Mammoth 11'053'. Get high not covid 20/21

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

It snowed! It’s anywhere from almost a foot deep down around Canyon to 1 ft plus off ch 1 in the Agee’s/Terry’s area.
Only downside, it’s too “Blower.”

Very cold. 12 deg at ML. Add in windchill and it feels like Big Sky.


Low angle in the trees in the CL area was the call. Snow is so light and dry that you ski on the bottom. Anything steep where you have to turn hard you scraped right down to the old snow. Also, you felt every old bump. Face of ch 22 is not a good idea. Last two laps off
Ch 1 were the deepest/best so far. I can feel my toes again so I’m back out.

[liv2ski]

You're killin me man. Next season I am retired and on it.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

You're killin me man. Next season I am retired and on it.

It’s all about Work Life Balance.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

You're killin me man. Next season I am retired and on it.

It’s all about Work Life Balance.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

I got two words for you....


Think of all the times you went to the office feeling like shit, all the times you went in on a Saturday, took work home etc...,
Call in sick, Go skiing! You deserve it.

[SkiHick]

ESS we are all feeling sorry for you and your "too blower" snow .

Save some leftovers for my Friday morning!

[liv2ski]

I got two words for you....


Think of all the times you went to the office feeling like shit, all the times you went in on a Saturday, took work home etc...,
Call in sick, Go skiing! You deserve it.

Sigh... it is that 6 hour drive that is fuckin me up for short trips. Hopefully when I drive up next Thursday for a week, I don't get a dead battery and then a blow out again New tires and some front end suspension work with an alignment was not cheap.

[comish]

Yup, that was a good one! One of the lighter pow days at Mammoth in recent memory, not like we have had too many lately, but it was fun! Conditions varied significantly across the mtn. Ch3 was the highlight for me and one of the better days I have had on it. The pow was light, no wind effect, face shots galore and no one there. The Squaw U16 racer I was skiing with kept commenting on how there were only our tracks after a bunch of runs with no lift lines. Avi 2 was pretty fun around lunch once the wind picked up. Ch25 and face of 22 were FIRM under not quite a foot of light fluff. Definitely felt the bottom. Roger's and woods off 1 were still skiing well in the afternoon. No bottom there for the most part. Sweet day!

ESS, we should ski sometime. What you wear/riding?

[bry]

Today was an all time type day for me. Busted out the fatties, too. Been too long since a proper pow day for me and a weekday storm day to boot.

Hit the road solo at 4a, on the hill at 9 skiing straight up blower until my frozen toes requested a timeout at 1230. Made some work calls and back out at 2p for a bunch more laps.

Chair 5 5x, chair 3 5x, avys 5x, lapped 22 then some rollers and trees by canyon and called it. Hoping the top opens tomorrow before the next system rolls in.

Great day!!! Tired.

Sent from my SM-N981U using Tapatalk

[Ottime]

Why y’all describe it I imagine entering the top of the paranoids right now might be a little sketch. Sounds fun.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Hit the road solo at 4a, on the hill at 9 skiing straight up blower until my frozen toes requested a timeout at 1230. Made some work calls and back out at 2p for a bunch more laps.

Great day!!! Tired.

I did almost the same. I blew out of Galena at 4:15 a.m. this morning and it was snowing hard in Reno and down to Carson City. I was on the hill at 8:45 and minus a couple breaks to get some feeling back into my toes and fingers, I skied until 4:00 pm. Best storm skiing day I've had this season.

It's not often Mammoth has powder like this. That goes hand in hand with It's also not often that Mammoth has temps like today.
Using this handi wind speed & temperature converter from the NWS, https://www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_windchill
the wind chill was -5. The Top is a brisk -20. Today convinced me once and for all that it's time for boot heaters. After skiing I went straight to Sure Foot and Todd hooked me up with some.

Todays skiing, once I figured it out was super fun. Not sure when was the last time I skied this many runs of untracked, blower pow. There was a dramatic difference in snow depth from one side of the mtn to another. My first run I got off Gold Rush and headed for the chair 25. Bottomed out on almost every turn due to the snow being so light and dry. Headed over the the ML side and things got dramatically better. I skied Terry's/Agee's/Blue Ox just after they opened. Snow was at least twice as deep as the CL side, no bottoming out, just face shots. Did a bunch of laps then headed over to Ch 12.


The tree's on Ch 12 had the deepest snow I skied today. No wind effect, super light & dry.


My 50" pole sunk almost halfway. Snow was close to 2 ft deep, with deeper pockets in the tree's.


Skiing tactic was keep it in the fall line and aim for the deepest pillows you could find. I had more face shots today than the rest of the season combined.


View of Down Hill from Ch 16. Skied down to CL late in the day. The wind was swirling the new snow around, buffing out the groomed runs. My legs were almost done by this time.


Riding up Ch 16, last run of the day. It's 4:00 p.m.


Avi 2 bowl looked good after the wind had been on it.


Last run down to my truck and I'm still finding fresh lines in the tree's. Mid week, Storm day at Mammoth. IMO it doesn't get much better. I'm back out first thing tomorrow.

[Long duc dong]

Glad you guys are loving this!

The work-life balance is sort of crushing at this very moment. I had thought I was going to be able to leave tomorrow morning at 4 am, but it is now looking like it might be a 2 pm departure.

My strengths as a statistician are really along the lines of modelling, evaluating and explaining. While I do write a ton of code, writing my own functions is not my strong suit. I have made lots of progress, but even back in grad school the statistical computing course was probably the hardest one I took. I do write functions from time to time, but for large functions I'm more likely to use the ones built into R. I'm dealing with that right now, and the going has been slow. I had hoped to be a bit farther along than I currently am, wrap what I need to get done up by 9 tonight and be able to get the rest I need to charge up tomorrow morning. It looks like that might not happen now.

It should still be a good weekend though. And Baldy is getting hit, which could extend their season into at least mid-April. Getting 2 Baldy days on weekends I don't go to Mammoth really helps things.

It now looks like I will get two week long trips in April, one where I will be working before and after skiing, one where I won't. I'm just hoping for good coverage.

Keep killing it guys! ESS and Comish I'm living somewhat vicariously through you guys this year as far as Mammoth goes.

[Ottime]

I’ll be down the last week of March first few days of April with my kid for spring break. Looking forward to it. I’ll for sure hit my most Mammy days in a year this year. Keep snowing as I still want to be out there in May and June this season. School is out for both of us the Thursday before Memorial Day.

Love the chair 12 stoke. Always thought that was the least appreciated area of the mountain.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Glad you guys are loving this!

The work-life balance is sort of crushing at this very moment. I had thought I was going to be able to leave tomorrow morning at 4 am, but it is now looking like it might be a 2 pm departure.

My strengths as a statistician are really along the lines of modelling, evaluating and explaining. While I do write a ton of code, writing my own functions is not my strong suit. I have made lots of progress, but even back in grad school the statistical computing course was probably the hardest one I took. I do write functions from time to time, but for large functions I'm more likely to use the ones built into R. I'm dealing with that right now, and the going has been slow. I had hoped to be a bit farther along than I currently am, wrap what I need to get done up by 9 tonight and be able to get the rest I need to charge up tomorrow morning. It looks like that might not happen.

Woah dude,
I’m not even sure exactly what that paragraph means or is about. I’m guessing your in the tech industry, maybe writing or developing software? You sound really intelligent for sure. Me, not so much. I’m just a ski bum that wanted to find a way to finance his life around taking the winters off and skiing. Wildland firefighting is kind of a nomadic, gypsy life style like skiing and it fit around what I wanted to do, ski. After years of avoiding baby responsibility, I’m a “career” fed employee that voluntarily takes a furlough every winter. Work for seven months, laid off for five. In order to get by in my line of work that entails maxing out every available opportunity to work overtime. Last years crushing fire season I worked over a 1000 hrs of overtime, the most since I was on a hotshot crew a long time ago. Fire season is rapidly approaching, and In two weeks, April 1st I’m back at work. I’m dreading the thought as during fire season I have no life, my life is work.

Anyways, this has nothing to do with the Mammoth forum, but IMO there’s nothing wrong with working hard as long as it is a means to an end. Like being a ski bum all winter. Do what you have to do, but take time to enjoy what you really enjoy, line standing on top of a Mtn after an epic day of skiing. Let’s hookup sometime when your around and take some runs.
Cheers.

[Fofo]

Hey, ESS, I see now how you can be charging all day, every day. I have tons of respect for wildland firefighters. Going up and down in gnarly terrain with all your personal gear plus tools, etc. And doing that day after day? Respect, definitely.

Awesome photos, thank you! We decided to take a few days off and join the fun. We'll see how this snowfall looks tomorrow. I'll be wearing a black helmet, black and gray Mountain Hardwear jacket and blue pants.

[liv2ski]

Hey, ESS, I see now how you can be charging all day, every day. I have tons of respect for wildland firefighters.

Yup, a great career path for the serious ski bum. Stay safe this summer ESS.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Hey, ESS, I see now how you can be charging all day, every day. I have tons of respect for wildland firefighters. Going up and down in gnarly terrain with all your personal gear plus tools, etc. And doing that day after day? Respect, definitely.

Awesome photos, thank you! We decided to take a few days off and join the fun. We'll see how this snowfall looks tomorrow. I'll be wearing a black helmet, black and gray Mountain Hardwear jacket and blue pants.

Yup, a great career path for the serious ski bum. Stay safe this summer ESS.

Thanks you guys, I appreciate the good vibes.
Wasn’t sure if I was going to ski today being that it’s a Friday. Glad that I did.

I’ve been traversing out to that one place that consistently has the deepest, least wind affected pow. Never disappoints.
.
My tracks from the previous lap. Done four laps so far and haven’t seen another skier out there. I heard some in the distance.


This lap I’m going right there (see arrow)! The main lift that access this area isn’t running so it isn’t getting any skier traffic.

In my truck pounding some food then headed back out. ��

[Ottime]

Curious. At the bottom of that run, did you head left or right to get back to an open lift.

I can think of two spots that could be. One steeper than the other. Both would capture snow, but one is lower elevation. I’m enjoying this game and hoping it snows when we are there for spring break.

Thanks for your service ESS. Both summer with protection and winter with views.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Curious. At the bottom of that run, did you head left or right to get back to an open lift.

I can think of two spots that could be. One steeper than the other. Both would capture snow, but one is lower elevation. I’m enjoying this game and hoping it snows when we are there for spring break.

Thanks for your service ESS. Both summer with protection and winter with views.

I posted the name on here one time and some guy sent me a bunch of angry emails that “now everyone knew where to go blah blah blah. “ Only time I’ve ever received hate mail. OK, I grew up surfing in South SD county and know that you don’t publish photos and names of certain breaks/waves in magazines or internet. The area requires a long traverse to get to, but the ridge line behind it blocks the wind resulting in deeper, less slabby pow.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[cdlv]

Skiing tactic was keep it in the fall line and aim for the deepest pillows you could find. I had more face shots today than the rest of the season combined.
.

That's my fave mini golf ridge.

[comish]

I only got an 1.5 hours in during my "lunch" break, but it sure was good. The High T was delivering some super nice pow. Damn the skiing was good this week. Super fun! Mrs. Comish just went into town and said it's a disaster so everyone must be rolling up...

[frorider]

Just saw that Mammoth announced bike park opening May 28. That’s damn early. Can’t they wait to see how March develops?

[Fofo]

Curious. At the bottom of that run, did you head left or right to get back to an open lift.

I can think of two spots that could be. One steeper than the other. Both would capture snow, but one is lower elevation. I’m enjoying this game and hoping it snows when we are there for spring break.

Interesting game! If it's the area I'm thinking of, it's really fun. We didn't find your secret stash, ESS, but we spent half the day today playing around that area of the mountain (well, the area I think you may be talking about). Plenty of fresh snow to be found, and the bumps on the runs were nice and soft.

We were nicely surprised by the light crowds, we had minimal waiting times when in line. We think it's because people didn't feel like driving up when snowing, but tomorrow may be really crowded.

Fun day! Now we are just relaxing with beer from Distant Brewing. Back for more tomorrow!

[blackalps]

Total white out today up high. Really good when you could see. Legs were fried from the previous two days in Tahoe. Only skied about half day. The top stuff never opened. Good trip overall.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

After Wednesday's deep, all day soulful storm riding session where I skied right on to every chair, Thursday was a bit of a letdown/reality check. Sun came out, and so did the people. Much busier with healthy lift lines, that "edgy" vibe that occurs each bluebird powder day, combined with my tired legs resulted in a lack of stoke. Skied til 1:00 and called it a day.

Wasn't even sure I wanted to ski Friday as I expected it to be even busier. Interestingly, it seemed like Friday was busy early, and people baled out mid day. Glad I did as Friday turned into one of my best days this season.

Quick back story, a couple seasons ago I posted in the Mammoth thread info about where I skied today, how to get to it, it's name etc and I got a bunch of hate email from one guy that said I ruined his fav secret spot and how every kook knew where to go etc., blah blah blah. So in consideration of that I'll be somewhat vague about where I was today. Anyone who's skied here much will know anyways.


Saw this as I headed up to the mtn this morning. Bermed in, looks like they spent the night. #Vanliferules!


1st run of the day up ch 4 and it was dumping snow. This continued for much of the day.

I noticed yesterday that it appeared that one side of the Top didn't open, and the area below it had a avi closure all day. So that seemed like it was worth going to check out. It was.


At times today the clouds lowered and it was total vertigo. I hugged the skiers right of the run next to the fence trying to get some spacial awareness. It was tough. On a positive note, the low clouds prevented people from seeing where I ended up skiing.


The closure from the previous day had been moved much farther up the hill, so I took a hard right and was met by this sign. From my perspective, what I was doing dedicated traversing, not hiking uphill, so I continued on.


The snow as so light that breaking trail solo wasn't to bad. Lapped this area fro the rest of the day.


Looking up hill. I wished I could have gotten higher up.


Looking down hill. Snow was thigh deep in places. Awesome day.


Looking back at my tracks.


My exit line out. After a couple laps I had a track in set and out set. Less energy spent during travel. Took two chair rides to get back to the top of the circuit.


The chairline of 25. I made the mistake of going there on Wednesday and bottomed out on icy bumps every turn. Listening to peoples turn from the chair today, it hasn't gotten better. It's firm under there.


My tracks from my last run. Never saw another skier out here.


More options.


Repeat


More of the same.

This area is barely touched, if your skiing on Saturday, get on it. Easy drive back to Galena tonight. My kid is on spring break next week, so we're road tripping up to Batchelor! Will be there Mon-Fri. Ski safe and enjoy the pow.
Cheers.

[Ottime]

So some pinched dude got upset you posted skiing an area on the trail map? Wild times.