A good day of skiing but as is often the case at Baldy not exactly what I expected. I was not surprised that spring had arrived with Thursday and Friday being warm and sunny. Nearly all the snow is gone in the village and below the hairpins at 5,000 feet. I arrived at 8:15 and parked near the front of the second level.
I did expect winter snow on N aspects of Thunder, so I headed there right away and didn't notice it wasn't running. They said it might be half an hour or so and suggested chair 4. I took one run on Roller Coaster ~9AM and it was way too early with the the overcast: bulletproof!
Roller Coaster is on an south-facing exposed ridge and is usually one of the first runs to lose its cover. But it does illustrate that the base is not at 1998, 2001 or 2005 levels, so I advise those who enjoy Baldy's ski anywhere terrain to get up there soon while everything is wide open. Some other sketchy spots were the entrances to Herb's, Andy's and Nightmare, though the runs themselves were well worth the effort. So I went back to Thunder and waited maybe 10 minutes for it to open around 9:30.
In the morning all of the groomed runs on Thunder were soft packed powder, along with anything north facing off-trail.
Here's a view down Emile's with south-facing chair 4 and Holcumac in background.
Mt. Baldy often goes through an "awkward stage" between the powder days and the corn snow. The often heavy new snow gets churned up by the powderhounds, making off-trail skiing difficult for awhile until it consolidates and smooths out. Garry tells me that this condition lasted nearly all March in 2005 before a great April of corn. The recent storms were much lighter snow than usual, so it has already packed down to a pleasing surface in most areas I tried. This was true even in South Bowl, where the main problem was avoiding areas where too many "ice bombs" had fallen out of the trees.
I nonetheless had some difficulty in the morning on the Mantras. They just seem to require a lot of work for me, even on the forgiving groomed snow of Robin's and Skyline. So I went in for lunch at 11:30, deciding to switch skis after that. FYI, despite a full parking lot and some complaints about a a slow ticket line, I skied 8 runs on Thunder in those 2 morning hours and the line maxed out about 5 minutes.
After lunch I headed up chair 4, which was now at its near optimal softening stage. Spring Ridge was good enough that I crossed Turkey Shoot to ski Holcumac.
View of most of Thunder's runs from the top of Holcumac. Windslab and the Notch are left of the bare tree.
Halfway down Holcumac. After just 4 days it's not quite smooth but it still skied well. South facing and fairly steep Holcumac has a small window of time for optimal conditions most days; Spring Ridge (higher and not as steep but same exposure) provides a useful guideline. Sugarpine under chair 1 was soft now ~12:30, and it's currently wider than normal with no creek.
Back up the hill on the Recons ~1PM I returned to Thunder. Skiing was just as good (and better for me with the ski switch) but the snow had softened some on the groomed.
Here's a pic halfway down Skyline, across Emile's and the chair to Herb's and Andy's. Those had good afternoon corn once I picked my way in.
Only steep north-facing on Thunder remains packed powder, such as Goldridge and the trees skier's right of Liftline and Skyline.
View from trees between Skyline and Emile's.
I skied 9 runs on Thunder until 3:15, most with no waiting at all. The parking lot was full, but I'm not sure where everybody was.
There were quite a few sightseers around the Notch and this tubing park Baldy has built next to it.
Next I picked my way into Nightmare and was pleasantly surprised to find mostly consolidated corn with just the beginning of bumps forming.
Riding back up chair 1 at 3:30 far more people are riding down than skiing.
Last run I headed for Bentley's.
View down and across Bentley's/Morgan's. We can all appreciate how great this was in the powder Adam and Garry had Tuesday. But the steep lines skier's left of Bentley's were already nearly perfect corn in late afternoon today. Garry reported similar conditions in Eric's on Friday.
I traversed high at the bottom to ski this face directly to my car. Heavier snow down here but still manageable. 23,400 today, back to Pasadena by 5:15PM.
Yes, that was strange weather for SoCal. Completely overcast but thin, so you could see shadows on the slopes. And already in the 40's in the parking lot when I got there.
I did expect winter snow on N aspects of Thunder, so I headed there right away and didn't notice it wasn't running. They said it might be half an hour or so and suggested chair 4. I took one run on Roller Coaster ~9AM and it was way too early with the the overcast: bulletproof!
Roller Coaster is on an south-facing exposed ridge and is usually one of the first runs to lose its cover. But it does illustrate that the base is not at 1998, 2001 or 2005 levels, so I advise those who enjoy Baldy's ski anywhere terrain to get up there soon while everything is wide open. Some other sketchy spots were the entrances to Herb's, Andy's and Nightmare, though the runs themselves were well worth the effort. So I went back to Thunder and waited maybe 10 minutes for it to open around 9:30.
In the morning all of the groomed runs on Thunder were soft packed powder, along with anything north facing off-trail.
Here's a view down Emile's with south-facing chair 4 and Holcumac in background.
Mt. Baldy often goes through an "awkward stage" between the powder days and the corn snow. The often heavy new snow gets churned up by the powderhounds, making off-trail skiing difficult for awhile until it consolidates and smooths out. Garry tells me that this condition lasted nearly all March in 2005 before a great April of corn. The recent storms were much lighter snow than usual, so it has already packed down to a pleasing surface in most areas I tried. This was true even in South Bowl, where the main problem was avoiding areas where too many "ice bombs" had fallen out of the trees.
I nonetheless had some difficulty in the morning on the Mantras. They just seem to require a lot of work for me, even on the forgiving groomed snow of Robin's and Skyline. So I went in for lunch at 11:30, deciding to switch skis after that. FYI, despite a full parking lot and some complaints about a a slow ticket line, I skied 8 runs on Thunder in those 2 morning hours and the line maxed out about 5 minutes.
After lunch I headed up chair 4, which was now at its near optimal softening stage. Spring Ridge was good enough that I crossed Turkey Shoot to ski Holcumac.
View of most of Thunder's runs from the top of Holcumac. Windslab and the Notch are left of the bare tree.
Halfway down Holcumac. After just 4 days it's not quite smooth but it still skied well. South facing and fairly steep Holcumac has a small window of time for optimal conditions most days; Spring Ridge (higher and not as steep but same exposure) provides a useful guideline. Sugarpine under chair 1 was soft now ~12:30, and it's currently wider than normal with no creek.
Back up the hill on the Recons ~1PM I returned to Thunder. Skiing was just as good (and better for me with the ski switch) but the snow had softened some on the groomed.
Here's a pic halfway down Skyline, across Emile's and the chair to Herb's and Andy's. Those had good afternoon corn once I picked my way in.
Only steep north-facing on Thunder remains packed powder, such as Goldridge and the trees skier's right of Liftline and Skyline.
View from trees between Skyline and Emile's.
I skied 9 runs on Thunder until 3:15, most with no waiting at all. The parking lot was full, but I'm not sure where everybody was.
There were quite a few sightseers around the Notch and this tubing park Baldy has built next to it.
Next I picked my way into Nightmare and was pleasantly surprised to find mostly consolidated corn with just the beginning of bumps forming.
Riding back up chair 1 at 3:30 far more people are riding down than skiing.
Last run I headed for Bentley's.
View down and across Bentley's/Morgan's. We can all appreciate how great this was in the powder Adam and Garry had Tuesday. But the steep lines skier's left of Bentley's were already nearly perfect corn in late afternoon today. Garry reported similar conditions in Eric's on Friday.
I traversed high at the bottom to ski this face directly to my car. Heavier snow down here but still manageable. 23,400 today, back to Pasadena by 5:15PM.
, and it is great. It takes a ton of shots in no time and is pretty true with color and takes very high quality photos. I don't have to do too much with touch ups with either. The biggest advantage for you tony is that it is absolutely tiny.