TR: Mammoth Mountain Thanksgiving

**Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer** · 11-30-2008, 04:54 PM

After following the snow reports and some driving/camping directions from mags, I decided to make the trip from SF to Mammoth for Thanksgiving.

The plan was for me and a buddy (who had lived in Mammoth for 2 seasons) to drive down early on Thanksgiving day. Unfortunately, at bar closing time on Wednesday night, he informed me that he was bailing....

Nonetheless, I decided early the next morning to roll down solo - meaning no actual ski shots. Regardless, a TR with at least some conditions stoke:

The benefit of car camping is blatant over-packing when weight is not an issue.

Seriously, Megawatts did not leave the roof box. I would have much rather had my AC4s and Lange race boots to ski groomers (20/20 hindsight I guess)...

The lack of snow in South Lake Tahoe was worrying....

Cool shot of the sunset over the Sierra from the outskirts of Carson City.

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Temps were around 20 at night.

Conditions were pretty good on Friday. I was surprised at the amount of coverage and open terrain. Winds were an issue up top (more to come on that). Generally it was chopped up crud/powder.

The obligatory solo shot. While I enjoy skiing solo, can't really take any good pictures.

Some of the random tree shots had good powder pockets. Unfortunately, these were deceptively thin in some spots - hence the nasty core shot on my goats resulting from a nice rock impact, binding release and tumble in this pocket of trees....

For some reason my camera would not take a good pic here. This area of the mountain (think it was called "Canyon") was closed. I hiked up to the top of this run (maybe "Spooky"?) to ski an untracked line to the run open below. Was it worth it? Probably not, but I wanted to get at least one work-out in over the weekend.

As mentioned above, the winds were really strong up at the summit (approx. 50-60 mph gusts). Unfortunately, the winds were blowing the wrong way and the backside of the mountain was leeward. So no wind-loading, but wind-scrapping up at the top. For about 10-30 feet past the cornice of most of the runs up top, it was like a hockey rink and insanely windy. Then the wind would immediately stop, and the snow would soften.

As a result, most of the lifts and gondola to the top were empty:

The slopes as well:

Mono Lake on the drive back:

The "highway home":

The coverage was great for November and it made a great early season trip and beginning to my North American season (sorry - blatant plug of August trip to South America).

Drive time back was 6 hours door to door (about 8 on the way there b/c traffic b/w San Fran and Sacramento was insane on Thanksgiving). Despite the length, I actually enjoyed the drive as I had never been to Mammoth or saw any of that country from Kingsbury Grade down 395. It was pretty beautiful terrain and really cool to see the desert hitting the Sierra.

**hutash** · 11-30-2008, 06:15 PM

Glad you had a good time. Mammoth is an awesome mountain when conditions are on. Looks like you had okay conditions, but it gets much better, but not whole lot worse. It sounds like you actually had a fairly mild wind day for Mammoth.

**erica_z** · 11-30-2008, 06:27 PM

too bad you missed thursday; for early season? it was the goods.

hope you had fun!

**abe froman** · 11-30-2008, 06:45 PM

Nice TR!

Way to stay with the plan after the friend bailed.

**nobirth** · 11-30-2008, 06:50 PM

I also skipped out on driving down to Mammoth from SF this weekend. Good looking shots, esp. compared to anything up north. Hit me up if you decide to drive down again.

**Chris.** · 11-30-2008, 08:13 PM

Props for getting after it solo. See you on the hill.......

**tarkman1** · 11-30-2008, 08:14 PM

There was a decent crew of us out there Thursday through Saturday.

Thursday had enough snow to call it a powder day. I'd say 8" up high. Friday and Saturday called on soft snow finding abilities. Yeah, the N wind blowing snow off the top of the ridge and leaving Cornice an ice rink entry scared off many people. That's why it looked so empty.

Kuba and V will give some feedback on the Lincoln hike. I looked too sketch for me.

The entry into P3 was kind of sporty. It was soft enough though. Daves was good enough. The Wipe Outs took the wind best on Saturday. Climax/Upper Dry were mucho fun. Be wary of anything lower than Chair 3.

All told, the mountain is skiing pretty well now. Another two feet of snow will bring a lot more terrain into play and make what is already skiable less shark fin prone.

**avacadotoast** · 11-30-2008, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by erica_z

too bad you missed thursday; for early season? it was the goods.

hope you had fun!

pfffft...I was getting waist deep shots all day Friday..WAIST DEEP I say

Seriously though, perhaps it's because I haven't really skied powder since April '06 but I thought it was great. Chalky crumbly goodness with lot's of smooth freshish turns in the nooks and crannies. Even the Praxis dug it. I do wish we had been there for Thursday though...

Way to enjoy the scraps UCL...too bad we never crossed paths.

**Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer** · 11-30-2008, 08:41 PM

Yeah - I certainly can't complain about the conditions given that it was Thanksgiving weekend. I had a really good time.

Tarkman - first time at the mountain, but all those places sound familiar. Definitely remember skiing Dave's Run on Friday a bunch (although it was pretty windblown on Saturday), Cornice Bowl each day and the various runs off the lift to lookers right of the summit gondola (basically up the hill from the top of Cornice. All in all fun stuff.

Corky - I was outside the lodge on Saturday and noticed 1 Praxis Powder Board of a pair and couldn't believe someone was skiing those given the conditions. Was that you? Looked like original Powder Boards with the mountain/cabin graphic.

**Steven S. Dallas** · 11-30-2008, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer

Corky - I was outside the lodge on Saturday and noticed 1 Praxis Powder Board of a pair and couldn't believe someone was skiing those given the conditions.

Saw those (separated, I believe) outside McCoy around 1-1:30 on Saturday.

Friday-Saturday skied pretty nice, I thought. Had a really fun, fast Climax lap to end the day on Friday that really tied the room together; Saturday Wipe Outs and Scotty's were lots of fun, especially if you enjoy getting loose granular pow shots to the the face courtesy of 50 mph upslope winds and the skier twenty-five yards ahead of you. After nine days of Mammoth, I really appreciate owning a jacket with a hood that fits over my helmet...

Unfrozen, I think we may have ridden a chair together at some point. Give a shout next time you are down our way; we can discuss The Finer Points of The Law over beers and while making fun of the Mammoth fashion show.

**LightRanger** · 12-01-2008, 01:52 AM

UCL, glad the trip worked out for you. That shot of your Volkls with The Minarets in the background is pretty sweet. Welcome to the Sierra.

**Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer** · 12-01-2008, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by Steven S. Dallas

Unfrozen, I think we may have ridden a chair together at some point. Give a shout next time you are down our way; we can discuss The Finer Points of The Law over beers and while making fun of the Mammoth fashion show.

Any notables from a conversation I may remember? If conditions in Tahoe stay as is, I may have to make that insane trek more often... tough to justify that length of a drive on a non-holiday weekend, though.