Spring Skiing
- Thread starter jasoncapecod
- Start date
Patrick will be here for a music event May 20. He will not arrive much earlier than that and It's not clear how long he will stay, but safe to say until at least first of June.
There is no way Tioga will open by Memorial Day this year.
Tioga opening dates in years Mammoth was open to July 4:
July 1 in 2019
June 29 in 2017
June 18 in 2011
June 5 in 2010
June 17 in 2006
June 24 in 2005
July 1 in 1998
June 30 in 1995
June 3 in 1993
May 24 in 1986
June 29 in 1983
May 28 in 1982
June 6 in 1980
The open past July 4 years were 1983, 1995, 2017 and 2019. 2011 could have been, but that was the era Mammoth was constrained by the Starwood private equity deal.
Nonetheless I'd strongly encourage ChrisC to come for Memorial Day weekend as Mammoth will run extra lifts, and the gondola closes for maintenance for about 3 weeks after Memorial Day.
Liz' knee replacement is May 24, so I will not be skiing for a TBD period after that. I expect to be back by the July 4 holiday though.
There is no way Tioga will open by Memorial Day this year.
Tioga opening dates in years Mammoth was open to July 4:
July 1 in 2019
June 29 in 2017
June 18 in 2011
June 5 in 2010
June 17 in 2006
June 24 in 2005
July 1 in 1998
June 30 in 1995
June 3 in 1993
May 24 in 1986
June 29 in 1983
May 28 in 1982
June 6 in 1980
The open past July 4 years were 1983, 1995, 2017 and 2019. 2011 could have been, but that was the era Mammoth was constrained by the Starwood private equity deal.
Nonetheless I'd strongly encourage ChrisC to come for Memorial Day weekend as Mammoth will run extra lifts, and the gondola closes for maintenance for about 3 weeks after Memorial Day.
Liz' knee replacement is May 24, so I will not be skiing for a TBD period after that. I expect to be back by the July 4 holiday though.
ChrisC
Well-known member
This is why I am not allowed to plan group trips, and I let someone else take the lead.
ChrisC
Well-known member
I've never done late-season Mammoth before. The first time I skied Mammoth was in October 2004 after an 85-inch blizzard. Went down a couple more times when I had a Tahoe share. I probably have not skied the mountain in 10+ years.
ChrisC
Well-known member
What are your ski dates?
Yes, optimally it should freeze nightly to produce corn, but not too hard. You want the sun to be able to soften the snow.
Typical strategy is to follow the sun: east, south, west. Usually the groomers soften before before the ungroomed.
Depending on where your temperature readers are coming from…Bend?…at the ski mountain temps typically decline 3-5F for every 1k ft elevation gain.
I looked at Bend weather for next 10 days … nothing too concerning.
At Telluride in the Spring I sometimes will not go out to 10-11am - especially with our earlier Daylight Savings - and let the sun do it’s thing. But the mountain mostly faces North and West.
Yes, optimally it should freeze nightly to produce corn, but not too hard. You want the sun to be able to soften the snow.
Typical strategy is to follow the sun: east, south, west. Usually the groomers soften before before the ungroomed.
Depending on where your temperature readers are coming from…Bend?…at the ski mountain temps typically decline 3-5F for every 1k ft elevation gain.
I looked at Bend weather for next 10 days … nothing too concerning.
At Telluride in the Spring I sometimes will not go out to 10-11am - especially with our earlier Daylight Savings - and let the sun do it’s thing. But the mountain mostly faces North and West.
OpenSnow forecast for Mt. Bachelor is difficult for upcoming Sunday-Tuesday: high winds and most precipitation on Monday will be rain. Cold Wednesday and still slightly below freezing Thursday. Corn is not likely until the weekend of April 15-16, and of course that's so far out that the forecast is not yet reliable.
I think sbooker's timing looks good. We will be on our cruise out of Broome, Western Australia while sbooker is in Oregon.
That is going to be a great trip. I hope you get to swim with some Whale sharks at Ningaloo reef. That’s a bucket list thing for me.
Edit. You fly LA to Sydney initially?
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L.A. - Sydney connecting to direct flight to Broome April 11-13. Broome to Perth April 25. Perth to Melbourne redeye May 1-2. Layover in Melbourne is now 14 hours, so we can leave the airport and look around. We are open to suggestions for that. Home May 2 after regaining the day we lose (April 12) on the way over.
Ningaloo whale shark snorkeling has been booked out for a long time around the eclipse date. We don't have FOMO about that because we had 3 whale shark snorkel days in 2014 from Isla Mujeres in Mexico.
Ningaloo whale shark snorkeling has been booked out for a long time around the eclipse date. We don't have FOMO about that because we had 3 whale shark snorkel days in 2014 from Isla Mujeres in Mexico.
Hopefully this fizzles out.
'No excuse for not being prepared': WA braces for what may be strongest cyclone in a decade
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04...ewing-off-wa-as-bom-warnings-issued/102196060
'No excuse for not being prepared': WA braces for what may be strongest cyclone in a decade
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04...ewing-off-wa-as-bom-warnings-issued/102196060
How long is that flight itinerary? There are nonstop flights from Sydney to Broome?
Sbooker has posted them before, but I have never been able to click through to a link to www.abc.net.au
I found this forecast map:
Our cruise departure is late afternoon April 14, after the cyclone has passed by. We could have an exciting arrival in Broome on the 13th if the forecast track is off though. The eclipse is on the 20th, so the cyclone will be long gone by then, though there would be major travel disruptions if it continued on a straight line to the Exmouth peninsula, where lots of land based and fly-in-for-the-day eclipse tours are going.
Total travel time is 24 hours, 15 hours L.A. - Sydney, 4 hour layover, 5 hours Sydney - Broome. Yes we are lucky that the day before our cruise departure there is a direct flight Sydney - Broome. I think that flight is one or at most 2 days per week, and I suspect the majority of cruise passengers will be on it. The Sydney international and domestic terminals are not in the same place; you have to do a bus transfer. I do not recall from 2019 whether we had to claim and recheck luggage.
I've had one other trip with this travel distance, to South Africa in 2002. The antipodes of Los Angeles is in the Indian Ocean, almost exactly half way between Cape Town and Perth. All 3 cities are about 34 degrees latitude.
Liz had one comparable travel distance, to east coast Australia from NYC for the Millennium New Year's 2000. The antipodes of NYC is about 5 degrees latitude south of the SW tip of Australia, which we will be visiting after the cruise.
I have visited one pair of antipodeal locations: Botswana and Big Island Hawaii.
I found this forecast map:
Our cruise departure is late afternoon April 14, after the cyclone has passed by. We could have an exciting arrival in Broome on the 13th if the forecast track is off though. The eclipse is on the 20th, so the cyclone will be long gone by then, though there would be major travel disruptions if it continued on a straight line to the Exmouth peninsula, where lots of land based and fly-in-for-the-day eclipse tours are going.
Total travel time is 24 hours, 15 hours L.A. - Sydney, 4 hour layover, 5 hours Sydney - Broome. Yes we are lucky that the day before our cruise departure there is a direct flight Sydney - Broome. I think that flight is one or at most 2 days per week, and I suspect the majority of cruise passengers will be on it. The Sydney international and domestic terminals are not in the same place; you have to do a bus transfer. I do not recall from 2019 whether we had to claim and recheck luggage.
I've had one other trip with this travel distance, to South Africa in 2002. The antipodes of Los Angeles is in the Indian Ocean, almost exactly half way between Cape Town and Perth. All 3 cities are about 34 degrees latitude.
Liz had one comparable travel distance, to east coast Australia from NYC for the Millennium New Year's 2000. The antipodes of NYC is about 5 degrees latitude south of the SW tip of Australia, which we will be visiting after the cruise.
I have visited one pair of antipodeal locations: Botswana and Big Island Hawaii.
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I didn't realize that. Sorry. I don't know why that is.
Do you usually sleep ok on planes? Are you in cattle class? Or at the pointy end?
I expect I will get at least a solid 6 or 7 hours on the Brisbane to Vancouver flight. We're 'careful' with money so only travel economy. Being small in stature I don't find economy any burden to be honest.
Are you visiting the wine region of Margaret River while you're down that way? I don't know if you're a red wine buff but WA is known for Cabernet and many say they rival the decent Californian cabs. I've come to realize my pallet is not sophisticated enough to discern between good and great so I just stick with the good (at about one fifth to one tenth of the price of the top notch stuff).
The antipode of Brisbane is Canary Islands apparently. Something for the future perhaps.
Going back on topic it appears there is a cool change for Oregon next week. Mt Bachelor is likely to be under freezing level and there is a possibility of snow. I didn't expect to be skiing on fresh snow but there could be worse problems to have I guess.
I sleep a little better on planes than Liz. I think the cruise will start out fairly relaxing.
I did a little research on Margaret River on Sunday. Vasse Felix looks like an interesting place to visit. It sounds a bit like Napa Valley was when I first visited in the late 1970's. One of the original advisors to Vasse Felix was U.C. Davis professor Harold Olmo, whose name is on one of Larkmead's premium cabernets. I have three 2013's and two 2015's, none of those drunk yet due to their long aging potential.
We do not see Margaret River wines much here. Most of the Aussie wine here is from the Barossa region near Adelaide.
I did a little research on Margaret River on Sunday. Vasse Felix looks like an interesting place to visit. It sounds a bit like Napa Valley was when I first visited in the late 1970's. One of the original advisors to Vasse Felix was U.C. Davis professor Harold Olmo, whose name is on one of Larkmead's premium cabernets. I have three 2013's and two 2015's, none of those drunk yet due to their long aging potential.
We do not see Margaret River wines much here. Most of the Aussie wine here is from the Barossa region near Adelaide.
EMSC
Well-known member
I just clicked his link above and had no issues seeing the linked article. But I have ad blockers, ghostery and things like that running which could alter my experience relative to Tony.
There is the Coonawarra region south east of Adelaide which is also known for it's cabernets. The Barossa and Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills areas are best know for shiraz (which is often referred to as syrah in the States I believe).
Cyclone Ilsa intensifies to severe category four system, set to pack 275 kph wind gusts as it hits WA coast
Communities along Western Australia's Kimberley and Pilbara coasts are preparing for destructive winds and heavy rain, with Tropical Cyclone Ilsa predicted to make landfall later tonight or early tomorrow morning as a category-four system.
www.abc.net.au
As you would all probably know the cylcones generally lose intensity rapidly and severely once they can't use the energy of the warm ocean.
Cyclone Ilsa will go ashore well south of Broome and well north of Exmouth so unlikely to disrupt any of the travelers converging on the region. I wonder if any of the islands we are planning to visit/dive have been hit though.