TR w/ pics, Mammoth, October 27
First, here is a copy of the Mammoth Mountain Dump Alert for Wednesday, Oct 27:
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!! DUMP ALERT !! DUMP ALERT !! DUMP ALERT !!
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Record Breaking October
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We're smashing records up here at Mammoth Mountain. A powerful
storm dropped two feet of snow in the last 24 hours bringing
our October snowfall total to 82 inches. That's almost 7 feet
before Halloween!
Mammoth Mountain Snow Report for Wednesday, Oct 27
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Mammoth Mountain Snow Report
If you love (or even like) powder, today is the day to get up
to Mammoth. Cold temperatures prevailed in this massive storm
that left two feet of light fluffy powder on Mammoth Mountain.
Can you believe conditions like this before Halloween?
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They were actually being subtle. It was much better than this!
Here is what I saw when I first arrived:
http://www.loloville.com/132-3241_IMG.JPG
This is the ridge near Chair 2.
I hiked up past McCoy Station to check out Dry Creek. Here is the view across Dry Creek from Coyote:
http://www.loloville.com/132-3242_IMG.JPG
This is what it looked like before Gondy 2 opened (more about that later.)
The snow in Dry Creek was dry, deep, and there was plenty of untracked.
It looked like Chair 3 would open soon and there was a substantial line there. I didn't want to wait in an L.A. traffic jam, so instead I traversed below Paranoids for more untracked snow. Then I went back to check on 3. It was running, but the line was still long. Then - a miracle - I looked to my left - Gondy 2 was running for the first time this season! A quick skate over and a short ride up and I was at the top of Climax. A few hop turns to make my way in and then I noticed something. The few people who entered before me had traversed away to the left and right. No one had skied straight down the fall line yet. It was still untracked! High speed arcs in deep pow. I know why it is called Climax. I had the same post-orgasm blissful feeling while I continued down through Dry Creek.
After that I did two laps on the backside in between Santiago and Hemlock. It required a hike out on a cat track. The Heli-ski quality turns back there were well worth it.
When I got back to the main part of the mountain to finally check out Chair 3, I noticed that the mountain was already starting to empty. It wasn't even 2:00 yet. I thought that I had the slope to myself when I saw a familiar blue and silver helmet. It was Arty50. Together we traversed toward Chair 5 for more untracked pow including some stashes that were waist deep.
Arty said that we may have stumbled upon "Punani Secret Powder Stash # 53287!" I'm not allowed to reveal it's location. But here is a picture of Arty in the "secret" tree entrance:
http://www.loloville.com/132-3254_IMG.JPG
followed with an up close fly by:
http://www.loloville.com/132-3255_IMG.JPG
I would have taken more pictures if I wasn't so busy skiing pow.
Fresh tracks in at least 2 feet of snow all day long! What a great day. I'm still buzzing.
