This was the first time we could get away to Mammoth, and ungroomed conditions have become more challenging since Tseeb was here Nov. 30. The intervening days have been sunny and calm. Thus a few more rocks have been exposed, along with a weak melt/freeze on some sunny exposure. At least in December some of the upper steeps get no sun at all. These areas had mostly stiff chalk.
Groomers were all packed powder, and I’m sure there has been nighttime snowmaking to maintain coverage. The race course runs Andy’s and Fascination were roped off with snow guns in the middle of those runs to build a more robust base.
Full seasonal staff was not here yet, as evidenced by lifts 9 and 22 being closed though their terrain is open. Food and Beverage service was limited also. That will all change by this weekend, which has the Festival of Lights Saturday night.
At 9AM arrival Tuesday we saw these new snowmaking towers on Stump Alley.
As with Broadway I think they will come down once there is a substantial natural snowpack.
We took our usual warmups on Stump Alley, Broadway and chair 3, then skied Coyote to Chair 5.
From 5 we skied Gold Hill in the morning sun.
This was smooth and absolutely deserted on a Tuesday with chair 9 closed. We continued down to Eagle, took another lap there before moving through Canyon and returning to chair 2.
I had a good idea what the top would be like, so after 11AM I thought we should be skiing up there midday when light was best. Cornice was smooth but quite firm on its upper third.
We had noticed at top of 5 that Rockgarden was open and skiable. It’s a strange run, skier’s left of Dave’s, the only true intermediate pitch off the top frontside, but usually windstripped and not skiable. The few times it’s been skiable in my experience have been after early season storms. So here’s a few pics of Liz on it.
At the bottom of Dave’s here’s the snow fence that was probably the culprit in Patrick’s late May 2023 dislocated elbow accident.
In 2023 the metal pole stuck out above the wood, and the top of it, buried in the huge but then receding snowpack, caught Patrick’s ski and slammed him to the ground. Notice that the wood looks new and the metal pole does not reach the top of the wood anymore.
Liz went into Main Lodge for a break while I tested what I could do on Chair 23. View from 23 of Drop Out side:
View down Drop Out 3, which I skied first:
Chalky snow was good but the run was at least as narrow as Drop Out 1 is with a normal snowpack, so I needed some suck wind breaks.
View from chair 23 of Hump to the Paranoids
Hump had the longest continuous fall line of smooth chalk but still took me awhile, so I was ready to join Liz in Main Lodge. View of chair 23 area with my two runs marked:
After lunch Liz and I rode chairs 1 and 23 to ski off the backside. We ventured into Arriba, which has a normally groomed lower section but not with the current snowpack.
This gets lots of afternoon sun and was a bit crunchy, but I’m sure no big deal for Liz who skied in the East for over two decades. The far skier’s left Santiago was a nice groomer, and we exited via Roadrunner and the short walk up to top of chair 12 because 13 was closed. After we got down to Main Lodge, Liz skied to our car while I took one last gondola out to Dave’s Run.
I skied 25,500 vertical and was pretty beat despite only 5 runs off the top. The jury is out how much of this is due to Age, First day of the season, or Conditions requiring more forceful edging to stay in control
On Wednesday morning after couple of warmup runs we met Elyssa from the old Mammoth Forum at chair 4. We rode 5 and skied Gold Hill/Quicksilver, passed by Eagle and Canyon until they took a break at the Mill. As it was close to 11AM I wanted an encore on Rockgarden which Liz and Elyssa declined.
Rockgarden was similar to Tuesday even the weather was changing some. Both days had highs about 40F but Tuesday was completely calm. Morning wind was about average for Mammoth but it picked up some by noon. The real adventure of that Rockgarden run was when I ventured into Upper Dry Creek.
The snow was quite soft but the line was confined by rocks and sharp bumps, so I needed suck wind breaks similar to the upper steeps.
On that gondola ride some skiers mentioned that Dave’s Run was getting wind deposition. So when I caught up with Liz, we took the gondola up to check it out. With current coverage Dave’s is split into two sections and only skier’s right had the windsift. Liz ended up on the skier’s left side that I had skied Tuesday afternoon and thus took awhile to get down. I returned for an encore and got some pics of people enjoying the windsift.
I rode 23 to see if there was any wind deposition there. It seemed not as there were zero skiers there. Yes it was wind up top but fairly mild by Mammoth standards. I skied Cornice, then found some wind sift in Gremlin’s before cruising St. Anton to chair 1. I tried one more ungroomed, Rodger’s Ridge, which was definitely a mistake with crunchy snow in flat light. I took two more groomers on chairs 10 and 2, finishing 2PM with 22,600 vertical.
As I mentioned in the other thread, Mammoth looks far from 95% open. And there's quite a bit listed open than nobody was skiing. However, the circumstances now are fairly unusual. The Nov. 25-27 was just the minimum to open most terrain, but was succeeded by a an unusually warm and calm stretch for December. Unlike many if not most ski areas, it's very unusual for Mammoth to have to close terrain once it's open due to its superb snow preservation, especially during weak sun season.
And despite the limitations, it is Dec; 10 and where else would offer any more extensive and varied skiing now? Whistler is the only obvious answer to that question.
Groomers were all packed powder, and I’m sure there has been nighttime snowmaking to maintain coverage. The race course runs Andy’s and Fascination were roped off with snow guns in the middle of those runs to build a more robust base.
Full seasonal staff was not here yet, as evidenced by lifts 9 and 22 being closed though their terrain is open. Food and Beverage service was limited also. That will all change by this weekend, which has the Festival of Lights Saturday night.
At 9AM arrival Tuesday we saw these new snowmaking towers on Stump Alley.
As with Broadway I think they will come down once there is a substantial natural snowpack.
We took our usual warmups on Stump Alley, Broadway and chair 3, then skied Coyote to Chair 5.
From 5 we skied Gold Hill in the morning sun.
This was smooth and absolutely deserted on a Tuesday with chair 9 closed. We continued down to Eagle, took another lap there before moving through Canyon and returning to chair 2.
I had a good idea what the top would be like, so after 11AM I thought we should be skiing up there midday when light was best. Cornice was smooth but quite firm on its upper third.
We had noticed at top of 5 that Rockgarden was open and skiable. It’s a strange run, skier’s left of Dave’s, the only true intermediate pitch off the top frontside, but usually windstripped and not skiable. The few times it’s been skiable in my experience have been after early season storms. So here’s a few pics of Liz on it.
At the bottom of Dave’s here’s the snow fence that was probably the culprit in Patrick’s late May 2023 dislocated elbow accident.
In 2023 the metal pole stuck out above the wood, and the top of it, buried in the huge but then receding snowpack, caught Patrick’s ski and slammed him to the ground. Notice that the wood looks new and the metal pole does not reach the top of the wood anymore.
Liz went into Main Lodge for a break while I tested what I could do on Chair 23. View from 23 of Drop Out side:
View down Drop Out 3, which I skied first:
Chalky snow was good but the run was at least as narrow as Drop Out 1 is with a normal snowpack, so I needed some suck wind breaks.
View from chair 23 of Hump to the Paranoids
Hump had the longest continuous fall line of smooth chalk but still took me awhile, so I was ready to join Liz in Main Lodge. View of chair 23 area with my two runs marked:
After lunch Liz and I rode chairs 1 and 23 to ski off the backside. We ventured into Arriba, which has a normally groomed lower section but not with the current snowpack.
This gets lots of afternoon sun and was a bit crunchy, but I’m sure no big deal for Liz who skied in the East for over two decades. The far skier’s left Santiago was a nice groomer, and we exited via Roadrunner and the short walk up to top of chair 12 because 13 was closed. After we got down to Main Lodge, Liz skied to our car while I took one last gondola out to Dave’s Run.
I skied 25,500 vertical and was pretty beat despite only 5 runs off the top. The jury is out how much of this is due to Age, First day of the season, or Conditions requiring more forceful edging to stay in control
On Wednesday morning after couple of warmup runs we met Elyssa from the old Mammoth Forum at chair 4. We rode 5 and skied Gold Hill/Quicksilver, passed by Eagle and Canyon until they took a break at the Mill. As it was close to 11AM I wanted an encore on Rockgarden which Liz and Elyssa declined.
Rockgarden was similar to Tuesday even the weather was changing some. Both days had highs about 40F but Tuesday was completely calm. Morning wind was about average for Mammoth but it picked up some by noon. The real adventure of that Rockgarden run was when I ventured into Upper Dry Creek.
The snow was quite soft but the line was confined by rocks and sharp bumps, so I needed suck wind breaks similar to the upper steeps.
On that gondola ride some skiers mentioned that Dave’s Run was getting wind deposition. So when I caught up with Liz, we took the gondola up to check it out. With current coverage Dave’s is split into two sections and only skier’s right had the windsift. Liz ended up on the skier’s left side that I had skied Tuesday afternoon and thus took awhile to get down. I returned for an encore and got some pics of people enjoying the windsift.
I rode 23 to see if there was any wind deposition there. It seemed not as there were zero skiers there. Yes it was wind up top but fairly mild by Mammoth standards. I skied Cornice, then found some wind sift in Gremlin’s before cruising St. Anton to chair 1. I tried one more ungroomed, Rodger’s Ridge, which was definitely a mistake with crunchy snow in flat light. I took two more groomers on chairs 10 and 2, finishing 2PM with 22,600 vertical.
As I mentioned in the other thread, Mammoth looks far from 95% open. And there's quite a bit listed open than nobody was skiing. However, the circumstances now are fairly unusual. The Nov. 25-27 was just the minimum to open most terrain, but was succeeded by a an unusually warm and calm stretch for December. Unlike many if not most ski areas, it's very unusual for Mammoth to have to close terrain once it's open due to its superb snow preservation, especially during weak sun season.
And despite the limitations, it is Dec; 10 and where else would offer any more extensive and varied skiing now? Whistler is the only obvious answer to that question.