*** Official Snow Surfing Thread ***

dl4060

OTF status
Jun 4, 2009
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This weekend at Mammoth was lots of fun, despite being firm.

Saturday was socked in up high, so we hit some groomers and then ended up lapping Gravy Chute in the afternoon. Gravy was a blast. It was firm, but still very edgable and fun. I was skiing the skier's left chute up high, then hitting the skier's right chute down below. There are some rocks, but it actually made fun obstacles to wiggle through. I don't ski Gravy all that much, but it was really great today.

Sunday was blue bird. We started with a bunch of chair 9 laps, which was nice, then hit up some top laps. We were hitting Dave's and Climax off the top. As has been said before, it was firm but edgable. I had a blast on both Dave's and Climax, those are the areas I would recommend.

Here is a video of me on Climax. I still suck with the gopro, so you might want to fast forward over the first 50 seconds. The skier's right area of Climax, under the TOTW cliffs, was smooth and fun.



The crowds were not bad at all. A couple of small waits on the upper gondi, but really not bad.
 

Random Guy

Duke status
Jan 16, 2002
32,005
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2/13 snowbird, 2/14 solitude, 2/15 snow basin, 2/16 snowbird, 2/17 solitude
About a foot of new fresh powder on Sunday into monday
Might’ve done snowbird Monday, but the canyon road was closed, but solitude was awesome, especially after they opened honeycomb canyon around mid day
Utah... man, I love it there
cowabunga
rg
 
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Iceman

Phil Edwards status
Apr 1, 2002
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Kirkwood yesterday. Spent the entire morning cruising around with my mom. Groomers paradise!
After lunch I hit some more runs with some friends that live up there. The snow didn't get overly soft too quick, and you could always find runs that were a little more shaded as the day went on. Had a blast.
 
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Leaverite

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Dec 19, 2017
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I was talking with my brother and he was saying that we may be sparse here this year but Colorado is having an epic snowfall year.
 

92122

Michael Peterson status
Jul 29, 2015
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This weekend at Mammoth was lots of fun, despite being firm.
Was there too 2/21 & 2/22. Didnt bother with the top, but the snow showers improved the surface more than I expected so all in all a good trip. Seeing our friends 7-year old in perfect control and picking up some speed on a snowboard was really cool.

My brother and his family got lucky in Tahoe this past weekend with 6"+ of new snow while they were there. The Sierra's were pretty much dry for a month (from ~Jan 17th until this past weekend). It's really put us behind for the season, but at least we had a good start and there is enough to ride on.

Staying on Copper Mtn. CO. this week as some friends in Denver, sick of the I-70 traffic, got a 3-month rental there this season. I've never been, and it looks like they got some fresh snow this past weekend but is clearing out to be sunny and mid-40's (my favorite) while we are there. Stoked!


 

dl4060

OTF status
Jun 4, 2009
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Was there too 2/21 & 2/22. Didnt bother with the top, but the snow showers improved the surface more than I expected so all in all a good trip. Seeing our friends 7-year old in perfect control and picking up some speed on a snowboard was really cool.

My brother and his family got lucky in Tahoe this past weekend with 6"+ of new snow while they were there. The Sierra's were pretty much dry for a month (from ~Jan 17th until this past weekend). It's really put us behind for the season, but at least we had a good start and there is enough to ride on.

Staying on Copper Mtn. CO. this week as some friends in Denver, sick of the I-70 traffic, got a 3-month rental there this season. I've never been, and it looks like they got some fresh snow this past weekend but is clearing out to be sunny and mid-40's (my favorite) while we are there. Stoked!


It has been a pretty terrible January and February in the Sierra. It reminds me of my next to last winter living in Tahoe, which was 02/03. We started well in December, the base was great on Jan 1. Then January sucked, no big deal, that happens. Then February sucked. Then March sucked. Then we got 150 inches from April 1 to May 10. It was the best 40 days of my skiing life. The storms were perfect, you would get two storm days, then a couple of clear days to hit big stuff, then another storm would roll in. I got to see Tom Wayes and Shane McConkey hit Pony Express. I got to see Robb Gaffney become the first to make a turn in Schmidiots. I saw countless other people tee off. I straightlined the Tube and Extra Chute more times than I could count. The only negative was that I looked down the Chimney Sweep numerous times, and kept backing off. The Sweep was my Daisy Buchanan, it had been my goal from when I first moved to Tahoe. I kept backing off, then around May 10 it stopped snowing, I had blown my chance. I got hurt the next January and my ski bum career came to an end. The Chimney Sweep is still the one that got away.

We might be able to get to Mammoth this weekend, but it is not definite. We have an 8-9 day trip planned for the last week in March. Hopefully the pattern turns around by then.

I actually had a great time at Copper when I went in the mid-90's. I went during my freshman year at UCSB, with the UCSB ski and snowboard club, and the ski and snowboard clubs from all the rest of the UC schools. It was a blast, the mountain was fun and we could just walk around the village and hit the bars. I somehow wrangled myself a blue wrist band, for people over 21, even though my fake ID sucked. The village was really fun, I don't know how I skied all day and drank all night the way I could back then.

Your friends are smart for doing that type of ski lease. The I70 drive can be absolutely terrible, I have hear lots of stories. I know people in Denver who assumed they could just make the drive 5 weekend days a month. They eventually go in on ski leases so they can spend the night there.

If you get a chance I would highly recommend doing a day at Abasin. It is a TRULY great mountain. I did a couple of days there during my trip, at that time you could take a bus from the village at Copper to Abasin quite easily, I don't know if that is still the case. Abasin has some serious terrain, it is definitely underrated.

I had fun at Baldy on Saturday. The conditions on Thunder are still good. They got six more inches, so it should be good for at least a couple more weeks.
 

92122

Michael Peterson status
Jul 29, 2015
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Have been waiting to pull the trigger on Baldy / LA again for so many years. If I get a day open and chair 4 pops I plan to take 2 buddies who've never been. There's something special about that place, if only youthful nostalgia for me.

Looks like we're gonna score at Copper... Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, temperatures are supposed to top out in the low-to-mid 30s with mostly sunny skies, then on On Friday and Saturday, our two days on the hill, the temperatures are supposed to climb into the 40s and we could see more clouds cover the sky in advance of the next storm.

As for ABasin, Ive heard stories, but it'll probably never happen. I'm just not a big Colorado fan, and dislike the attitude so many of their snow snobs have about their dry snow vs. California's Sierra Cement, which isn't always the case. The fun factor and terrain enjoyment isn't greater, for me anyway. I like to mix it up and go different places, but California is home.
 

dl4060

OTF status
Jun 4, 2009
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Have been waiting to pull the trigger on Baldy / LA again for so many years. If I get a day open and chair 4 pops I plan to take 2 buddies who've never been. There's something special about that place, if only youthful nostalgia for me.

Looks like we're gonna score at Copper... Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, temperatures are supposed to top out in the low-to-mid 30s with mostly sunny skies, then on On Friday and Saturday, our two days on the hill, the temperatures are supposed to climb into the 40s and we could see more clouds cover the sky in advance of the next storm.

As for ABasin, Ive heard stories, but it'll probably never happen. I'm just not a big Colorado fan, and dislike the attitude so many of their snow snobs have about their dry snow vs. California's Sierra Cement, which isn't always the case. The fun factor and terrain enjoyment isn't greater, for me anyway. I like to mix it up and go different places, but California is home.

Abasin is actually quite close. If you are staying in Copper it is only a half hour at most, maybe closer. You could make it work if you are interested.

I agree with you about Colorado and California. I prefer the mountains here. Colorado has proximity, it would be nice if Mammoth was as close to Orange County as Summit is to Denver, or maybe the crowds would be that much worse, but I like California. I also think Sierra Cement has its perks, namely stability and getting steeps in play. I don't travel outside California much because with the ski lease we get in Mammoth we pay around 3k for six months with utilities. That's actually a good deal, between two 6-7 day trips and 10 weekend trips it is actually cost effective, but we don't have a whole lot left over to travel elsewhere. If we didn't get our ski lease we would travel more.

In an issue of Powder about 18 years ago Chris Davenport and Scott Gaffney did a humorous dueling banjos about Colorado vs. California snow.
 

$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
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Gonna be a total sh!t show. That operation can’t handle the crowds they’re gonna draw. Especially if they’re social distancing 1 per chair. Tempting but no.
 

studog

Duke status
Jan 15, 2003
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CA
Gonna be a total sh!t show. That operation can’t handle the crowds they’re gonna draw. Especially if they’re social distancing 1 per chair. Tempting but no.
with the hot temps, the snow ain't going to last that long. can already see dirt on the WH2 Mammoth cam.
 

$kully

Duke status
Feb 27, 2009
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with the hot temps, the snow ain't going to last that long. can already see dirt on the WH2 Mammoth cam.

Yep.

Also read that Baldy is operating at only 10% of their cap to handle social distancing. So I was wrong about crowds. Actually kinda cool. Wonder if they're even to meet operating costs at 10% of cap with no rentals or lessons?
 

SeaFoamGreen

Gerry Lopez status
Apr 10, 2009
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NorOR
If ya don't live there, well.... don't shred there. Or don't complain about heads coming to your beach. Granted I've never shredded south of Kirkwood, just sayin.
 

dl4060

OTF status
Jun 4, 2009
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Mammoth has gotten 140 inches in March and April. That is a very nice March/April. 278 inches at Main Lodge is a below average season, 350 is normal, but with the early base and the strong spring it would have been fun. I got some good days, up there this year, and I was scheduled for a March 21-29 Mammoth trip. With the spring snow I would have gotten a bunch of April and May weekends. I will probably go up to the ski lease weekend after next to get my stuff.

Baldy is closing tomorrow. They had a really great season this year. If Baldy was like this every year it would make snow-sliding in socal a whole lot better.
 

dl4060

OTF status
Jun 4, 2009
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Yep.

Also read that Baldy is operating at only 10% of their cap to handle social distancing. So I was wrong about crowds. Actually kinda cool. Wonder if they're even to meet operating costs at 10% of cap with no rentals or lessons?
I honestly wonder how they are going to make any money with this. From what I gather Baldy gets most of their winter revenue from scenic rides. I would think most of the people who have been up there the last couple of weeks are pass holders, I doubt they are selling all that many tickets.
 

Iceman

Phil Edwards status
Apr 1, 2002
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Had a couple days of touring in the Sierra after the resorts shut down and had a blast. Even got a run at Kirkwood when they were allowing uphill travel. Final powder runs of the season.













Till next winter. Hoping next year to take that trip to Big Sky that got cancelled. Maybe another one to Jackson Hole as well.
 

JBerry

Billy Hamilton status
Dec 8, 2017
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Welp! Before 20-21' thread gets going, anyone have any idea on if/what/when any ski resorts will be opening? Hoping for some slope time!
Sick photos @Iceman!
 

crustBrother

Kelly Slater status
Apr 23, 2001
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Welp! Before 20-21' thread gets going, anyone have any idea on if/what/when any ski resorts will be opening? Hoping for some slope time!
Sick photos @Iceman!
Here in CO they are planning on opening when snow allows. Lifts will be ridden single or with family members. Lot of places going to limit ticket sales and require them to be purchased in advance.

Also, I am given to understand that there is a phenomenon referred to as a "lodge". I don't know what its for, but you can't ski in it so who cares, and apparently they will enforce social distancing measures within.