2016-17 Mammoth/"Calif4nia" Conditions/Meetups Thread

[green26]

Help! I'm headed to Mammoth in June for a few weeks. What skis should I bring?

I'm a northeast skier who's never been west for skiing and is completely unfamiliar with the Sierras. I'm deciding between Volkl RTM 84s and Line Supernatural 92s.
I love soft spring snow and bumps, and I don't care how much of the mountain is open (heck, if Mammoth is 90% closed, it will still be bigger than my home hill). I'll be flying out 24 hours after the end of a horrendous school year and I just want to ski as much as possible, drink good beer, and relax in my hammock. (If I run into anyone who's a high school administrator or education reformer I swear to Dog I will punch them in the neck and not be sorry.) I may do some mountain biking if I'm sober enough.

I am madly in love with the Volkls on firm groomers, but I would use the Supernaturals for east-coast spring skiing if that matters. I guess I'm wondering how soft the snow will get, and how dramatically will that vary by vert and time of day. I'm leaning heavily toward the Supernaturals, but just want to be sure.

I do have a double ski bag, but since I'm camping I need half of that space for gear, so it'll have to be one pair only.

Thanks for any help!

Wow you're in for a BIG treat - good work! Either ski will do you proud. You don't even need help you're all set.

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

@SallyCat, bring your home resort season pass if you have one, MM will give you 50% off which would run <$50 a day.

@Larry, ignorance was bliss... now I read your link, am intimidated but informed. Maybe I'll skip the first 2k and ride the upper 3k and let SO catch up to me. That's sounding better and better by the minute...

 

[mikel]

So they are allowing parking at canyon with schoolyard open for access to rollercoaster. My question is at the end of the day will they let you ski back to the car since all the schoolyard and other canyon terrain is closed.

Are they doing that just for this weekend? They weren't running about 10 days ago. Would have been good for us if they were.

It's snowing here in CO (9,700'). Just a nice light wet snow.

 

[TonyC]

Are they doing that just for this weekend? They weren't running about 10 days ago. Would have been good for us if they were.

Absolutely. 1983 is the only other time there has been mountain access from Canyon at Memorial Day weekend. MMSA has seen high projected hotel occupancy for the holiday. That lift (17) is open strictly to provide more parking access to the mountain. Skiing back down there except at the end of the day is clearly discouraged because they are not running 16.

 

[agreen]

Main was packed. Everything else was not. They let people ski the beginner stuff around 17. Everything was soft today early. The top was amazing all day. This was my 1st time ever skiing after April. I'm hooked!!!

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

We skied over to 5 first thing this morning. The plan was to head to 9, but everyone else was heading that way so we hung out at 5 instead. It started out firm but very edgeable and softened quickly. Then we headed to the backside - also uncrowded and stayed there until 11:00 when we left to meet @agreen. Tomorrow, I want to head there a little later as the off piste hadn't softened up enough when we bailed today and I want one last glass of wine at the outpost. The race courses were also still skiing great when I headed home at about noon. Damn foot pain!

 

[TonyC]

There was plenty of elbow room on 9. I arrived Gold Hill 8:15 and skied it twice. It was getting busy but the wide open area right under the lift had great corn so we lapped that 3x. After a steeper run out the Ricochet traverse toward Wazoo, we left that area ~9:30 to start skiing the top. We skied through 5 about 11:30 coming from Huevos and took another lap there as Sliver/Sanctuary/Face of 5 were in prime form.

I had Tseeb with me, so tried to show him steeps not always skiable, like Varmint's Nest and Philippe's.

I never got to the backside, hope to spend some time there tomorrow as it's the last day for chair 14.

We started at 17 because we can walk from where we are staying at Austria Hof. I thought skiing down Roller Coaster and 17 at 2:30 to end the day would be ugly mashed potatoes but it was no problem. They clearly made a midday pass with grooming and salting ; some of it was even a bit firm.

 

[agreen]

I arrived just before 10 and headed for the bump line on west bowl. Wow, those bumps are tough! It hadn't quite softened enough for my liking so next headed to the bumps on upper dry which were much kinder. Did 3 laps there and then hit the top for Climax, the cornice drop on Scotty's in honor of @green26's thread, a Drop out chute i had never done (2nd one over lookers left of 23), and a Wipeout chute. Yesterday did 2 runs I hadn't done with Hangmans and Huevos. These are definitely the conditions for trying new things. I'm loving it!

 

[Tricia]

I arrived just before 10 and headed for the bump line on west bowl. Wow, those bumps are tough! It hadn't quite softened enough for my liking so next headed to the bumps on upper dry which were much kinder. Did 3 laps there and then hit the top for Climax, the cornice drop on Scotty's in honor of @green26's thread, a Drop out chute i had never done (2nd one over lookers left of 23), and a Wipeout chute. Yesterday did 2 runs I hadn't done with Hangmans and Huevos. These are definitely the conditions for trying new things. I'm loving it!

Spring bumps can be some of the funnest skiing to be had.
Refrozen (coral reef) bumps can be the some of the worst skiing to be had.

 

[4ster]

Also had a great couple of days down at Mammoth Saturday & Sunday. I haven't been to Mammoth since going with @Philpug , @Tricia & Johnathan in late June of 2011. Met up with some of my Utah crew, figured if they were gonna drive 10 hours I could do 3 & I'm glad I did! Parked at chair 2 both days which worked out pretty well. Even with some pretty good crowds, there were enough lifts open that we never really waited in a line. Decent freeze both mornings kept skiing great!
Spent Saturday making mostly top to bottom laps with the PM spent on 23 lapping Wipeout & Dropout bowls (not really chutes this year, even Hangmans & Huevos are pretty wide).

Buddy Ben spraying the rocks under 23.

Sunday they opened the hike to the top of Mt. Lincoln which we had pretty much to ourselves all day, 2 lift rides & a 10 minute hike each time provided a perfect steep corn experience every time!

Avi 1

& the next one, skiers left...

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

The best part of Memorial Weekend was skiing with my son. He is 20 yrs old now and I rarely get to ski with him anymore. Spring is the best because it's the only time I can ski some of the runs my guys like to ski. Thanks @agreen for initiating the run down Hangman; it was a huge milestone for Gavin. He has a whole Snapchat story about Hangmans. I am still not loving that you took my hubby down Huevos Grandes! Thank goodness for Donjoy knee braces? Now I have to buy him that motorcycle he wants for his birthday. I need to beat Huevos Grandes and find a way to keep him from seeking bigger and better!

 

[Tony]

A couple of pictures taken by me of Tony Crocker in Phillipe's on Sunday and one of me taken by him from the top on the same run.

This weekend was the first time I skied Phillipe's, Hangman's, Varmit's, Wazoo and chair 9 and maybe Huevos and I had one lap with my wife to chair 14 base.

 

[socalgal]

Thanks to everyone for sharing some awesome pictures! I'm sad to have missed out but enjoying the vicarious thrills. Looks like this weekend was

 

[agreen]

The best part of Memorial Weekend was skiing with my son. He is 20 yrs old now and I rarely get to ski with him anymore. Spring is the best because it's the only time I can ski some of the runs my guys like to ski. Thanks @agreen for initiating the run down Hangman; it was a huge milestone for Gavin. He has a whole Snapchat story about Hangmans. I am still not loving that you took my hubby down Huevos Grandes! Thank goodness for Donjoy knee braces? Now I have to buy him that motorcycle he wants for his birthday. I need to beat Huevos Grandes and find a way to keep him from seeking bigger and better!

Ha! I figured if he handled Hangmans he could handle Huevos. I had never done either and had no idea what Huevos was all about till we ventured in there. And once your there it would be a tough slog back out. The entry, IMO, was much trickier getting into Huevos compared to Hangmans and I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach it when your hubby says "Here, I'll go first". He is a daredevil!!!

 

[MountainMonster]

Gondi down for maintenance, 2pm closing, no crowds , spectacular conditions still...

 

[TonyC]

It's now official! I saw this posted in the Mill today:

There was another announcement sheet next to this one. Chair 5 was not listed as open on MMSA website this morning but it was running. It is running for 5 freestyle camps between May 30 and July 2. That's what the building of the big halfpipe and jumps over Memorial weekend were all about and why that area between Solitude/Spook and Face of 5 was roped off.

The announcement said that Chair 5 would not run every day but only when the camps were in session. However the public is welcome to use the lift when it is open. So we got some good views of the pipe and jump.

 

[mikel]

Looks like we will try to make it back early July.

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

We are going camping for 3 weeks and Mammoth is at the beginning and the end of our trip. It will be the first time we have taken our ski gear on a camping trip.

 

[MountainMonster]

Top closed today, poor visibility , rain at about noon. Supposed to be sunny and back to 60° mañana.
Boot work again today .

 

[VickiK]

Trip planning for a July 21-23 weekend is in the works!