TR: Mammoth - Fun on Philippe's & P4/Paranoid 4

[Skis4Fun]

TR: Mammoth - Fun on Philippe's & P4/Paranoid 4

I recognize that I am not at the rockstar level like many maggots. I have a lot of respect for their skills & endurance levels. With that being said, I still would like to share some stoke with the community.

I finally made it to Mammoth for the first time on 4/28/06. This is also my first ever Trip Report (TR). I included some movie quotes from the AFI Top 100 Move Quotes List www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/100yearslist.aspx) for variety and a little humor.


MAMMOTH STEEP LINE PHOTOS WANTED

In addition to comments, I would like to invite anyone to post on this thread photos from this current season OR past seasons of any steep runs at Mammoth (entrance photos looking down, exit photos looking up, photos of the entire skier/boarder standing on the entrance that show the steepness of the run, and action photos of the skier/boarder in the middle of the descent). I like the stoke from seeing photos of steep lines. Please note run name, month and year of photo if easily remembered.

I was inspired by Dwanis "Nervous Star Chute" outstanding video http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=29847 with his stream of consciousness to go over and check out the P4/Philippe's/Kiwi Flats (aka Star Chute incorrectly as I found out later) area of Mammoth. Dwanis looked down P4 and said "Whoa" and then went over to Kiwi Flats and "Holy Sh**".

Another excellent video of this terrain at Mammoth is the Gravity Games 2000 clip by Dan McConnell (see Gravity Games Clip at http://www.gomammoth.com/index.php?/videos/) that Hairy posted a link to which in the first sequence includes Guerlain Chicherit's run on an insane line between Philippe's and P4 which became known as Frenchies with a few billygoat drops of 20' & 50' and then a laid out front flip. The other sequences in this Gravity Games 2000 clip show Kiwi Flats.


Mammoth logo on main lodge




I exit off the top of the Panorama Gondola and see this explosive sign. I believe that this would fall into the category of "Go ahead, make my day" or "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" or "Say hello to my little friend!".

DANGER Unexploded Military Shells and Explosives DO NOT TOUCH




I ski Climax (run in middle of this photo below shadowed cornice) and P3 (Paranoid 3) to warm up for Philippe's.

TOTW (Top of the World) to Climax to Hangman's




P2 to P3




Amazing view from P2 ridge of some mountains south of Minarets in Ritter Range west of Mammoth. Does anyone know the name of these mountains?

P2 ridge view




You can see a few skiers on P4 ridge to get a sense of the scale. P4 (aka Paranoid 4. Paranoid Flats looking up from left to right includes P1, P2, P3, and P4)

P3 to P4 to Kiwi Flats.




P4 to Kiwi Flats closeup




Kiwi Flats closeup




View of P3 to P4 from top of P3.
P3 ridge view




The funny thing was that a ski patroller and his friend blasted right by me and dropped in while I was waiting on the P4 ridge for my friends to catch up with me. This made me think of Dwanis' stream of consciousness from his "Nervous Star Chute" video (Whoa. Holy Sh**. Peace sign. Seriously? Nice view. Little nervous. Still nice. Not nice. Come on. You can do this. Gotta beat this guy. Point. Alright, let's do this. Skis a little further. Wait. Wait. Mommy. F**k It.) when he saw the ski patroller come up beside him on the top of Star Chute (actually Kiwi Flats).

After my friends decided to ski P3 instead of P4, I dropped into P4 "Hasta la vista, baby" and did some slalom turns between the rocks in the right side photo below.

P4 top face closeup




I ski down the rest of the top face of P4 over to the entrance ridge to Philippe's.

Philippe's entrance ridge & lower P4 face




P4 lower face closeup




Skiing Philippe's




Having fun accelerating into a turn out of Philippe's. Can't you see the joy in that smile? "I feel the need - the need for more speed" "...Need ... more ...power"




Or maybe I was flying like an eagle that I saw at the Little Eagle Lodge.
Little Eagle Lodge




..."Aye, aye, Captain." I got the power now. Uh oh, here comes a rock wall - must turn now.




Looking up Philippe's thinking "I'm king of the world!" or "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!!" or "Bond, James Bond"

Philippe's




The real Starr Chute




View of Mt Ritter and Banner Peak




I saw this ridge which I think is above Slot/Goldhill area. Does anyone know the name of this ridge?

Unknown ridge above Slot/Goldhill - is this Carson's?




Closeup of unknown ridge above Slot/Goldhill - Carson's?




Dragons Back 5 to Dragons Head Chute




Close up view of the fumarole (volcanic gas vent aka "the stink hole") in Christmas Bowl above and west of mid Panorama gondola station. This photo is 3 weeks after the tragic 4/6/06 accident where three Mammoth Ski Patrollers fell 21' & died after being overcome by the inhalation of poisonous volcanic gases with carbon monoxide when fencing the fumarole off.

To donate to the memorial fund for these three Mammoth ski patrollers (Walter Rosenthal age 58 - patrolled 25 yrs, Scott McAndrews age 37 - patrolled 5 yrs and James Juarez age 35 - patrolled 1 yr), please go to www.mammothmountain.com/memorial/ for more information.

You don't see Danger Natural Toxic Gas signs everyday at most resorts. This made me think of the movie quote "I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore".

DANGER NATURAL TOXIC GAS




Yodler logo





Some visually interesting dusk photos from Mammoth.

Gravy Chutes to Drop Outs dusk cloud cover




Gravy Chute reflected sunlight in clouds




Unbound terrain park at dusk




Panorama gondola cabin at dusk




Woolly Mammoth statue side profile at dusk




Woolly Mammoth statue front profile at dusk





All in all, it was a fun first day ever at Mammoth.

The following quotes sum up my day:
"I'll be back"
"Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth".
"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

After the trip, I found out the names of the lines from Bullet's excellent post "PSA - A Guide to the Lines at Mammoth" and the following interactive Mammoth Ski Patrol Map.


MAMMOTH MAP OF MAJOR LINES WITH INCLINATION (STEEPNESS IN DEGREES)

Also Mammoth Ski Patrol has an excellent interactive map http://patrol.mammothmountain.com/Atlas/Atlas.html.


All of the photos came from friends' cameras. Thanks to Richard & Sigrid.

[workinforturns]

"Aye, aye, Captain." I got the power now. Uh oh, here comes a rock wall - must turn now.

hey mind if i steal that look from you?

[MacDaddy]

I am speechless... ^I think it started with the lil bar across the helmet helmet^

[Shin-to-Win]

Thanks for sharing . . . now zip that shit up.

Any breakaways set up on Phillipes?

[ulty_guy]

nice tr, theisman

[hairy]

so there I was, standing at the top of star chute on 2-14, and nobody wanted it, including me, but it looks so good........maybe it was the hidden reef





but then, someone got down to the bottom of philippe's and changed their mind....



Huevos


Huevos at least has a couple lines in it...looking down chicken huevos

[Long duc dong]

Nice TR. Lots of great pictures from both posters. Crazy to see the difference between this year and last year. We need more snow!!!

[Below Zero]

Thanks for the pics.

Although this pic has gaper written all over it. What's with the flapping jacket?

[Skis4Fun]

Hairy - Excellent pictures. I hope that you will continue to post in this thread updated photos of the various steep lines at Mammoth.



Regarding the jacket, the temperature ended up being in the 60s and I was having too much fun to go inside to get rid of a layer so I had to open it up occasionally.

After I posted those two "stylish" jacket/helmet action photos, I realized that some good natured ribbing may be forthcoming.



No breakaways on Philippe's but treating the rocks on the P4 upper face as Rapidgates worked well. Although the shin to win strategy on the rocks would have been a bone breaking strategy.

[tarkman1]

I'm out of town for the Maggot camp next weekend. Methinks some of the lines that are too sketchy now just may get plastered next week.

[Gebster]

Noids is looking good...can't wait for Saturday

[SponsoredByDuctTape]

This is truly an amazing thread. Kind of like a Maggot Twilight Zone or something. It's defying all typical Maggot standards of approach. It's like the TR and pics are so far out of the norm that the usual offenders are confused as to what to do. A "zip that shit up" and a "Theisman" comment is all there is? No Ogre? No STFUYMFJ? It's like this one time when my cat tried to attack a raven. Cat was all amped about murdering something, but when he got up close, he couldn't decide whether to go for it or run away. He just sat there, confused, until he lost interest. The pics are cool.....I think.

[45hill]

Random meat hucking on Climax.



Top of P3



The snow is soft but still has a few chocolate chips.



Looking down P3



Still holding snow, rocks and trees.



mmmmm mmmm good

[Pierre LeCouloir]

Skis4Fun . . . as long as you keep posting great pictures, you can wear your jacket however you like. Thanks for the stoke.

[Skis4Fun]

45hill - Excellent pictures. I like the angle on your P3 looking down photo.



I am looking forward to seeing more Mammoth steep lines photos on this thread from other posters.

[erica_z]

zoiks, I haven't been up there since the last mini.

hopefully we'll get another good system for my b-day. 14 was money the first day they re-opened the back side. Trees...good god they were sweet! Frrrrrreeesh!

saw somebody on Bro's while I was knuckledragging, but was too shy to ask if he had change.

[Gebster]

zoiks, I haven't been up there since the last mini.

hopefully we'll get another good system for my b-day. 14 was money the first day they re-opened the back side. Trees...good god they were sweet! Frrrrrreeesh!

saw somebody on Bro's while I was knuckledragging, but was too shy to ask if he had change.

When's the BDay? I'll drag up a 12'er of Hamms from Giggle Springs

[TWINS]

I realized that some good natured ribbing may be forthcoming.

You do know that ribbing is for her pleasure only. Nice 1st T.R.

[Skis4Fun]

MAMMOTH STEEP LINE PHOTOS WANTED

Please take your cameras to the Mammoth Mini as I would enjoy seeing what the steep runs at Mammoth look like now.

I would like to invite anyone to post on this thread photos from this current season OR past seasons of any steep runs at Mammoth (entrance photos looking down, exit photos looking up, photos of the entire skier/boarder standing on the entrance that show the steepness of the run, and action photos of the skier/boarder in the middle of the descent). I like the stoke from seeing photos of steep lines. Please note run name, month and year of photo if easily remembered.



MAMMOTH MAP OF MAJOR LINES WITH INCLINATION (STEEPNESS IN DEGREES)

Mammoth Ski Patrol has an excellent interactive map with path information (inclination, aspect, elevation, vertical, length) plus avy shot placements http://patrol.mammothmountain.com/Atlas/Atlas.html

[Skis4Fun]

I had a chance recently to rent the dvd Gravity Games: Winter One from Netflix. I summarized the highlights below with timestamps for the relevant segments and added some Gravity Games 2000 at Mammoth photos from the Internet Archive aka Wayback Machine. There was good helicopter footage and other camera angles that captured the steepness of the competitors' runs.


Gravity Games: Winter One

Segments from Big Mountain Freeskiing, Freestyle Snowmobiling, Boardercross, Superpipe, Big Air Freeskiing.


Skiing section - Title 2 Chapter 4







36:51 Chris Davenport drops into Philippes at Mammoth Mountain in 1st run for Big Mountain Freeskiing and earns a 41.2 score.

Chris Davenport "When you're standing on top of a 50 degree face there is some serious energy coming from the mountain...Oww. That's a rock...Quality big mountain skiing. I love getting to the bottom in one piece."





David Swannick "Fear is a cool thing. It get's you fired up...Use it and turn it into adrenaline."





This photo shows what the drop into Kiwi Flats looked like (Will Burks from Gravity Games 2000).

40:26 Shane McConkey drops into Kiwi Flats, charges out into the apron at 58 mph and scores 45.2.



Skiing Section - Title 2 Chapter 5





45:38 Guerlain Chicherit drops into a insane line between P4 and Philippe's with a few billygoat drops of 20' & 50' and then a laid out front flip. His face is bleeding from taking a knee to the chin from the compression from the last big drop and his lip requires 7 stitches.
Chicherit scores a 48.2 out of 50 which is one of the highest scoring runs in big mountain history. Stellar runs usually score in the low 40s. This line becomes known as Frenchies in his honor.

When Chicherit gets to the last cliff, the camera pans around and shows Shane McConkey saying "Holy ****".





48:50 Chris Davenport run 2 drops into Philippes and earns a 42.2 score.

Chris Davenport "As you drop in it makes you shiver. It's the best feeling in the world."



50:45 Shane McConkey run 2 drops into Kiwi flats and scores a 44.4.

Shane McConkey "...Definitely feel like an artist. It's the sport of skiing."


Alison Gannett "Got to finish with all of your equipment."



Chills & Spills section - Title 7 Chapter 2

11:00 Good footage of Chris Davenport dropping into P4 and then Philippes.

[Skis4Fun]

FRENCHIES LINE AT MAMMOTH

I think the line of red dots on my April 2006 photo shows Frenchies (Guerlain Chicherit's line from Gravity Games 2000).




Bullet / Bill.H? or BigDaddy from Mammoth forum had posted a photo showing Frenchies line that more accurately reflected the early season rockier/more exposed conditions that probably existed when Gravity Games 2000 was held from January 20-23 as compared to my photo from April 28, 2006 which was a late season photo from one of the Mammoth's best snow years. Hopefully Bullet could repost the photo as the links to his SmugMug album are no longer active.

According to this precipitation chart from Mammoth Ski Patrol at http://patrol.mammothmountain.com/precip-all.htm


Mammoth probably had 3x the total snowfall on April 28, 2006 as compared to January 20, 2000.



Here are two photos below that can be edited to show Frenchies line.

Philippes & Frenchies area




P4 to Kiwi Flats closeup with another angle on Frenchies area



Other photos of this area at Mammoth Ski Patrol - Path atlas section http://patrol.mammothmountain.com/Atlas/Atlas.html


If anyone has any early season photos of the P4/Philippes/Frenchies/Kiwi Flats area, please post them.

Also I would like to invite anyone to post on this thread photos of any steep runs at Mammoth (entrance photos looking down, exit photos looking up, photos of the entire skier/boarder standing on the entrance that show the steepness of the run, and action photos of the skier/boarder in the middle of the descent). Please note run name, month and year of photo if easily remembered.



Does the line on my first photo look like what you remember as Frenchies line? If not, add Frenchies line to any of the relevant photos and repost here.