Mt. Baldy 2-28-2011 - No liftlines but sketchy late

[Kreature]

Two days after a couple feet of new snow, I thought that Mt. Baldy's groomed runs would be a joy to carve up in the morning.
I was counting on the deep stuff between the trees to soften up later in the day.

Well, the carving on the groomed runs was excellent, but the cool temperatures and wind conspired to keep the off-piste snow pretty hard. After three hours of hitting all the chairs, I took my first header, and realized how hard the packed snow had gotten.

I bailed, and headed for home. On my way down the mountain, I passed a couple emergency vehicles, lights flashing, heading toward Baldy. I can't help imagining somebody must have hit the deck pretty hard. I hope everyone walked away with manageable injuries.

I had more great Baldy conversations on the lift. Respect to the young lady out to conquer California snow and water, and the dreadlocked drummer from LA, not to mention my fellow dad who skied Roller Coaster with me.

 

[socal]

Thanks for the update. Looks like the warmup coming this weekend could make for some nice skiing. High of 45 at the top is predicted for Saturday.

 

[SoCal Rider]

I realize it isn't always an exact science - or about any one thing - in regards to snow preservation, but don't we root for cool/cold temperatures to preserve wintery snow? (But once there is a melt/freeze, we root for warmer temps/low wind during day as long as there are no new storms?)

There were some hard areas off-piste - there were even "icy" signs at Andy's and Herb's - but South Bowl, Tube and Emile's were not. I don't recall the ungroomed on 4 being harder than expected. Maybe it's more about not being as soft as expected?

 

[jojo_obrien]

not surprising at all......it snowed friday night and it's been essentially 3 days (sat, sun, mon) of temperatures well above freezing with no clouds and lots of sun. i have gotten to the point where, after skiing baldy for nearly 20 years that i only hit it during or a day after the storm. maybe i'm spoiled. :roll:

although i'm sure tony will school me on my thoughts on what gets icy and what stays decent, herbs and andys have west exposure and since we're in march, get quite a bit of sun. the other runs mentioned are more east or northeast facing and have less sun exposure. since the sun is getting higher, we'll see less shade and more sun.

take a look at the google earth imagery of baldy and notice what parts around thunder have snow and what parts have very little. the north and east facing slopes have a lot more snow than the south and west facing (duh).......aerial photo must be from sometime in the spring......

 

[SoCal Rider]

Sorry to quibble, but there was new snow Saturday (6" reported), so Monday was Day Two post-storm. You were there Sunday and it was apparently well above freezing. I was at Palomar Mountain on Sunday - only 5500 feet tops - and it was pretty chilly there, albeit sunny. And we know what the sun does down here.

That said, I thought it was very good Monday. Compare it to a 6.5-7K storm, where the tracked "powder" sets up before the day is done and becomes a drag to slosh through.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I'm inclined to agree with SoCal Rider. I was at Mt. High a week ago in a similar time since the previous storm and there was still decent powder in Sawmill Canyon. I'd expect good snow in exact north exposures like Emile's and Goldridge. If these runs are still shaded temps need to get close to 50F before they will go into spring mode.

Herb's and Andy's face SW. They had some borderline corn Dec. 28.

 

[Falcon]

Took about twelve runs today (3/01) on Thunder with a friend returning to skiing after twenty years. All runs were between Robins and Skyline. Snow was very good. It is soft on north facing slopes. Emile's had bumps in areas and was very good.