SoCal Kick-Off

[406]

Planning to go up to Baldy ski area Friday. was hoping for spring conditions on chair 4, but report has "Chair #4 – Poor to Fair coverage. Turkey Shoot & Roller Coaster groomed."

Anyone done the pass pick up process this year? If I understand correctly, we just show up with receipt and they print it? Seem to recall that is what happened last year.

[1000-oaks]

A buddy went up yesterday and left at noon, said anything off the groomers was almost unskiable coral reef thanks to the rain followed by overnight freeze. Could be good after it softens in the sun, so watch the temps.

[406]

^^thanks, good to know. That is what I was guessing and hoping no wind and stuff getting sun will get soft.

[Crouching Dallas]

A buddy went up yesterday and left at noon, said anything off the groomers was almost unskiable coral reef thanks to the rain followed by overnight freeze. Could be good after it softens in the sun, so watch the temps.

the bad: that sounds miserable
the good: that also sounds like an actual base!


we're heading up sunday. chair4 is instant corn with these temps, so we'll start that around 9 and hope for Thunder softening up by 12

[1000-oaks]

Cam is back up. https://mtbaldyresort.com/webcam/

[Long duc dong]

Planning to go up to Baldy ski area Friday. was hoping for spring conditions on chair 4, but report has "Chair #4 – Poor to Fair coverage. Turkey Shoot & Roller Coaster groomed."

Anyone done the pass pick up process this year? If I understand correctly, we just show up with receipt and they print it? Seem to recall that is what happened last year.

That's how it worked for me. It was pretty easy.

[Long duc dong]

the bad: that sounds miserable
the good: that also sounds like an actual base!


we're heading up sunday. chair4 is instant corn with these temps, so we'll start that around 9 and hope for Thunder softening up by 12

Yeah, the base is good news.

We are probably heading up tomorrow, maybe a session on Sunday too.

[406]

Fun day at baldy. Started with some laps on thunder because chair 4 didn't start loading until 10:00 a.m. they did a good job grooming skyline Robbins and Mullins... But still firm. Chair 4 is melting fast and I'm guessing only a couple more days left.

[1000-oaks]

Ch4 has soft snow but many thin or bare spots. 3 has good coverage, but boilerplate anywhere shaded. Goldridge is horrendous coral reef. Groomers are firm but good. 1 is skiable but bare spots and you'll have to hike out the bottom.

[Long duc dong]

Fun day at baldy. Started with some laps on thunder because chair 4 didn't start loading until 10:00 a.m. they did a good job grooming skyline Robbins and Mullins... But still firm. Chair 4 is melting fast and I'm guessing only a couple more days left.

I skied Friday afternoon and had fun.

Skyline had loosened up, but was still pretty firm.

I actually had a blast in Herb's, which was slushy and fun, although the coverage was thin. Hitting rocks was inevitable, but you could slither through the rocks, stumps and ruts and have fun in the slush. You had to enter between Andy's and Herb's and there were some furnish spots, but I did about 6 laps in there. It seemed like the spot, with rest of the off-piste being firm.

I didn't venture into goldrige, it looked firm.

I should add that anyone going into Herb's should be careful, but if you are willing to hit rocks it is fun.

I finished up with a lot fun, basically under the lift. Bentley's looked good, but I wasn't positive it was soft, so I decided to take the safe route.

All in all, it was a fun afternoon. Just don't expect much off the groomers to be soft.

[KillerMonkey]

Anything worth hiking up locally?

[Long duc dong]

I don't know about hiking, but I had a great afternoon at Baldy today.

I got out around noon and got on the hill around 1:30. Like Friday, Herb's was my line for most of the day. It is getting thinner, but it's still lots of fun. There are cool obstacles, ruts, stumps and rocks to wiggle through. The groomers are loosening up, but still firm. I would imagine they wouldn't have been fun in the morning. Most of the other off-piste stuff didn't look like it was getting soft.

I ended up getting shown into Morgan's by some of the Baldy locals, which was awesome. You had to really know how to get in, but the turns were soft and fun, all the way down to the lot. You had to walk over some dirt and rocks, but no big deal. The snow was awesome, soft but not grabby, and while I hit a couple of rocks it was not too bad. I would not try to ski down to the lot anywhere except the Morgan's/Bentley's area right now. So much fun though. It reminded me of KT22 laps in the spring. When the lot runs are going it is really hard to believe you are in socal.

[Long duc dong]

Friday afternoon was fun at Baldy.

The runs to the lot are closed, but the line right under the Thunder chair was great. It softened up, and it was fun slaloming through the rocks, stumps and little trees. It is thin in some spots, standard Baldy, but there are good turns to be had. I did venture into Goldridge which was weird, mostly firm but soft in some spots. I didn't go back. I also did a run in Robin's Trees, which was similar to Goldridge. I ended up back under the liftline having fun, that seemed to be the call for the day.

Herb's is pretty melted out up high, but you could have some fun if you went in lower down. I would imagine there are plenty of rocks to hit, they were there for my last trip so I would think they would be worse now.

All in all it was a blast. It's awesome being able to make slush turns on reasonably steep terrain an hour and 15 minutes from Newport Beach. I need to head into Phil's in Costa Mesa, a really great shop if you guys need any work done in Orange County, as the rocks have done a number on my bases. It's worth it though, par for the course with Baldy. I'm going to try and get some work done today and go tomorrow afternoon.

I got a surf session in before I skied, which is always fun. It's days like that that I love California.

[406]

What times you there, noonish to 4? How did south bowl look?

[Long duc dong]

What times you there, noonish to 4? How did south bowl look?

I skied from around 1 until the lifts closed.

South Bowl was closed, but I was with someone who was given permission, so we went back there. It was fun, soft and slushy, but it was not officially open, so don't go back there without permission. The guy I was with knows the patrol well, so we were able to go back there. You have to hike over some dirt to get out, but no big deal, standard Baldy.

[406]

thanks for the update. If it was skiing well and spring conditions, I would have a really hard time obeying.

[Long duc dong]

My wife and I skied Baldy yesterday(Friday) afternoon.

It was fun, but less soft than we expected. The groomers were soft in some spots and not in others.

Off-piste the only soft areas I found were under the chair lift, and they alternated between crusty and slushy. I didn't venture into anything that was not right around the Thunder lift. Herb's and those areas would have gotten soft, but they are pretty melted out.

It will take warmer weather to soften up most of the off-piste. It didn't quite get there yesterday.

The area under Thunder has thinned since last weekend, but it was still lots of fun. It was definitely adventure skiing, alternating between

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7zltc3

It's a bit thinner than it looks, but still fun.

[ImSearchingforPowder]

Sup socal mags!

I recently moved to SD from Colorado and have a question regarding required chains getting up to Baldy on pow days.

I'm going up Thursday morning driving a 4x4 Jeep with snow tires. Will I be turned away at the entrance of the canyon if I don't bring chains? Are they required on all vehicles no matter if they're 4x4? I'm trying to avoid spending money on chains.

[~mikey b]

you are required to carry chains in CA even if you don’t need to use them

https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media...quire-a11y.pdf

[~mikey b]

don’t be a fucking beater

buy chains

[ImSearchingforPowder]

you are required to carry chains in CA even if you don’t need to use them

https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media...quire-a11y.pdf

I guess my question is.. Do they have a checkpoint where they check every car for DOT approved chains on pow days?

[~mikey b]

yes

[1000-oaks]

Buy good z-cables once and be done with it. Put them in the back somewhere visible, so you can quickly roll down a back window to show CHP that you have the correct size and be on your way.

[~mikey b]

you should stay in the city and go bowling

[1000-oaks]

Don't go hog wild with only a foot of new snow at Baldy. It will fall on dirt and rocks in many areas, and being new, you won't know which spots had existing snow. Don't wreck yourself, and count on ski damage unless you stick to groomers (even then it's likely).