Once again I took advantage of the Mammoth purchase of Big Bear to get in a free day of local skiing. Garry Klassen came along with us. His 8 days at Big Bear on his Mammoth Pass are all the skiing he has done this season so far.
Most of my Big Bear skiing has been in December/January after a big snowmaking push has opened most runs. I had not skied here later than January since 2003, or mid-season after sustained warm weather in at least that long. Snow Valley looked in sorry condition as we drove by, and I'm sure Mt. High West at 35% open is not much better. At even at well-run Big Bear, this is a sign of the times for California skiing.
Temperature range was 60/27, and by the time we arrived at 9:45, it was already warm enough for me to ski wearing just a jacket over T-shirt and no hat from the first run. The 27 meant there was some overnight freeze, though I'm not sure it's cold long enough for them to make any snow at night for the time being. Coverage is still very good with the exact same runs open (80% or so) as on our last visit Jan. 7. Grooming is intensive, and even though morning snow is firm I could spot almost no gray frozen granular spots.
We were pleasantly surprised that snow never got too slushy except around the immediate loading/unloading areas of lifts. The sun is still low enough to shade many runs for much of the day. Skier traffic can build up clumps of wet snow, but on a Wednesday there were just a few areas where this was very noticeable by mid-afternoon. I'm sure conditions deteriorate through the day much more on the weekend.
We warmed up first on Miracle Mile, then took a test run on the Wall on the way to Chair 10. Skier's right of Wall had been very well groomed and was edgeable corduroy even at 10:15. Chair 10 was good but nearly empty and we could tell with the low traffic that it would be in corn mode by 11AM or so. So we took one run through the Westridge terrain park and then returned for several laps on 10. At 11:45 we joined Garry's friend Mark for a few more runs on 6, 7 and 10 before taking a lunch break around 1PM.
Coming out of lunch just before 2, we knew to stick to the upper mountain as much as possible. Ego Trip on Chair 3 was still good, though upper Westridge was mushy from skier traffic. So we moved to Chairs 6 and 7. Far skier's right of chair 7 was sufficiently quiet and smooth to have some good corn turns.
Here are Garry and Liz on Olympic, Summit's steepest groomed run.
For some unknown reason Snow Summit closes chairs 6 and 10 at 2:30 midweek. Chair 10 is past its prime on a warm day by then, but Wall/Olympic are often at their best. Fortunately the exit road is open so you can ski those runs, but you have to ski to the bottom to come back for another lap.
We finished at 3:30 after 21,100 vertical. I expect to be back at Big Bear a day next week unless the upcoming storm delivers enough snow to recover the top of Mammoth.
Most of my Big Bear skiing has been in December/January after a big snowmaking push has opened most runs. I had not skied here later than January since 2003, or mid-season after sustained warm weather in at least that long. Snow Valley looked in sorry condition as we drove by, and I'm sure Mt. High West at 35% open is not much better. At even at well-run Big Bear, this is a sign of the times for California skiing.
Temperature range was 60/27, and by the time we arrived at 9:45, it was already warm enough for me to ski wearing just a jacket over T-shirt and no hat from the first run. The 27 meant there was some overnight freeze, though I'm not sure it's cold long enough for them to make any snow at night for the time being. Coverage is still very good with the exact same runs open (80% or so) as on our last visit Jan. 7. Grooming is intensive, and even though morning snow is firm I could spot almost no gray frozen granular spots.
We were pleasantly surprised that snow never got too slushy except around the immediate loading/unloading areas of lifts. The sun is still low enough to shade many runs for much of the day. Skier traffic can build up clumps of wet snow, but on a Wednesday there were just a few areas where this was very noticeable by mid-afternoon. I'm sure conditions deteriorate through the day much more on the weekend.
We warmed up first on Miracle Mile, then took a test run on the Wall on the way to Chair 10. Skier's right of Wall had been very well groomed and was edgeable corduroy even at 10:15. Chair 10 was good but nearly empty and we could tell with the low traffic that it would be in corn mode by 11AM or so. So we took one run through the Westridge terrain park and then returned for several laps on 10. At 11:45 we joined Garry's friend Mark for a few more runs on 6, 7 and 10 before taking a lunch break around 1PM.
Coming out of lunch just before 2, we knew to stick to the upper mountain as much as possible. Ego Trip on Chair 3 was still good, though upper Westridge was mushy from skier traffic. So we moved to Chairs 6 and 7. Far skier's right of chair 7 was sufficiently quiet and smooth to have some good corn turns.
Here are Garry and Liz on Olympic, Summit's steepest groomed run.
For some unknown reason Snow Summit closes chairs 6 and 10 at 2:30 midweek. Chair 10 is past its prime on a warm day by then, but Wall/Olympic are often at their best. Fortunately the exit road is open so you can ski those runs, but you have to ski to the bottom to come back for another lap.
We finished at 3:30 after 21,100 vertical. I expect to be back at Big Bear a day next week unless the upcoming storm delivers enough snow to recover the top of Mammoth.
