Mammoth June 30 – July 1, 2023

[ChrisC]

Skiing on dirty old snow with hundreds of others.

Got to keep the streak going!

Sure Mammoth has the 2,000 foot elevation advantage. But it was mobbed this weekend too, and yet liftlines maxed out around 5 minutes because they ran enough lifts (8 of them, all high speed) to handle the crowd.

You also had to make paid parking reservations for Alpine. Free parking at Olympic Valley via shuttle bus. They did not write tickets but gave warnings! Happy July 4th!

have no problem walking up or down some dirt starting or ending the day to get July turns, but don't make people do it on every run. I'd rather ski Alpine with Alpine Bowl than Palisades without Siberia or Granite Chief. Of course, I believe failure to run Siberia past mid-June in 2017 was also due to the same cheap and/or lackadaisical management.

Alpine rarely seems to run the Alpine Bowl lift except on major weekends/holidays.

Palisades/Olympic Valley destroyed its late season. The High Camp/Top of Tram has been out of commission for years. Starting in March, the pool was fun and would attract a decent crowd even midweek in the 2000s. Gone. Ice skating-Gone. Food-Bad.

Also, Granite Chief (1980s Triple) is a top 3 most popular lift on the mountain since it serves the highest terrain and best high intermediate/low expert terrain, but it has not been replaced. Far East Express 6-ack is one of the least utilized lifts - bottom 3. They should move that lift to Granite Chief.

If managed correctly, the Palisades/Olympic side could be quite the late-season ski circus. High-speed lifts at Headwall, Siberia, Gold Coast, Big Blue, Shirley, and Granite - almost everything above 8000 ft. Plus activities at High Camp and/or Gold Coast.

(Heavenly too might create a similar high alpine zone, but I am less sure what preservation/snow depths are like.)

 

[Tony Crocker]

High-speed lifts at Headwall, Siberia, Gold Coast, Big Blue, Shirley, and Granite

Bottom of Headwall lift would be tough to keep covered. The others were all running when we skied June 2, 2017. But Granite closed 2 days later and Siberia 2 weeks after that. Late season Palisades is not that interesting once they shut those lifts down. Also, Gold Coast and Big Blue face south and Palisades doesn't salt any groomers other than race courses.

 

[Tony Crocker]

(Heavenly too might create a similar high alpine zone, but I am less sure what preservation/snow depths are like.)

Snowpack is less but preservation should be better. Kirkwood has both the huge snowpack and comparable preservation. But Kirkwood has been a stepchild ski area through several owners. Most of the people who stay in South Lake Tahoe must be too lazy to drive over there even when weather is nice. I don't get it. As early as 1981 I figured out Kirkwood was worth the drive particularly in below average snow years.

 

[tseeb]

Snowpack is less but preservation should be better. Kirkwood has both the huge snowpack and comparable preservation. But Kirkwood has been a stepchild ski area through several owners. Most of the people who stay in South Lake Tahoe must be too lazy to drive over there even when weather is nice. I don't get it. As early as 1981 I figured out Kirkwood was worth the drive particularly in below average snow years.

I drove by Kirkwood yesterday on my way home from 8 nights in South Tahoe. It would have taken a lot of work to keep any covered route to 7800' base from 8600' (where Reut unloads - see horizontal road below peak just less than halfway up). The tops of both Cornice and The Wall probably burned off before Memorial Day.

If they had lift in Thunder Saddle (to left of peak) they probably could have some skiing, but currently all N-facing lifts go to the bottom which has burned off. I didn't go by friend's house not far from where I took this picture on CA-88, but he said the deep snowpack from early May is all gone.

Heavenly is even thinner with snowline about halfway up 8650-9800' Dipper in NV and no snow visible on somewhat W-facing CA side. Milky Way Bowl and N-facing slope East of there had snow, but current lift layout does not support only skiing there.

 

[Tony Crocker]

2022-23 was not a record breaking season in the Tahoe basin. The records were mostly in the central Sierra (Dodge Ridge, Bear Valley, China Peak, June, Mammoth) because some of the biggest storms came ashore along the central California coast and hit the central/southern Sierra hardest. The other records were at Sugar Bowl and the Central Sierra Snow Lab. These places usually get quite a bit of rain along with snow and had a much lower proportion of rain in 2022-23.

 

[ChrisC]

Well, the Tioga Pass road opens the 'quick' way to Mammoth via Yosemite. However, who knows what travel will really be like. Looks like there might be a lot of one-way portions. Guess there are bigger barriers for summer skiing.

Tioga and Glacier Point Roads Plowing and Road Opening Update - Yosemite National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Tioga Road, Glacier Point Road

www.nps.gov

Tioga Road
July 19, 2023

Great news! Tioga Road (continuation of Highway 120 through the park) will open to vehicles on Saturday, July 22, at 8 am. While vault and portable toilets will be available, there will be no water, no store or food service, and no fuel. Be sure to bring all the food and water you need. The visitor center and wilderness center in Tuolumne Meadows will be open.

Tioga Road has some damage, so watch for one-lane sections, with delays up to 15 minutes just east of Olmsted Point.

There is no estimate when Tamarack Flat or Porcupine Flat Campgrounds will open. Other campgrounds on Tioga Road will not open this year.

It's still snowy up there! Meadows and some trails are flooded. Snow is persisting in some shady areas as low as 8,000 feet, with extensive, deep snow coverage by 9,000 feet. Stay on trails to protect growing plants and plan for wet feet. Marked trails may be hard or impossible to follow; hikers should have GPS, as well as map and compass (and know how to use them).

Tioga Road will be open to bikes on Friday, July 21. For their safety, cyclists must obey the traffic light just east of Olmsted Point.

Tioga Road is typically open to vehicles from late May or June until sometime in November. Plowing typically begins around April 15.

Snow damage in Yosemite causes record-breaking road closure

Yosemite National Park is dealing with the prolonged closure of Tioga Road, resulting in...

www.sfgate.com

 

[Tony Crocker]

I found out about the Tioga opening while dropping by Mammoth's admin offices after skiing yesterday. There is no scheduled opening for the Red's Meadow/Devil's Postpile road, presumably also due to winter road damage.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Today there were two more announcements:
1) Mammoth ski closing date is Aug. 6, same as in 2017.
2) Red's Meadow road and shuttle opens tomorrow July 21. The shuttle will not stop near Devil's Postpile because facilities there are not ready.