This is the last weekend of SoCal skiing. April snow in SoCal is usually the consistency of Mammoth snow in June/July so flat terrain (Snow Valley) or congested slopes (Big Bear) are not a good idea.
Add in the convenience factor and Garry Klassen's favorable review two weeks ago, and I decided to check out what was left of Baldy. I called first as most of SoCal was under a thick marine layer all day. But the mountains were above it, as is common in spring here.
While I was confident of a decent afternoon spring snow surface, I knew coverage might be limited. The Notch area and sun exposed slopes beyond were to no surprise bare of snow.
Beginner Gulch had also melted out. Here's the view of Thunder from the top of Chair 1.
Long time employee Nick drove a 7 passenger van between the above location and the base of Thunder. My timing wasn't great as I had to wait 15 minutes for it. I got to the base of Thunder at 12:45PM
The main open runs to the Thunder base were Emile's (left) and Skyline (right).
Higher up Liftline has lost too much snow over the past two weeks to be skiable any more.
But upper Emile's at right had two wide open fall lines plus more north facing variations through the trees.
Shortcut passing under the lift had quite smooth corn.
The reason was that lower Robin's had lost most of its snow.
There were two short sections down there where you had to take your skis off and walk.
The trees between Liftline and Robin's were good too.
This run required the same short walks. Thus I skied just those two runs ending in Robin's.
So my other 10 runs were on Skyline, Emile's and variations. After 3PM the bottom pitch of Skyline was developing a thin area, but 2/3 of the way down Skyline, the Tortilla Flats cutoff to lower Emile's remained well covered.
I decided to finish my day on Goldridge, where I noticed continuous coverage while waiting for the van.
The Fire Road was covered to Goldridge's entry, but few people skied it due to the gulch at the bottom being bare. Thus big suncups had formed at its entry and some smaller ones lower down.
As it was 3:30PM the snow was forgiving even when not that smooth here.
I thought the grunt work of hiking the upper half of Beginner Gulch would be better than waiting for the van shuttle again, but I got lucky. Another employee was driving a golf cart up the gulch just as I was starting to walk and gave me a ride.
Overall this was a worthwhile ski day. I left home at 11AM, was home by 5:30PM and got in 12,500 vertical of skiing on good terrain and decent spring snow.
Add in the convenience factor and Garry Klassen's favorable review two weeks ago, and I decided to check out what was left of Baldy. I called first as most of SoCal was under a thick marine layer all day. But the mountains were above it, as is common in spring here.
While I was confident of a decent afternoon spring snow surface, I knew coverage might be limited. The Notch area and sun exposed slopes beyond were to no surprise bare of snow.
Beginner Gulch had also melted out. Here's the view of Thunder from the top of Chair 1.
Long time employee Nick drove a 7 passenger van between the above location and the base of Thunder. My timing wasn't great as I had to wait 15 minutes for it. I got to the base of Thunder at 12:45PM
The main open runs to the Thunder base were Emile's (left) and Skyline (right).
Higher up Liftline has lost too much snow over the past two weeks to be skiable any more.
But upper Emile's at right had two wide open fall lines plus more north facing variations through the trees.
Shortcut passing under the lift had quite smooth corn.
The reason was that lower Robin's had lost most of its snow.
There were two short sections down there where you had to take your skis off and walk.
The trees between Liftline and Robin's were good too.
This run required the same short walks. Thus I skied just those two runs ending in Robin's.
So my other 10 runs were on Skyline, Emile's and variations. After 3PM the bottom pitch of Skyline was developing a thin area, but 2/3 of the way down Skyline, the Tortilla Flats cutoff to lower Emile's remained well covered.
I decided to finish my day on Goldridge, where I noticed continuous coverage while waiting for the van.
The Fire Road was covered to Goldridge's entry, but few people skied it due to the gulch at the bottom being bare. Thus big suncups had formed at its entry and some smaller ones lower down.
As it was 3:30PM the snow was forgiving even when not that smooth here.
I thought the grunt work of hiking the upper half of Beginner Gulch would be better than waiting for the van shuttle again, but I got lucky. Another employee was driving a golf cart up the gulch just as I was starting to walk and gave me a ride.
Overall this was a worthwhile ski day. I left home at 11AM, was home by 5:30PM and got in 12,500 vertical of skiing on good terrain and decent spring snow.
