California/Nevada 2018 - 2019 Mammoth Mountain

[Mothertucker]

I hear from an insider at BBMR that the plan this year is to close Mammoth in early July regardless of snow conditions. Apparently, Alterra doesn't feel it's financially worth it to extend the season beyond that. Has anyone else heard anything different?

I skied with a couple of employees yesterday, they both said the opposite, said they are looking past the July 7th date that they have released so far. Also said a big race camp Booking already.
Still a ton of snow ,top closed and a lot of lower access closed yesterday for avi concerns, they started bombing the top about noon yesterday.
Today should be a great day

Cya on the hill...

Put your trust in Rust!

 

[MattSmith]

Hi all! Last stop is Mammoth. I've never been here before. Anyone want to meet up and show me around?
No pressure. I'm here all week.
Matt

 

[Larry]

Hi all! Last stop is Mammoth. I've never been here before. Anyone want to meet up and show me around?
No pressure. I'm here all week.
Matt

I hope to be up there next weekend. Hope it's not raining

 

[MountainMonster]

Looks like spring has finally arrived here
Great skiing right now

R & T

 

[dbostedo]

Hi all! Last stop is Mammoth. I've never been here before. Anyone want to meet up and show me around?
No pressure. I'm here all week.
Matt

So how's your first time at Mammoth?

 

[MattSmith]

So how's your first time at Mammoth?

Loving it! Super warm temps. Chasing the cold snow around a really big mountain. Here's a few pics. Still making friends!

 

[MountainMonster]

Last week for canyon lodge,
Been starting out on 22 ,25, & 9.
Face of 3 & the top skiing fantastic
Most of 5 & 10 closed for super park construction. I understand they are also building another monster park behind 14 .
Corn coming up, still need a few more cycles,
Crowds are more than past seasons for this time of year, but doable, Ikon ?

 

[MountainMonster]

 

[MountainMonster]

 

[Sunnysloper]

Skied a few laps in West Bowl today with Kimberly Plake, she rips! Glenn and she are in town for the PSIA-W convention. They’re Mammoth Ambassadors and both make an effort to meet people on the hill they don’t know and ski with them.

If you’re skiing Mammoth this weekend and see a woman with long blonde hair, red jacket, white pants with a western style and stars on them, who’s skiing really well, that’s her. Introduce yourself she’s a fun person to ski with.

 

[MountainMonster]

First bikini’s of the season spotted yesterday

 

[MountainMonster]

Mikaela is Scheduled to train in mammoth this coming week.
Fun to watch an amazing skier, close access too.
Canada’s national women were speed training this past week.
Fist bumped Plake Friday chr1, he was with a group of examiners all week.
The skiing & weather has been spectacular

 

[Tony]

Saturday 4/27/19 I skied from 8:30-3:30 with my only breaks being the three full gondola rides we took at 11:30, 12:45 and almost 3 PM. I was ready to quit when we got to chair 2 about 2:45, but @Tony Crocker who was giving @Matt Smith and I a great tour said he’s skied Mammoth enough to know that you never know what tomorrow’s weather will bring and storm is predicted to hit Sunday which may affect snow softening and lift operation. (Winds are strong Sun AM although still sunny).

My watch counted 20 lifts and 28,600 vertical. Skitracks was less than 300’ lower. The highlight runs were Huevos Grandes, where entrance had enough exposure to make me take my time and closely follow Tony’s direction and path - once past choke, the apron was great, Avalanche 2 then 1 in prime condition mid-afternoon and we finished with Hangman’s where snow was very good after 3 and steepness did not bother me nearly as much as Huevos. Early we skied some chair 25 and 9 runs although it got soft fast there, then skied some of Shaft get from 25 to 22. I also skied top of Paranoid 2 and bottom of P3 and wrapped around to inspect Phillip’s which looked it would be unnecessary survival skiing.

Following are a couple cropped and reduced iPhone pictures of Tony Crocker in Avy 2. They are not the same turn. He has some better pictures taken with his camera of Matt Smith and hopefully of me that I will post if/when I get them.

 

[Philpug]

Hoping for a couple of Mammoth trips in June.

 

[luliski]

Hoping for a couple of Mammoth trips in June.

I am too.

 

[Tony]

Hoping for a couple of Mammoth trips in June.

I am too.

Don't wait too long as Mammoth snow condition and loss of snowpack are a couple of weeks ahead of 2016-2017 when they ran a lot of lifts including chair 9 on Memorial Day weekend. This year they extended the closing of Canyon and Eagle bases and lifts in that area a week later than usual partially due to late Easter. If weather continues to be mostly warm, the first half of May will be better than second half and anytime in May better than June.

On Sunday lifts 1, 2 and gondolas opened a little late due to strong winds with incoming storm. We loaded chair 10 about 8:45 which was when chair 2 started loading. We skied all the way to Eagle base and rode chair 15 as top of chair 25 was still firm especially where it faces more S than E. The winds and decent overnight freeze meant chair 9 was good for us for about 5 laps; first for me was under the chair, then we took traverse to Richochet area three times where top was excellent and lower part was more supportive than previous and last lap I went further out and skied a steep entrance in Dragon's Tail area. For those that read the Tahoe thread, some of this may be a repeat including that I quit early and was on the road at 12:35 and got to Heavenly Stagecoach base before 3. I had time for 7 lifts and helped celebrate their last day of seven day a week operation and mountain access via other than gondola where free parking is not very available or convenient.

Adding some pictures, the first three are from Tony Crocker's post at http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13987
@Matt Smith in Huevos Grande

Matt and I skiing Climax. Not sure how I got ahead of him as he was always skiing fast and very well. It was his last ski day of a three month trip and season.
And me in Avy 1 with a little of the always amazing Minarets and Mt Ritter and Banner Peak in background


The next two were taken on my phone. First is a crop of Huevos taken on Sunday. We skied the steep and not very smooth entrance just to right of center.
Don't buy gas in Lee Vining if you can help it. While Chevron was a little higher than others,it's $3.33 with diesel even cheaper if you go 90 miles N to Minden, NV.

 

[luliski]

Don't wait too long

I wish I could go sooner, but work...A three day weekend doesn't seem long enough for a 5 hour drive. We are going to camp and take bikes, so it's not all about the skiing conditions for us.
Great pictures, and cheers to @Matt Smith. We are still smiling.

 

[Mothertucker]

 

[Mothertucker]

 

[ScotsSkier]

@Mothertucker Don't know if you watched her training slalom but her skis had marker piston plates and bindings, same setup as Hirscher