Mt friend Richard Weinstein skied Mt. Baldy today. FYI, Richard grew up in the East skiing New York and Vermont in the 1970's. Here is his report:
Today I skied at Baldy. You were right; snow conditions were the worst I have experienced at Baldy.
First yesterday they closed most of the lifts due to high winds. Today when I arrived about 8 AM I was the only one there, I had to ask if they were open. You now climb the steps behind the ticket booth since there was much construction on the usual route.
It turns out they did not open Thunder Mountain until 9 AM and Chair 4 until 10:30. There are mud potholes all the way to the top. Only 2 runs on Thunder were open and the main one (Robin's) was a sheet of ice. The hard thick type that looks like glass.
By 10:30 Chair 4 was very soft but much more skiable. For me it was a $23 lift ticket so I only did 10 runs and left. The weather was beautiful and there was very little wind.
The "mud potholes" are similar to what I observed once at Snow Valley in 1980 after about 6 inches of rain. The rain goes through the snow, saturates the ground, and in a low spot the water reaches the surfaces and collapses the snow from underneath.
Stick a fork in it. Baldy is done until the next storm, and not just a refresher, at least 2 feet needed. Richard said the creek under Chair 1 is a 5-foot wide river. Chair 4's base is thin and won't last more than a week or two of the current sunny weather. The sun won't get to most of Thunder for another month.
Appreciate what we had from Dec. 30 - Jan. 6. It was probably the highlight of the SoCal season. We have had rainstorms like this before, in 1980, 1986 and 1997. But those were poor to mediocre years. This is the first time we've had really great conditions damaged by rain this much.
Today I skied at Baldy. You were right; snow conditions were the worst I have experienced at Baldy.
First yesterday they closed most of the lifts due to high winds. Today when I arrived about 8 AM I was the only one there, I had to ask if they were open. You now climb the steps behind the ticket booth since there was much construction on the usual route.
It turns out they did not open Thunder Mountain until 9 AM and Chair 4 until 10:30. There are mud potholes all the way to the top. Only 2 runs on Thunder were open and the main one (Robin's) was a sheet of ice. The hard thick type that looks like glass.
By 10:30 Chair 4 was very soft but much more skiable. For me it was a $23 lift ticket so I only did 10 runs and left. The weather was beautiful and there was very little wind.
The "mud potholes" are similar to what I observed once at Snow Valley in 1980 after about 6 inches of rain. The rain goes through the snow, saturates the ground, and in a low spot the water reaches the surfaces and collapses the snow from underneath.
Stick a fork in it. Baldy is done until the next storm, and not just a refresher, at least 2 feet needed. Richard said the creek under Chair 1 is a 5-foot wide river. Chair 4's base is thin and won't last more than a week or two of the current sunny weather. The sun won't get to most of Thunder for another month.
Appreciate what we had from Dec. 30 - Jan. 6. It was probably the highlight of the SoCal season. We have had rainstorms like this before, in 1980, 1986 and 1997. But those were poor to mediocre years. This is the first time we've had really great conditions damaged by rain this much.