We returned to Mt. Baldy after the holiday crunch was over, though Garry was up there Saturday and said it was very quiet.
Liz and I arrived about 9:10 and only half the upper lot had filled. To no surprise chair 1 took a beating from the sunny weather since Dec. 27.
The traverse line going out the right side did extend to above the parking lot with a clean line down from there.
Farther up chair 1 toward the Notch:
It was nearly 10AM when we got to the Notch so I figured we should try chair 4 as it was sunny and likely softening already. I was right about that. Our first runs were in perfect corn, first on Turkey Shoot.
View down Turkey Shoot with Thunder in the background.
The other chair 4 groomer Rollercoaster was just as good.
This was the first time Liz had skied chair 4. I showed her the view from the top down Lytle Creek.
I got to ski 2,200 vertical down that side on May 31, 1998.
We skied 3x each of Turkey Chute and Rollercoaster. The corn was that good midwinter due to latitude and south exposure. Other terrain on chair 4 was patchy and past history tells me chair 4 has only a week or two left unless it snows more.
We moved to Thunder and met Garry there about 11:45.
Groomers there were excellent, mostly winter snow with just a few hard patches. Skyline:
Robin's was just as good but the light was poor for pictures, particularly when we got thin overcast midday.
Ungroomed terrain remains problematic. I tested Emile's around 1PM. it had an irregular somewhat hard surface which is hard to figure out as it sees very little direct sun this time of year. A couple of times I've seen this at the top of Mammoth as a result of freezing fog, so that's my best guess here as fog often is drawn up the notch into the Mt. Baldy ski area.
I skied Herb's, which had partial softening but rarely the entire width of the run. Here's the view from Skyline into South Bowl with similar exposure.
The upper part was probably good, but it was probably firm when it got lower into the shade and the traverse out was likely an ordeal. Midday temps were probably around 40, but without full sun there were areas remaining firm that had softened on prior warmer days.
Around 2:45 we got a great view of the low sun illuminating the ocean in front and behind the Isthmus of Catalina.
We mostly ran laps on Robin's and Skyline. There were also narrow groomed paths from the Fire road down Toilet Bowl to Robin's and down Tortilla Flats from Skyline to lower Emile's. Groomers remained good all day due to low skier traffic, likely better than at the busier SoCal areas.
My last ungroomed run was Goldridge. It skied easier than Emile's due to a more defined skier packed path, but still had hard firm and slightly irregular snow.
I skied 17,300 vertical. We all rode chair 1 down based upon those morning views and my suspicion that some of the frozen snow may not have softened.
We did see a couple of people ski down, and it appeared that the snow had softened enough that we would have done OK. But the lower terrain days are numbered if it doesn't snow again soon.
Thunder's coverage is still good. But until it snows again, if you want to ski off the groomed, pick as warm a day as possible.
Liz and I arrived about 9:10 and only half the upper lot had filled. To no surprise chair 1 took a beating from the sunny weather since Dec. 27.
The traverse line going out the right side did extend to above the parking lot with a clean line down from there.
Farther up chair 1 toward the Notch:
It was nearly 10AM when we got to the Notch so I figured we should try chair 4 as it was sunny and likely softening already. I was right about that. Our first runs were in perfect corn, first on Turkey Shoot.
View down Turkey Shoot with Thunder in the background.
The other chair 4 groomer Rollercoaster was just as good.
This was the first time Liz had skied chair 4. I showed her the view from the top down Lytle Creek.
I got to ski 2,200 vertical down that side on May 31, 1998.
We skied 3x each of Turkey Chute and Rollercoaster. The corn was that good midwinter due to latitude and south exposure. Other terrain on chair 4 was patchy and past history tells me chair 4 has only a week or two left unless it snows more.
We moved to Thunder and met Garry there about 11:45.
Groomers there were excellent, mostly winter snow with just a few hard patches. Skyline:
Robin's was just as good but the light was poor for pictures, particularly when we got thin overcast midday.
Ungroomed terrain remains problematic. I tested Emile's around 1PM. it had an irregular somewhat hard surface which is hard to figure out as it sees very little direct sun this time of year. A couple of times I've seen this at the top of Mammoth as a result of freezing fog, so that's my best guess here as fog often is drawn up the notch into the Mt. Baldy ski area.
I skied Herb's, which had partial softening but rarely the entire width of the run. Here's the view from Skyline into South Bowl with similar exposure.
The upper part was probably good, but it was probably firm when it got lower into the shade and the traverse out was likely an ordeal. Midday temps were probably around 40, but without full sun there were areas remaining firm that had softened on prior warmer days.
Around 2:45 we got a great view of the low sun illuminating the ocean in front and behind the Isthmus of Catalina.
We mostly ran laps on Robin's and Skyline. There were also narrow groomed paths from the Fire road down Toilet Bowl to Robin's and down Tortilla Flats from Skyline to lower Emile's. Groomers remained good all day due to low skier traffic, likely better than at the busier SoCal areas.
My last ungroomed run was Goldridge. It skied easier than Emile's due to a more defined skier packed path, but still had hard firm and slightly irregular snow.
I skied 17,300 vertical. We all rode chair 1 down based upon those morning views and my suspicion that some of the frozen snow may not have softened.
We did see a couple of people ski down, and it appeared that the snow had softened enough that we would have done OK. But the lower terrain days are numbered if it doesn't snow again soon.
Thunder's coverage is still good. But until it snows again, if you want to ski off the groomed, pick as warm a day as possible.