K2VLAD
New member
We just had some fantastic skiing up at Mt Baldy today. Chain control was set up at the Mountain/ Mt Baldy intersection.
No chains... No go... 4wd not withstanding. Roads were pretty dicey. At the 2nd to last hairpin a couple of 2wd's bonked. Our highly skilled driver was able to maneuver his Toyota 4wd around this mishap while the next driver was not so lucky . That meant we were the last car up for quite some time. Apparently this had a ripple effect all the way to the Bowling Alley ...We were 4th in line for tix. After the prerequisite Baldy wait they actually got tix going on time . Got my reserved ticket and headed for Lift 1. After a bit of digging and letting some crew up we got on the first three civilian chairs. We headed strait for chair 3. After a relatively short wait we were able to load up. The ride up i noticed that the wind and the remaining snow of the night before really smoothed things up nicely,,the trees were absolute snowcones,, things were looking very good. And sure enough the first ride revealed a luxurious and creamy powder. In the the more exposed areas you would sink in 4 to 8 in and in the glades it could be as deep as 16 in. The snow really reminded me of a very good Mammoth windbuff/powder. We were able to lap chair 3 five times of pick your line freshies before the line started building up. Then i asked a patrol if Southbowl was open, and with a wide grin he says "yea...its pristine." And it was . We were able to get about 4 runs in S bowl , by this time the wait in chair 3 had increased to around 15 min ..still not to bad. Our plan had been to leave by noon so it was back to the notch and then down Bentlys. It was fantastic ,, complete coverage and nice deep snow. We had a great time, and the snow was such that even the tracked stuff stayed soft and relatively smooth. Word on the street as we were bailing was Chair 4 was opening soon , but it was still encased in snow when we left..... so....
we get down to the parking lot and..OMFG!!!!! Total ZOO!! Chair 1 line ran down past the tix booth and tix line was into the parking lot and starting to wrap around the turn. And people were still coming up in droves! We start driving back into town and people are parking to go skiing well past Snow Crest Lodge. The town was an absolute madhouse. Driving further we notice a lack of traffic . We discover that at the mouth of the canyon cars are being held up. This results in a traffic backup almost a mile on Mt Baldy road and over a mile on Mountain!! Utter Madness! Anyway it was awesome up on Baldy and apparently all their advertising and promotions are paying off in spades. Don't know if that's good or bad ......
No chains... No go... 4wd not withstanding. Roads were pretty dicey. At the 2nd to last hairpin a couple of 2wd's bonked. Our highly skilled driver was able to maneuver his Toyota 4wd around this mishap while the next driver was not so lucky . That meant we were the last car up for quite some time. Apparently this had a ripple effect all the way to the Bowling Alley ...We were 4th in line for tix. After the prerequisite Baldy wait they actually got tix going on time . Got my reserved ticket and headed for Lift 1. After a bit of digging and letting some crew up we got on the first three civilian chairs. We headed strait for chair 3. After a relatively short wait we were able to load up. The ride up i noticed that the wind and the remaining snow of the night before really smoothed things up nicely,,the trees were absolute snowcones,, things were looking very good. And sure enough the first ride revealed a luxurious and creamy powder. In the the more exposed areas you would sink in 4 to 8 in and in the glades it could be as deep as 16 in. The snow really reminded me of a very good Mammoth windbuff/powder. We were able to lap chair 3 five times of pick your line freshies before the line started building up. Then i asked a patrol if Southbowl was open, and with a wide grin he says "yea...its pristine." And it was . We were able to get about 4 runs in S bowl , by this time the wait in chair 3 had increased to around 15 min ..still not to bad. Our plan had been to leave by noon so it was back to the notch and then down Bentlys. It was fantastic ,, complete coverage and nice deep snow. We had a great time, and the snow was such that even the tracked stuff stayed soft and relatively smooth. Word on the street as we were bailing was Chair 4 was opening soon , but it was still encased in snow when we left..... so....
we get down to the parking lot and..OMFG!!!!! Total ZOO!! Chair 1 line ran down past the tix booth and tix line was into the parking lot and starting to wrap around the turn. And people were still coming up in droves! We start driving back into town and people are parking to go skiing well past Snow Crest Lodge. The town was an absolute madhouse. Driving further we notice a lack of traffic . We discover that at the mouth of the canyon cars are being held up. This results in a traffic backup almost a mile on Mt Baldy road and over a mile on Mountain!! Utter Madness! Anyway it was awesome up on Baldy and apparently all their advertising and promotions are paying off in spades. Don't know if that's good or bad ......
