Mt. Baldy Secondhand 12/27

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
Garry Klassen got up there before 8AM yesterday and left at lunchtime for afternoon family obligations. The overall review was "better than expected."

Mt. Baldy's grooming is hit or miss, but according to Garry yesterday was one of those times they did a good job. Not only Fire Road/Bonanza and Shortcut/Robin's, but also Skyline and Turkey Shoot. The ski area itself was not busy, as word must have gotten out about the rain. It was about 20F, so Garry only went off trail once near chair 4, and even there it did not soften much. Roller Coaster is closed due to a large ice sheet in the shade of the water tank near the bottom of the run. Garry saw one skier pick his way carefully down Emile's. Chair 1 was closed to skiing, and while riding the chair down he saw patrol rescuing a snowboarder at the bottom of Windslab.

The hairpins were dry and clear, but the dip just below Snowcrest Lodge was filled with sheet ice, causing cars to spin out. While driving down the hill midday the traffic from snowplayers coming up extended all the way down to the road split from Claremont and Upland.

I think Baldy conditions will improve some later this week with warmer weather. However the trees are plastered with ice, and the ice chunks are major obstacles you don't want to hit when they fall to the ground. Garry had to dodge a few that rolled into Robin's.
 
Thanks for the report. When I was up there on the 26th, they had the groomed runs groomed......but off-piste didn't look too friendly. I personally think that not even this warmer weather is going to do much. It's going to get below 32 degrees at night......and freeze up hardpack/bulletproof at night. Let's pray for the next big snowstorm. To have this base before Jan 1 is good, very good! Attached is a pic from the 26th: a tree completely covered in ice. Definite hazard once temps start to go up. (I tried to attach, but pic is too big. I'll add them to my previous post.)
 
Chair 4 and Holcumac will have a corn window on warm days with the sunny exposure. You're right about Thunder off-piste. The sun is too low until mid-February, so the only solution there is new snow. Garry did say there was some new snow on top, as you reported at Mt. High. And they used the snowmaking to cover up last week's thin area at the bottom of Robin's.
 
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