlin's were frozen granular at opening bell. But Cornice takes morning sun and was good right away.
They did a nice job contouring this path from the top of 23, slightly lower than it was in 2017. Some people took their skis up the gondola and walked down to Cornice Friday. This was forbidden Saturday.
We skied 7 laps on Cornice before skier traffic chewed it into slushy moguls around 10AM. I took pics while riding chair 23. First, the closed Wipe Out side with prepared strip coming into the base of 23 in the foreground:
Scotty's has more snow than in 2017, but I saw only one skier walking from the top in that direction. He would also have a considerable walk from the end of the snow to either chair 23 or the lower gondola.
View straight up 23:
Drop Out Side:
The upper steeps were sketchier than in 2017.
Some people were willing to downclimb to Drop Out 1:
I passed on this. In 2017 I stepped over some scree on my skis to get in there, but the snow was higher.
Gremlin's (left) and Upper St. Anton (right) were groomed wider than in 2017.
Nearly all of our Cornice runs transitioned smoothly into Upper St. Anton. After 10AM Gremlin's, having been well frozen early, had the best groomer skiing.
When tseeb was here the Unbound park had been cannibalized to keep Broadway open to July 30. At that point this jump was built in Saddle Bowl.
Once Cornice was too clumpy, we traversed beyond it to some skier packed lines. Scott is skiing the middle one here:
He took a break and skied a couple of runs on 3 before leaving by 10:30.
Everyone knows about The Hulk embedded high on a rock near chair 23 since 2014. Recently this Chihuahua with sunglasses was placed in the lower set of rocks under chair 23.
The pic is zoomed and the Chihuahua is hard to find, but Scott showed me where it was.
I alternated three more laps past Cornice down to Gremlin's with two on Drop Out 3. View down the last skier packed line past Cornice, which starts under Hangman's:
View from same spot of skiers coming off the back of chair 3 into Saddle Bowl:
Looking from halfway down Drop Out 3:
Lonnie, Liz and I have seen this guy with umbrella and snow blades in other late seasons.
The umbrella works as an air brake on steeper terrain.
After 9AM chairs 3 and 23 had lines of 15-20 people, very manageable. There were almost no lines on Aug. 3, 2017 because:
1) It was Thursday vs. Friday
2) You could still ski Climax from the gondola
I quit about 11:15 with 17,900 vertical. The skiing had less variety than in 2017 but quality of snow was good by skiing Cornice laps early in the morning and ungroomed plus Gremlin's later on. Driving down, cars were parked to the upper end of the chair 2 lot.
I had hiking plans for Saturday, but August 5 was an unskied date. I got up there as early as Friday, but was parked between bus stops A and B. I met Scott again and skied 5 Cornice laps (6,300 vertical total) before bailing at 8:50. I would not have been happy if only skiing on the weekend, because here's the chair 23 liftline at 8:30, and it built further while we were waiting.
At least the scenery was nice!
Leaving the parking area at 9:15, tons of people we still on their way in, and I know the snow on Cornice was well churned already. The chair 2 parking lot was full.
Weather has cooled since the July heat waves. Overnight lows in the 40's plus salting meant shaded Saddle Bowl and Gremlin's were frozen granular at opening bell. But Cornice takes morning sun and was good right away.
They did a nice job contouring this path from the top of 23, slightly lower than it was in 2017. Some people took their skis up the gondola and walked down to Cornice Friday. This was forbidden Saturday.
We skied 7 laps on Cornice before skier traffic chewed it into slushy moguls around 10AM. I took pics while riding chair 23. First, the closed Wipe Out side with prepared strip coming into the base of 23 in the foreground:
Scotty's has more snow than in 2017, but I saw only one skier walking from the top in that direction. He would also have a considerable walk from the end of the snow to either chair 23 or the lower gondola.
View straight up 23:
Drop Out Side:
The upper steeps were sketchier than in 2017.
Some people were willing to downclimb to Drop Out 1:
I passed on this. In 2017 I stepped over some scree on my skis to get in there, but the snow was higher.
Gremlin's (left) and Upper St. Anton (right) were groomed wider than in 2017.
Nearly all of our Cornice runs transitioned smoothly into Upper St. Anton. After 10AM Gremlin's, having been well frozen early, had the best groomer skiing.
When tseeb was here the Unbound park had been cannibalized to keep Broadway open to July 30. At that point this jump was built in Saddle Bowl.
Once Cornice was too clumpy, we traversed beyond it to some skier packed lines. Scott is skiing the middle one here:
He took a break and skied a couple of runs on 3 before leaving by 10:30.
Everyone knows about The Hulk embedded high on a rock near chair 23 since 2014. Recently this Chihuahua with sunglasses was placed in the lower set of rocks under chair 23.
The pic is zoomed and the Chihuahua is hard to find, but Scott showed me where it was.
I alternated three more laps past Cornice down to Gremlin's with two on Drop Out 3. View down the last skier packed line past Cornice, which starts under Hangman's:
View from same spot of skiers coming off the back of chair 3 into Saddle Bowl:
Looking from halfway down Drop Out 3:
Lonnie, Liz and I have seen this guy with umbrella and snow blades in other late seasons.
The umbrella works as an air brake on steeper terrain.
After 9AM chairs 3 and 23 had lines of 15-20 people, very manageable. There were almost no lines on Aug. 3, 2017 because:
1) It was Thursday vs. Friday
2) You could still ski Climax from the gondola
I quit about 11:15 with 17,900 vertical. The skiing had less variety than in 2017 but quality of snow was good by skiing Cornice laps early in the morning and ungroomed plus Gremlin's later on. Driving down, cars were parked to the upper end of the chair 2 lot.
I had hiking plans for Saturday, but August 5 was an unskied date. I got up there as early as Friday, but was parked between bus stops A and B. I met Scott again and skied 5 Cornice laps (6,300 vertical total) before bailing at 8:50. I would not have been happy if only skiing on the weekend, because here's the chair 23 liftline at 8:30, and it built further while we were waiting.
At least the scenery was nice!
Leaving the parking area at 9:15, tons of people we still on their way in, and I know the snow on Cornice was well churned already. The chair 2 parking lot was full.
Last edited:
