Mammoth TR 10/21 & 10/22 - Insanity
Sorry folks. There's no more pow. We killed it all. OMFG, the last two days were unreal.
Sorry for the new thread, but the last two days were deserving. There are some great pics by yogachik and Vets on page 3 of the Mammy openning thread.
Thursday, October 21st saw chair 1 open at the crisp time of 8:30. Champagne and special t-shirts marking the occasion were handed out in the lift line. The shirt lists the date and the fact that it was the earliest openning in 10 years. Normally I would complain about trying to shoehorn my fat gut into a medium, but I'm never gonna wear it anyway. It's getting put behind glass. :D
So chair one dumps me off and I scream around to the face of 1. Someone had hucked the big rock under the chair sideways. I wanted no part of that fucked up angle and landing. Frankly I was too busy schralping the shin deep pow nearby.
A couple more laps were had on 1 when they opened the backside of that peak. Whoooohoooooo!!!! Untracked tree shots, baby!
At some point in the morning I met up with Yogachik and hot_sauce. We proceeded to crush the hill.
Lap after lap was hit off of chair 1. Face of 1, around the back, and finally traversing out underneath the Noids. The shorthanded patrol was kicking ass.
Word eventually got around that chair 3 was to open. The chair was frozen though, and it was gonna take a while. Finally they cracked that sucker at 1:30. And guess who was sitting on 1st chair? I was with 3 boarders who were cursing the fact that I had skis and was going to have it all to myself while they were buckling up. The face of 3 wasn't open though, so they were making us go around the back. No problem. I'll just bomb around, traverse under Hangman's, drop into some beautiful blower, and then hit that little cliffband further below. Fuuuuuuuck yeeeeeaaaaahhhhh!!!!! At this point I should mention I hit that sucker with more speed than I've ever carried off of something. It was interesting. I compressed but managed to stand up and ride away...for 2 seconds...then I fell over. :D Well, I almost had it. Still, time for a do over. Well, not much better this time. I forgot that G4s aren't very forgiving on landings. So then I just proceeded to follow a traverse that went out just under Dropout/Wipeout. Sooooo smoooov.
Right around 3:45, my legs said enough. We want to ski tomorrow too. So I called it a day and went back to the room to stare at the wall in complete shock. I couldn't believe it was October 21st and I had just skied winter pow. Not to mention the fact I had only hit 3-4 rocks all day. The coverage is amazing right now.
Finally after a few minutes I came to my senses and picked up the phone. "Walter, it's insane. Fuck the rock skis, bring your fatties. And for god sakes...bring my Spatulas!!!!"
A nice cold shower broke me out of my remaining stupor and stopped my legs from shaking. Excellent, ready to go tomorrow. Dinner at Nevados with some new friends (thanks, yogachik!) and then bed.
I woke up this fine morning with the knowledge the top was openning. The jones was unbelievable. Went to breakfact with the Sobchaks and then hit the hill. The face of 3 had tracks. Damn, it must have openned at 3:55 the day before (Mammoth closes at 4). Oh well, no matter. We just killed the tons of pow that was left. On one lap, we run into something I never thought I'd see: Spatulas...mounted with freerides. I rode up to the guy and we nodded towards each other.
"OK, I have to ask. How do those tour?"
"Actually, they're really good. A little heavy, but they skin just fine. And they just handle everything so well: pow, windbuff, a little bit of crust...well what am I saying. You know that already."
"Yup. :D It's great to hear they tour well too."
Then I remembered that the Spatulas are probably the best skis I've ever broken trail with. The reverse camber rocks for this. So while I wouldn't tour on them on icy off camber death, they'd be oh so sweet after a storm.
Pardon my aside, back to today. So chair 23 was having problems in the morning. The top was ready to go, just no chair yet. At this point Walter and his bro traversed up to the top. I bailed earlier and watched from below. Walt hit P2 and made some of the prettiest turns I've ever seen. So I rode up and asked how it was.
"The whole right side was knee deep."
"Arrrrrgggghhhh!!!! I will killlllll you!!!!"
Luckily, I came to my senses and realized that I was to blame for being so moronic to not go up there with them. So we skied back down to 1 and rode up. Ooooh, there's a line at 23!!! Hit it!!!!
The top....it was....I really don't have the words. We all broke off and hit the lines we had picked out on the way up. No friends man, no friends. My second lap saw me traverse out to P2. I had to get some quick. Walter was right. It was insane in there. I hit P3 right after and it didn't compare. It was still amazing, but P2 was drool worthy. So we just kept hitting lap after laps of sweet, sweet winter pow. Everyone I talked to on each ride up was practically speechless. Is this really October 21st?
After insane laps to numerous to count, things started to get a little choppey. My legs, they scream. Time for lunch and some water too. While gaping through the cafeteria with the dumbfounded look still on my face, I hear the mating call of the wild maggot. Nickel? Huh? Hell yeah! It was commish. So I sat down with him and his crew to swap stories of an insane morning.
Commish: "I saw you post and was so stoked. Today was awesome. Only one thing though. Why didn't you tell us to bring our fat skis damnit. The coverage is unreal. I've only hit one rock all day."
Me: "Ooops. Sorry. Yeah, I even called Walter yesterday to have him bring my Spatulas."
:D
So with lunch done and our legs rested, we hit it again. This time cutting around the back to find some untracked tree shots. So fuggin' gud. We caught up with the Sobchaks again, and then hit lap after lap of sweetness until the bell. Wow, I can't believe I made it. Two insane days of the Sierra's finest.
Time for drinks on the deck. Nothing like staring up at the hill after a great day of skiing, reflecting on all the lines you hit, and enjoying a beverage.
At the end of the day Walter showed me his Powder Plusses/Rides? and there was barely a scratch on them. This wasn't just an early storm. It was THE early storm. A storm that leaves an imprint on your brain. An imprint that will bring a smile to your face until the day you die.
