2011 SoCal Snow Thread

[Long duc dong]

How was it? Snow get soft in the afternoon?
Hope we get a good amount of snow out of this next storm.

Andy's and Herb's, the south facing stuff, did get soft in the afternoon. It was really fun, but I pretty much just lapped that stuff for a few hours each afternoon. It would have been firm early in the morning. The northwest facing stuff off of Thunder is not getting soft, so it is at least staying. I did a couple of laps in the northwest stuff, and it was not too much fun. I did not get into South Bowl.

Overall, it was fun, and worth going. As usual, you are going to hit a few rocks, but there were still good turns to be had.

[1000-oaks]

Looks like a solid storm coming in, maybe it'll actually be cold enough to be all-snow this time!

Almost too much accumulation in a 24 hour period...how sun glazed is the current surface?

[406]

Hopefully this will be a good storm, looks like it to me if it gets south enough. I bet the "snow players" will be out in full force Sunday, road will be a mess.

[Long duc dong]

4 inches is better than nothing, but I really hope this next one is bigger. I will be in Mammoth this weekend and probably next, but it would be great to see Baldy's coverage get better. I have had some good days this year though, you can't complain when you get lot runs. The lot stuff is long gone, but maybe a big storm will resurrect those lines.

[406]

starting to see blue on the radar over the San Gabe's! Anyone think the sky area will be open tomorrow?

[potatoeskillme]

I'm considering bootpacking around the Baldy area Sunday if the snow fills in significantly (18"+) by then. I've never hiked in that area, or even ridden in-bounds at Baldy for that matter; I've always ended up at Bear or made the trek up to Mammoth for the goods.

I'd much rather not spend $$$ for a lift ticket and hike to earn my turns Sunday, but not knowing the area too well I don't want to go it alone. Is anyone here planning on hiking Sunday?

[BirdRock]

If the weather report is accurate Sun afternoon and Monday will be clear. I'm planning on Baldy on Monday. In early and out early hopefully.

[1000-oaks]

I'd much rather not spend $$$ for a lift ticket and hike to earn my turns Sunday, but not knowing the area too well I don't want to go it alone. Is anyone here planning on hiking Sunday?

Given the forecast, a lift ticket should be money well-spent. (Get discounted tickets from Sport Chalet.) Baldy Bowl would be a looong slog/climb in the new snow (and probably a big avi risk right after the storm), and probably not accessable without AT gear. The whole Baldy area is steep & rocky, don't expect it to be anything like Big Bear.

Definitely get up there EARLY though (before 8), and consider staying late to avoid weekend snowplayer gridlock on the road. I'm trying to go Sunday, but am still getting over the flu so we'll see.

[potatoeskillme]

Hmm, I figured if people ended up leading a bootpack tomorrow and it gets enough foot traffic through out the day, it shouldn't be too deep on Sunday. Steep rocky terrain isn't an issue, I was at Silverton for 3 days last month and I have my own avy gear. But, I suppose spending a bit on a lift ticket wouldn't be a bad idea, considering there was just a rain crust from the mid-week storm right?. Any idea how much the discounted tickets from sport chalet run?

Edit: Just found one on liftopia for $32. I don't mind spending that. Thanks for the heads up.

[1000-oaks]

The other guys could tell you much better about Baldy Bowl, this is my first year with AT gear. I can say that of the four or so big-dump days I've been at Baldy, I've never seen a fresh track on the Bowl. Probably for good reason.

[1000-oaks]

I think they were around that price at Sport Chalet last year (maybe $35) and good anytime. Great deal.

If you boot it, you'll need an Adventure Pass to park at Manker Flat. Don't park anywhere there's any chance of a no-skill driver plowing into your car, or where hundreds of sledding kids will run into it.

[1000-oaks]

Pfffft...how can a forecast of 8-12" Fri plus 26-32" Fri night = a total of 6"?!

Gotta come up with a conversion factor for these NOAA forecasts, <25% or something...please let it snow today.

[arctic_grayling]

they're always overly optimistic, but this is the farthest off i've ever seen their report. all the forecasts were calling for 6 inches of rain in the foothills... 6 inches of snow is below even my lowest hopes. dang.

[406]

Baldy ski area was really good today. Should still be fun tomorrow.

[arctic_grayling]

No one has posted any pics from today so I thought I'd throw a couple up. We made it up to the parking lot at Mt. Baldy a little later than anticipated due to some issues with our chains. After enjoying a few laps in South Bowl, we made our way to some mostly-untouched sidecountry. Powder skiing within sight of the Los Angeles basin still boggles my mind.

There was about 8" of new snow on top of a nasty crust layer. That last storm was accompanied by quite a bit of wind, so in some places it was deeper, and others were nearly bare. Can't really ask for too much more in this part of the world.

[potatoeskillme]

I really could not complain about anything yesterday. Yeah a few sharks chomped on my board in some spots, but the conditions were great, the snow was light, the weather was beautiful, and I feel I lucked out nicely for my first time at baldy. Met some cool people, and for Southern CA, it was pretty damn good.

Here's some raw footage from the go pro, mostly south bowl. No music, just threw some clips together.




arctic, I definitely remember seeing you in south bowl at one point too.

[406]

^^^Nice photo's & vid.

Sunday sure was fun. I don't have any good photos, but will add a few to give people an idea of the conditions.

A bit thin at the bottom of 1:




After a few runs, I tried taking photos of people while I was on the chair:


Top of untracked Herb's right before I drop in. The first turn was firm, but got soft after that:


The crowds showed up around 1130:




I took a run on chair 4 around 3:30 and ended up skiing down one of the southern aspect chair 1 runs to the forest road and then hiking down the trail by the creek to the end of the parking lot. Conditions were as expected, not very good, but it was fun.

[chunder]

Waterman was pretty tasty yesterday, which kind of made up for the cal trans shit show on Sunday (they turned a bunch of us around with "indefinite closure" on big tujunga--found out after I got home that it was only closed for an hour or so ) Anywho, there's still quite a bit of nice snow left out there.

Short pos pov here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8cZYqVQXME

[arctic_grayling]

I took a run on chair 4 around 3:30 and ended up skiing down one of the southern aspect chair 1 runs to the forest road and then hiking down the trail by the creek to the end of the parking lot. Conditions were as expected, not very good, but it was fun.

I think I saw your tracks on my ride down Chair 1... looked thin to say the least and good to hear you made it down unscathed. Another storm forecasted for late in the week... let's hope that this week's cold temps combined with some extra snow will make those lines a bit more palatable in a few days.

[1000-oaks]

I'm planning to head up to Baldy for some blower Saturday am, anyone else going? Whyturn will be in Utah, so he's out.

Will be in burnt orange shell and pants, grey helmet & pack. Probably on Bros or Sumos, panting and out of breath. (First time out this season.)

[BirdRock]

I'll be in Big Bear unfortunately. At least it's going to snow. Going with a big group of Dad's and boys. Friday we'll be at Summit. 4 dads - 7 boys. Should be fun despite the location. I'm hoping Sat brings major dumpage and some wind. I want my kids to experience the brutal conditions so they know how good they've had it in previous trips.

[potatoeskillme]

If it's anything like last weekend, I'll be there again. Sounds like Sat is the day to go this time, assuming the forecasts are correct for a change. I might end up buying a couple discount tickets in case I want to come back for seconds on Sunday.

Prob will be wearing white jacket this time, white/black pack with adjustable poles on back, riding my "christmas morning board" red Burton fish.

[arctic_grayling]

using the NOAA conversion factor, i think we should be happy if we get 4"-6" out of the next storm. assuming it doesn't actually dump, and i get enough work done before then, i'm planning on heading up to mt. pinos with the skins on sunday.

[1000-oaks]

Seems like NOAA is usually off on temp (too warm) at Baldy, not so much the amount of moisture. Hopefully like they can't screw this one up, should be all snow above 7,000 feet.

[rmackd]

The point forecast for everywhere above 6K' in that area is calling for 1'+ on Friday/Friday night. I'll be there (bright and early) Saturday.