SoCal Kick-Off

[406]

nice

[1000-oaks]

Pretty grim, but Baldy has been stepping up the snowmaking...

[Long duc dong]

Pretty grim, but Baldy has been stepping up the snowmaking...

They pushed back the opening until Christmas Day last week.

My wife and I have gotten three groomer days at Snow Summit so far this year. It's nice to just get out and cruise, break in the boots and remember how to ski again. I'm hoping for a nice size storm to get Baldy open. I went up to Mammoth in opening weekend just to open up our ski lease. I don't see going back to Mammoth until they get more snow. The groomers at Snow Summit are not all that different from what I skied at Mammoth.

I do hope a big storm comes through. It would be nice to have a third straight strong Baldy year.

[1000-oaks]

^ Heard they might open the Gulch next weekend and just run chair 2, been blowing a lot of snow.

The hike-rail park. The gang went at it all day.

[Long duc dong]

Has anyone been to Baldy lately? We have been hitting up summit for groomers, but it would be nice to go to Baldy if they are able to get a groomer open.

[1000-oaks]

Only chair 2 laps through the Gulch.

[bry]

Couple feet up there it appears, could be some time until they get the house in order based on their email this AM. Good snowfall in the San Gabriels. Could see it was snow capped this morning from our place.

[Long duc dong]

Couple feet up there it appears, could be some time until they get the house in order based on their email this AM. Good snowfall in the San Gabriels. Could see it was snow capped this morning from our place.

Yeah, I'm curious as to how long it will take them to settle things. I would like to hit it soon, but I will probably wait for a report.

[Long duc dong]

Did anyone hit Baldy this weekend? I'm curious about how it turned out.

[bry]

Thinking of poking around up there Friday, picking up my pass, seeing what coverage looks like in the bowl...

Also the road closures in Angeles Forest have made getting to the areas near the bobcat fires like waterman, kratka, baden-powell etc a total drag.

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[1000-oaks]

Was up last Sunday. Good coverage on Fireroad and Bonanza (four snow guns), though Bonanza had plenty of pebbles churned up by the tiller. Also icy spots between the guns. Some adventurous folks found their way under chair 3 liftline, but lots of brush and bare spots. Good jumps in the Gulch. Didn't see anyone on Goldridge.

Needs another storm bad.

[liv2ski]

I have to say "good on you guys" for trying to get some. With no lodging in Mammoth, I have pretty much wrote the season off and am just trying to make $$$ while rates are low. Living vicariously through your photos. Thanks guys.

[406]

Had been planning to take the kid up to do chair two laps on Friday, but they emailed out midweek that they were closed Thursday Friday due to the Rona. Guessing they won't be able to keep things open after this long hot weekend.

[1000-oaks]

There actually could be enough snow, they're making a lot more than they used to on Bonanza and the chair 2 loop. Also, snow is forecast this coming weekend.

[Long duc dong]

Was up last Sunday. Good coverage on Fireroad and Bonanza (four snow guns), though Bonanza had plenty of pebbles churned up by the tiller. Also icy spots between the guns. Some adventurous folks found their way under chair 3 liftline, but lots of brush and bare spots. Good jumps in the Gulch. Didn't see anyone on Goldridge.

Needs another storm bad.

Thanks for the report. I'm glad to hear some folks were able to get down under the lift line. I've seen Baldy folks get REALLY good at making it work in that area.

Was Goldridge even a maybe?

I might hit Baldy up this weekend. I was just at Mammoth for four days to check on our ski lease. No one squatting there at this point. Mammoth was fun, the lower dropouts were a blast, but the coverage is still terrible for this time of year. It was nice to ski some decent terrain, I have not been to Mammoth since early December and I've just been skiing Summit groomers, but if they had to have the Covid situation happen this has actually been the year for it, so far. Last year they shut down right as it was getting good. My wife and I had a trip planned for March 21 to March 29 that went up in covid.

[Long duc dong]

Did anyone hit Baldy after this last storm?

I might be able to hit it tomorrow before the next storm.

[406]

Sounds like it has been good and all chairs spinning. I was thinking of going up tomorrow, but was in the Laguna mtns this afternoon noon and there is ~3 ft of snow. I actually made some legit tele turns for a couple few hundred vert laps. Pretty fun and also novelty. Thinking I might do that again tomorrow afternoon.

Forecast looks awesome for weekend at baldy, but I don't think I can put up with the shit show.

[1000-oaks]

https://mtbaldyresort.com/webcam/

[Long duc dong]

Sounds like it has been good and all chairs spinning. I was thinking of going up tomorrow, but was in the Laguna mtns this afternoon noon and there is ~3 ft of snow. I actually made some legit tele turns for a couple few hundred vert laps. Pretty fun and also novelty. Thinking I might do that again tomorrow afternoon.

Forecast looks awesome for weekend at baldy, but I don't think I can put up with the shit show.

Pow turns in the Laguna Mountains!

That is pretty great.

I was able to make it to Baldy today.

Got a few hours of work done this morning, then left around 1030 am. Got on the mountain a bit after noon. Conditions were wind affected cut up pow. It was actually lots of fun in spots. You had to ski with light feet, you had to be careful of opening it up because of the shallow pack, but it was still lots of fun.

The groomers off of Thunder, Skyline and the other main one, need to be groomed.

I hit the Bonanza groomer for a couple of laps, then did three laps down Emile's, specifically the first gully skier's left of the chair. You had to be careful, but once you figured where the good snow was the turns were fun. Each lap got better as I figured out where I could make turns. I then did a couple of Goldridge laps. The first one I was pretty cautious, wind affected pow, drifts, and not sure what was under the snow. The second one was a bit better, you do have to be careful.

My last lap was a lot run. I pretty much went right under the chair. You have to be a bit cautious, in some places you are skiing wind affected pow on gravel, but some of the turns were decent and it is always nice to ski to the lot. The lower sections is packed down, but was a bit stickier. I got back to the car around quarter of three and made it back to Newport around 4.

It was fun, although it could use more skier traffic to pack things down. The coverage as of now should last (in my very non-scientific opinion) until April on Thunder. If this next storm is as advertised we should be pretty set for good turns well into April. Let's hope that happens.

While there are plenty of obstacles, it is Baldy, the coverage is pretty solid. We could have a really good rest of the season with another solid storm.

The roads were very easy. Some slush piles in the parking lot, but nothing to worry about getting up the hill.

You could tell a storm was rolling in on the mountain, plenty of clouds and wind.

I'm going to try to get some work done this weekend and see if I can get a session in on Monday. I think this weekend will be a complete shit show. I will let the rest of you guys pack this one down.

[1000-oaks]

Chair 1 is turning, not loading guests yet. Patrol is doing control work.

[406]

Thanks for the webcam link, but the storm seemed to shut it down :-). They used to have pretty nice webcams set up, ~5 years ago.

They ever load public Friday? Radar looked active up that way all day. Should be good tomorrow and hopefully sets us up nicely.

[1000-oaks]

^ Think it was around noon when chairs 1 and 3 started loading the public.

Chilly and low-vis all day, but what a great day. It is DEEP, most I've seen from one storm in years. Skiing to the parking lot without hitting rocks, if you pay attention at the very bottom. Tube and Goldridge are outstanding. Definitely two feet, three+ in drifted areas. A snowboarder dropped the big rock under chair 1 and landed clean, probably a 12 footer currently. This storm should take us into March.

If you like the steeps and have avi gear, carry it. Didn't see anything move, but if it does, it could be substantial.

[Long duc dong]

I'm curious to see if anyone hit Baldy today or yesterday?

I'm wondering about the new snow and the road conditions.

[Crouching Dallas]

I'm curious to see if anyone hit Baldy today or yesterday?

I'm wondering about the new snow and the road conditions.

Went yesterday! Also went on Tuesday, so it was interesting to see the effect of the fresh 2-3’ + wind. This storm was super needed because the previous 30”, while glorious pow, was just fluff on rocks.


Chair 4 was firing for the first couple hours; true powder early, and pretty much everything was game-on except for a few stripped SW faces. Fun wind effect on Turkey Shoot per usual and some super pillowy loaded spots on/near Spring Ridge, with west facing / tree sheltered bowls adjacent to Roller Coaster holding deep, if somewhat heavy, powder. Honestly, surprised that the pow held up till 10:30 or so given the bluebird conditions and temp (low 30s). Anyways, solid base for Ch4 that should hold up for a couple weeks, at least for the groomed runs.

It all turned to cream cheese by 11 with its intense southern aspect, at which point we took Chair 3 and hit some bottomless cold pow on the north facing aspects of south bowl and and skier’s right of Goldridge, tracking down the fall line into Bonanza.

Then took two laps on Bentley’s/Morgan’s — still holding good pow, with really solid coverage all the way to the bottom gully. Could pretty much traverse and drop wherever you wanted, which was a welcome change for the face runs. Will definitely need a refresh in a week or so, but there’s at least a strong base now for whatever falls (or doesn’t) in the next month.

Also, roads were fine and melted out, but the snow players were absolutely relentless. The line of cars stretched down to the 210, which I’d never seen before. Don’t hate the snowplayer, hate the game — or at least that’s what I tried to tell myself on the slow drive back down the hill

[Long duc dong]

Went yesterday! Also went on Tuesday, so it was interesting to see the effect of the fresh 2-3’ + wind. This storm was super needed because the previous 30”, while glorious pow, was just fluff on rocks.


Chair 4 was firing for the first couple hours; true powder early, and pretty much everything was game-on except for a few stripped SW faces. Fun wind effect on Turkey Shoot per usual and some super pillowy loaded spots on/near Spring Ridge, with west facing / tree sheltered bowls adjacent to Roller Coaster holding deep, if somewhat heavy, powder. Honestly, surprised that the pow held up till 10:30 or so given the bluebird conditions and temp (low 30s). Anyways, solid base for Ch4 that should hold up for a couple weeks, at least for the groomed runs.

It all turned to cream cheese by 11 with its intense southern aspect, at which point we took Chair 3 and hit some bottomless cold pow on the north facing aspects of south bowl and and skier’s right of Goldridge, tracking down the fall line into Bonanza.

Then took two laps on Bentley’s/Morgan’s — still holding good pow, with really solid coverage all the way to the bottom gully. Could pretty much traverse and drop wherever you wanted, which was a welcome change for the face runs. Will definitely need a refresh in a week or so, but there’s at least a strong base now for whatever falls (or doesn’t) in the next month.

Also, roads were fine and melted out, but the snow players were absolutely relentless. The line of cars stretched down to the 210, which I’d never seen before. Don’t hate the snowplayer, hate the game — or at least that’s what I tried to tell myself on the slow drive back down the hill

That's a great write up Crouching Dallas!

I was able to sneak in a mid-day session today.

I got to the parking lot around 11:15. The roads going up are completely clear. There was a bit of rain, with it sprinkling up to the parking lot.

It was misty on the mountain, which made for some damp, sticky snow. It would have been nice if there had been more skier compaction, the places where it was not packed down were pretty thick, although it was still fun. The key was to find the off-piste spots where it was a bit more packed down.

After a warmup groomer, I started with Emile's trees. It hadn't seen too much skier traffic, so it was pretty thick and sticky. It was still decent, but there are better spots.

Next line was right under the Thunder lift. It was similar to Emile's Trees, but a bit more packed down and more fun. Still slushy and sticky, but with less to push around.

Next I hit up Goldridge. This was actually fun if you stuck to the skier's left, it was a bit more packed down there and there were some fun slush turns to be had.

Next I hit up Andy's Alley. It was sticky and thick, but still fun in spots. Once again the key was to find the places where snow was packed down. The other spots were deep and sticky, tough to push around. It was fun, but I liked Goldridge better.

Next I went down the ridge to Herb's Hollow. The entrances were a bit interesting. It was a bit more bare than Andy's, but had a nice steep shot at the top. The snow was thick and sticky, like everywhere, but the steepness made it fun. After about 4 turns I hit a pretty solid rock, which somehow did not result in a core shot. Herb's has VERY thin coverage. The turns were nice and the steep pitch helped, but be aware that the pack is very thin. I was tempted to go back over there, but decided against it.

I then did three more Goldridge laps. I would say the best turns were there, other than Andy's where the pack was pretty thin. Once you figure out where the good spots are Goldridge is pretty fun.

I finished the day off by going down the Bentley's/Morgan's route down to the lot. This was not all that much fun. I'm sure it was a blast yesterday, before the rain turned the snow pack into thick, sticky sludge, but the lack of skier traffic mad the slush thick and sticky. I'm glad I checked it out, but I wouldn't want to lap it. Once again, I'm sure it was really fun yesterday.

Overall it was a fun, if sticky day. Today would have been more fun if the last few days had seen more skier traffic to pack things down before the mist/rain came in. The good news is that the base is now pretty nails. Both Thunder and the runs to the lot will be fun if they get more packed down.

This storm really changed things from Thursday.

It would be nice to get a couple of inches after the pack got wet and sticky. The good thing is that Baldy should have good coverage for quite a while, it just needs a refresher, or some skier compaction, to pack down the deep slush.

The snow reminded me of a spring storm, where it gets super warm before people ski it down and you end up skiing deep slush.

I should add that I was skiing on Armada JJs, so I had plenty of width. I would not want to ski this stuff with anything narrower.

It was still lots of fun. I'm pumped with the coverage on the mountain right now.

The other lot runs also look good to go, although I decided to go with Bentley's.