I watched the weather forecasts and timed this trip for Tuesday-Thursday since snow was predicted Monday/Tuesday. Andrew is home for a few weeks, so I brought him along and last minute Becky decided to come also. Adam drove on his own, stayed in the ski house and left Wednesday afternoon after he had laid waste to enough powder as he had commitments in San Diego Thursday.
Dec. 18
The storm arrived a bit early, snowed all Monday night, still snowing lightly Tuesday morning. Adam got out there early Tuesday for the opening of chair 22, skied Viva and variations before I got there. The rest of us got to chair 2 ~9AM and I made it to 22 ~9:30. I skied Shaft and Grizzly before connecting with Adam. We skied along the ridge between 22 and 25, not hitting any buried obstacles like last April's powder day. Last run on 22 was Avy 2, entrance amazingly clear of obstacles, then cut over to get to 5, which was just opening at 10:30.
The wind was fairly light for a snowy day, but with 19 inches snow conservative avalanche boundaries were in effect: Dry Creek/Triangle on 5, back of 3 and the runs around the back of 1 toward the race courses were all roped off. Nonetheless we had decent powder on 5. Becky joined us after 3 runs and we went to the face of 5, which was least tracked. First run was ideal with a break in the clouds, second one was socked in. Becky tweaked a knee on one of these, nothing serious but hurt more at the end of skiing Wednesday than Tuesday.
After lunch we made our way to 12, slowly as we had to go through Main and up chair 11 due to avy boundaries. It was moderately tracked and when the snow is 16% water the tracked snow is a lot more resistant than when it's drier. It stopped snowing, started to clear and patrol began bombing the upper mountain ~2PM. We quit shortly thereafter because we wanted to be ready for Wednesday. Still a very nice day for me with 20K vertical, 11K of powder. Adam's early start paid off: his day was 25/14. Temps plunged behind the storm. It was 28F driving up the hill but 16F driving down. By dawn Wednesday it was -1F at Main Lodge.
Dec. 19
This time we both pulled up to chair 2 at 8:15 and were all in line when it began loading 8:30. It was 7F but completely clear with no wind. Storm total was 22 inches of dense but consistent snow. We suspected that patrol would have the top open quick, so Adam headed directly for mid. I went to 3 but turned around when I saw that the gondola was already open at 8:45. Adam was maybe 10 cars ahead so in the morning feeding frenzy we never met but texted occasionally. After his first gondola run he went to 23 to wait for its opening. My first run was Climax down to the face of 3 and back into midstation. Riding up I saw people emerging from Hangman's so decided to check it out. It was perhaps the easiest Hangman's run I've ever done. The rocks in the throat are buried now, the snow was soft and with the cornice set back so far it's easy to line up your turns through the critical section. Later view of someone in Hangman's.
In this pic taken from chair 23 the throat is blocked from direct view.
I arrived at 23 just as it opened with a line of~5 minutes. I saw Adam (who got 2nd chair) tearing down Wipe Out 2 but I was scouting terrain and didn't get the camera out. As Hangman's was so forgiving I went for Drop Out 2. It skied fairly similarly: packed but soft through the tight section, good powder where it fanned out below. View of that area on a later lift ride on 23:
I skied one run on Wipe Out 1 and then headed for the Paranoids. The weather/snow bought out the locals in force. There were not enough people for lift lines but we tracked out the top quite well by 10AM. Paranoid 2 and 3 skied about the same as 2 weeks ago, when they got the most deposition from a much smaller storm but there were not quite so many people getting after it. View across the hill at the bottom of P2:
Noteworthy on the upper mountain from this storm was this fracture line on the Hump, about the height of the person next to it here:
The fracture extended across Scotty's and the debris from it reached St. Anton in a few places.
After my second Paranoid run I took the gondola up and went out to Dave's. No surprise it was fairly tracked so I looked over and saw ski cuts in the Head Chutes, viewed from Chair 9 here:
I was on the diagonal ridge looking at the first one but felt some hard snow under the powder. I decided that discretion was called for and skied the other side of the diagonal.
I went out Ricochet, worked my way through cut up dense snow in the trees below it, then up 9 and a run through the mellower trees near the lift. Overview of Chair 9:
I did not notice the snowboarder at center right who is about to drop off that rock.
Meanwhile Adam had gone off the back and hiked Hemlock Ridge. We were both pretty beat, so we all met for lunch at McCoy Station. Adam left for home after lunch while Becky, Andrew and I went up 3. Becky skied Coyote to 5 while Andrew found his way to Waterfall.
Andrew still does not do a lot of steep or confined terrain but he has found the snowboard adapts well to dense Sierra snow, even when it's been cut up like here.
They stayed on the east side of the mountain while I went back to 2 and 23 to check out the backside. This was the first time I've climbed to the top of Hemlock Ridge. Views from there:
It was 2PM. The good news is that the bootpack was well established. The snow was cut up, but since it's a 10 minute hike there were still some fresh tracks. View of Hemlock Ridge from base of 14:
I skied from the middle of the ridgetop.
After a cruiser on 14 I went back over the top to Monument. It had a lot of windsift, which I suspect may have been the "cloud" from the slide on Hump/Scotty's. I finished up with 23,400, 10K of powder. This already a record December for me with one more day here tomorrow.
Most of the storms have been high density this year so early coverage is exceptional. There are now no stairs at mid-station or at the top of the gondola. We are well on our way to a July 4th closing, particularly considering they are calling for another 3-4 feet this weekend.
Dec. 18
The storm arrived a bit early, snowed all Monday night, still snowing lightly Tuesday morning. Adam got out there early Tuesday for the opening of chair 22, skied Viva and variations before I got there. The rest of us got to chair 2 ~9AM and I made it to 22 ~9:30. I skied Shaft and Grizzly before connecting with Adam. We skied along the ridge between 22 and 25, not hitting any buried obstacles like last April's powder day. Last run on 22 was Avy 2, entrance amazingly clear of obstacles, then cut over to get to 5, which was just opening at 10:30.
The wind was fairly light for a snowy day, but with 19 inches snow conservative avalanche boundaries were in effect: Dry Creek/Triangle on 5, back of 3 and the runs around the back of 1 toward the race courses were all roped off. Nonetheless we had decent powder on 5. Becky joined us after 3 runs and we went to the face of 5, which was least tracked. First run was ideal with a break in the clouds, second one was socked in. Becky tweaked a knee on one of these, nothing serious but hurt more at the end of skiing Wednesday than Tuesday.
After lunch we made our way to 12, slowly as we had to go through Main and up chair 11 due to avy boundaries. It was moderately tracked and when the snow is 16% water the tracked snow is a lot more resistant than when it's drier. It stopped snowing, started to clear and patrol began bombing the upper mountain ~2PM. We quit shortly thereafter because we wanted to be ready for Wednesday. Still a very nice day for me with 20K vertical, 11K of powder. Adam's early start paid off: his day was 25/14. Temps plunged behind the storm. It was 28F driving up the hill but 16F driving down. By dawn Wednesday it was -1F at Main Lodge.
Dec. 19
This time we both pulled up to chair 2 at 8:15 and were all in line when it began loading 8:30. It was 7F but completely clear with no wind. Storm total was 22 inches of dense but consistent snow. We suspected that patrol would have the top open quick, so Adam headed directly for mid. I went to 3 but turned around when I saw that the gondola was already open at 8:45. Adam was maybe 10 cars ahead so in the morning feeding frenzy we never met but texted occasionally. After his first gondola run he went to 23 to wait for its opening. My first run was Climax down to the face of 3 and back into midstation. Riding up I saw people emerging from Hangman's so decided to check it out. It was perhaps the easiest Hangman's run I've ever done. The rocks in the throat are buried now, the snow was soft and with the cornice set back so far it's easy to line up your turns through the critical section. Later view of someone in Hangman's.
In this pic taken from chair 23 the throat is blocked from direct view.
I arrived at 23 just as it opened with a line of~5 minutes. I saw Adam (who got 2nd chair) tearing down Wipe Out 2 but I was scouting terrain and didn't get the camera out. As Hangman's was so forgiving I went for Drop Out 2. It skied fairly similarly: packed but soft through the tight section, good powder where it fanned out below. View of that area on a later lift ride on 23:
I skied one run on Wipe Out 1 and then headed for the Paranoids. The weather/snow bought out the locals in force. There were not enough people for lift lines but we tracked out the top quite well by 10AM. Paranoid 2 and 3 skied about the same as 2 weeks ago, when they got the most deposition from a much smaller storm but there were not quite so many people getting after it. View across the hill at the bottom of P2:
Noteworthy on the upper mountain from this storm was this fracture line on the Hump, about the height of the person next to it here:
The fracture extended across Scotty's and the debris from it reached St. Anton in a few places.
After my second Paranoid run I took the gondola up and went out to Dave's. No surprise it was fairly tracked so I looked over and saw ski cuts in the Head Chutes, viewed from Chair 9 here:
I was on the diagonal ridge looking at the first one but felt some hard snow under the powder. I decided that discretion was called for and skied the other side of the diagonal.
I went out Ricochet, worked my way through cut up dense snow in the trees below it, then up 9 and a run through the mellower trees near the lift. Overview of Chair 9:
I did not notice the snowboarder at center right who is about to drop off that rock.
Meanwhile Adam had gone off the back and hiked Hemlock Ridge. We were both pretty beat, so we all met for lunch at McCoy Station. Adam left for home after lunch while Becky, Andrew and I went up 3. Becky skied Coyote to 5 while Andrew found his way to Waterfall.
Andrew still does not do a lot of steep or confined terrain but he has found the snowboard adapts well to dense Sierra snow, even when it's been cut up like here.
They stayed on the east side of the mountain while I went back to 2 and 23 to check out the backside. This was the first time I've climbed to the top of Hemlock Ridge. Views from there:
It was 2PM. The good news is that the bootpack was well established. The snow was cut up, but since it's a 10 minute hike there were still some fresh tracks. View of Hemlock Ridge from base of 14:
I skied from the middle of the ridgetop.
After a cruiser on 14 I went back over the top to Monument. It had a lot of windsift, which I suspect may have been the "cloud" from the slide on Hump/Scotty's. I finished up with 23,400, 10K of powder. This already a record December for me with one more day here tomorrow.
Most of the storms have been high density this year so early coverage is exceptional. There are now no stairs at mid-station or at the top of the gondola. We are well on our way to a July 4th closing, particularly considering they are calling for another 3-4 feet this weekend.
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