Total bummer. Reports from Mt. Pinos indicate snow line is at 5500' there, yet it's 37F and raining at Baldy Notch, elev 7800'. WTF!?

As others have detailed, it apparently wouldn't take anything close to that to relocate the poma that they already own. My guess is that it would cost only $100-200K max. You're not buying the lift...

So, in your view, the solution to ensuring financial stability for the resort going forward is to significantly increase the largest single component of its expenses?

That makes sense.

Two questions:

1) Is it worth loading up Ski Cooper with debt for new infrastructure in a bid to support Leadville's winter economy?

2) What specifically would you suggest be done that could...

Truly awful job by them this year.

Woke up early. Checked the window - no rain. Checked the radar. Nothing special. Went back to sleep. Wasn't up for a few inches of dust on crust.

Next time.

Read reports of 2-3" in the Wrightwood/MH area from the pre-storm squalls that blew through today. Hopefully they got just as much at Baldy - came in from a weird direction so who knows. ...

As I understand it, there are actually two offers on the table. One pass is for $70, with a $25 gift card, but that has blackout dates during holidays and peak weekends for an...

Thanks. For the record, her primary comment while wolfing down her PBJ afterwards was "I want to go faster!" Goes to sleep with her helmet on now too.

But what does Dad know? The kid living...

Took my almost 2.5 year old daughter Eve up to Mtn High here in SoCal this weekend. Would have loved to get her up in the mtns earlier and more frequently, but these be lean economic times. I've...

Some random pics from yesterday at Baldy taken on my iPhone. No action pics as I was by myself mostly.

http://i50.tinypic.com/9rkorb.jpg
Looking up Liftline and skiers' left of Ch 3


...

Sweet! Might need to make a Friday morning run.

Yeah that was me. Got to the parking lot in under an hour from Studio City. Did a lap on 1, which had 4-5" over a firm crust. Fun in spots, but some work too. Tough to stay balanced. Came back...

Radar and Baldy cam are compelling. Some big time squalls just rolled through and a major band with heavy convection is rotating in off the ocean and approaching from the south. Me thinks it will...

10-12" reported as of mid-afternoon today. More bands of showers continue to rotate in off the Pacific. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up with 18" or more for a storm total by tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the history lesson. Even by your own account, low (i.e. below-market) stumpage fees on Crown land were acting as a subsidy to the Canadian softwood lumber industry. This implicit market...

You need to update your sig.

Ditto. That's exactly what I found.

Good times all over the place, except for the south facing stuff lower down by Ch 1 which got cooked quickly. Man that hill has soul. So many...

Right - it was the Americans. Had nothing to do with the fact that northern softwoods take 50 years to harvest as against 20 for SYP and 5-6 for Eucalyptus. Nothing at all. It was all the damned...

I'm not a weatherman, and I don't play one on TV, but I think that refers to the distance (aka thickness) in elevation between two differing levels of pressure in the atmosphere - the 1000 mb level...

Vehicle = acquired.

I'll be there with a 186 Bros, yellow jacket, black pants, red helmet with a swatch of green plaid fabric on the back.

Forecast looks like heaviest stuff is Tuesday PM into Wednesday morning, with snow showers throughout the day, ending Wed PM. Thursday is supposed to be bluebird, so you probably can't go wrong, but...

NWS LA sez:



That means I'm taking a day and heading to Baldy to pop my cherry on Wednesday. Anyone want to share a ride from the SFV?

Shit. You must have gotten one of the last ones. Just tried and they're booked. If anyone is coming from the SFV area, I'd love to grab a ride to Baldy early Sunday.

Website said this:

Granted I'm a new guy, but I don't see any reason to leave the San Gabriels other than when it's early season an early season jones or crappy mid-season and the Big Bear resorts have the snowmaking...

Word on the Mt. Waterman website has them opening Friday for the first time this year. Anyone looking to carpool? I'm interested in trying out the newly deforested Avalanche bowl.

I'd venture there is a good 4' of consolidated base at the bottom of East. I didn't hit anything all the way down to that base elevation, even on slopes that deviated substantially from due North,...

Looks epic.

The terrain traps were pretty easy to see and avoid. Given the lack of steeps, that's pretty much the only places you want to avoid. The choicest lines from West avoid it entirely.

Drop me a...

Headed up to Mt High due to being in a mixed-ability group. Observed the shit show people have been talking about on the way up. First time at MH so I poked tentatively around their...

Can you detail the changes on the mtn? What's/who's new in mgmt? Does this offer the prospect of a semblance of competence, and therefore more business for them? Such an underutilized asset that...

We have bingo. This is seemingly the antithesis of what the SMC model should be all about.

My b. I knew they were taken over by a huge conglomerate. Just didn't know which one. Uniliver owns Breyers, Klondike, Walls and several other ice cream brands.

That's not entirely true. They spent about $1.7MM to replace the Single. It would have cost them $100K less to install a new fixed-grip double. They decided that for reasons of history, branding...

Tru dat, but that doesn't make them a sustainable co-op model to which you were referring. They made their money and sold out.

I'm sure this has been replied to downthread, but how would you know how profitable Ben & Jerries is? They sold out to Haagen Dazs eons ago and I'd be surprised if their results are separately...

As near as I can tell, most ski resort lift ticket prices have increased faster than the CPI since 1991 so you're right that it's getting more expensive. This doesn't mean it used to be "cheap", nor...

Really? Then please bust it out. I'm eager to see it since you've done all the work.

Key word there is "potentially". As much as you may disapprove, the vast majority of skiers out there possess neither the fitness, the equipment, the training nor the time to count themselves...

There's a bit of a problem is getting the data to resolve either of those questions though, right? It's difficult for me to imagine that with the innovation we've seen in B/C gear that pricing...

So a sample size of one is all you require? There are plenty of examples to the contrary.

More to the point, I presume you are touring around in leather boots, 3-pin tele bindings and low-tech...

We'll see. It's feeling warm here in Studio City and it's up to 34 at Baldy Notch.

Good thing you don't have an agenda or anything. What a pathetic charade.

This.

I'll shut up now.

Nor does asking rhetorical questions about whether I'm joking.

The best I can find is this document from the WCNF. I'd like to find a hard-and-fast definition, but piecing together the...

I know you want to seem like one of the cool kids and all, but try to answer the question. If the USFS defines non-motorized as being solely related to over the snow vehicles, then I guess I'm...

Possibly, but I'm trying to understand how the non-motorized designation applies to helicoptors. Outside of a wilderness area, it seems to apply to over-the-snow vehicles only, unless I'm missing...

If you can't understand the difference between starting the first ski resort in the US in 1936 and trying to do so in today's crowded and stagnant market, you're not worth the electrons used in...

So, should planes flying into SLC not be allowed to fly over these areas as well?