Mammoth 24/25 - LET'S GET IT ON!!!

Well Saturday of pres day weekend was about as expected. They held to the 10am start pretty tight. The shit show at the fuck factory that was canyon was all time. Not that I know better but the current “system” at 16 is not working. Saw literally dozens of chairs go up with 2-5 riders. Natives were restless.

Got few laps on 8 first to heavy, floaty pow. Waited out 22 which opened just after 11. Got 4 laps mostly under the lift and sticking to the trees. It got fucking hot quick and the lower aspects got thicker than a cold bowl of oatmeal.

Hit 5 just after it opened and snow was a little better but got run out fast. Was gonnna throw in the towel after lunch but top opened late to some great buffed laps. All in a great day but thee snow fought back. Hoping for some wind buff today as it’s colder and bit of a wind…

We're visiting from Tahoe--I take no responsibility for being here on a holiday weekend, but my son doesn't get much time off. The skiing off the top was superb today (getting to Scotties from 22 was terrifying between wind and ice, but worth it.) I need to get to Mammoth more.

Today was wayyyyyy better than I expected. Windy down off canyon made me nervous when I woke up. Got the look for black early ups for my bud and got 6 laps off upper gondy/3 before 9. Crushed the breakfast spread like the fist of an angry god and then lapped the entire top with dry creek and Scotty’s being standouts.

Wind buff was on point an temps were perfect. Wind picked up as some weather rolled in after lunch and shit deteriorated fast. It got cold, light got flat and wind was pumping. Got stuck in line on 2 when they shut it and scrambled back to canyon for bevs while waiting on ski school.

Anyone who’s up for early outing tomorrow let me know as most of my friends left this afternoon or are planning on hitting the road early.

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Originally Posted by Long duc dong

Nice shots ESS!! We were supposed to go up this weekend, but my wife bruised her foot and can&#39;t ski. I might go up tomorrow AM, but I&#39;ll probably ski locally and work through the weekend, then go up on Thursday AM next week for five days. We haven&#39;t been up in a few weeks, busy and some travelling which is normally done in September. Hopefully this storm will add to the base, even if it underperformed. Our ski lease mates who are up there had a good time yesterday, but said it wasn&#39;t quite as all-time as they had hoped for.

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Any updates?</p>

Skied Sunday and it wasn&#39;t bad at all. If you planned out where you were going to ski to and at what time, I was able to avoid any really big lines. At 8:15 I parked well inside the chair 4 lot and was on the chair at 8:30. I was able to get Top laps in off ch 23 & G2 and the lapped ch 22, which never had a line and left at noon as the clouds were rolling in. Best skiing was Climax, Drop Out and Avi 2. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...0717740000.jpg The plan on Sunday was to get as many runs off the Top early before the lines got too big. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...cc1a32963f.jpg The snow was tracked out pow that better thru out the morning as it skied on and the wind moved it around. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e68a8ef767.jpg The ridge between Cornice and Dropout was skiing well. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b657a35299.jpg Early morning was relatively quiet off the Top and it skied better as the morning went on. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9fb821bfb1.jpg It wasn&rsquo;t until mid morning that I hit my first substantial line at G2, which was a bummer as Climax was really good. Wait time was just over 10 minutes, and I headed for ch 22. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...e0863182ad.jpg I lapped ch 22, no line ever, until the clouds started rolling in around noon and the light got flat. Skied all of the Avi chutes, with the skiers left side of Avi 2, being the best. This was the last run of the day. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...decb0c10ff.jpg By the time I got onto 395 the Mtn was pretty well socked it. I got in a quick 14 runs, half of those were off the Top and was done by noon. Considering that this is one of, if not the busiest ski weeks of the season, it wasn&rsquo;t a bad morning. There has been lots of bitching and moaning on multiple online ski forums about how crowded it is, it sucks, it was so much better back in the day, Ikon & epic have ruined everything, blah blah blah. Even before the incident involving the ski patrol Friday, you could see things lining up. Tons of pre storm hype. Storm actually delivers, biggest storm of the season. It&rsquo;s going to go blue on a Saturday that&rsquo;s the start of a longtime, traditional SoCal ski week. Gee, I wonder if it&rsquo;s going to be busy? F%ck yes -it&rsquo;s going to be busy! And we all know that, it&rsquo;s not a secret. It&rsquo;s still possible to ski this week and get in some runs, it just takes a bit more patience and reasonable expectations. Cool. Winds are up today (Mon), G2 has been on wind hold this morning. Temps are cooler than yesterday. Skied some really good snow on ch 9 earlier. Enjoy the Mtn. Update-Skiing got really good in the afternoon. G2 opened and Climax continued to have excellent wind blown and the face of ch 5 was got better and better as the day went on. from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I only skied the resort on Monday. The wind machine turned on, and the wind buff was widespread and glorious. No long lines, no powder frenzy, just buffed out aprons, faces, and bowls of smooth skiing.

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Originally Posted by abcdethan

I only skied the resort on Monday. The wind machine turned on, and the wind buff was widespread and glorious. No long lines, no powder frenzy, just buffed out aprons, faces, and bowls of smooth skiing.

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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b197d03e42.jpg
X2 100%.


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Mammoth windbuff days are unmatched. &nbsp;Im pretty sure the fastest I have ever traveled on a pair of skis is on one of those days</p>

This was quite a storm. I skied Thursday, and it was fun, but dense. I ended up just lapping chair 8, which was all that was really available. It was deep and thick, so you planed on top of it. Friday I got in one lap, before everything closed. The lines were huge, and not much opened. After the slide they shut things down. Saturday everything eventually popped. I mostly did laps on 22. The avi chutes were nice, but the snow was a bit interesting. It was a bit thick, and not as dreamy as it could be, but still fun. The top popped near the end, but I was icing my hip flexor by the time that happened. My lease mate got a fun one down Dave&#39;s, but said it was thick even up there. Sunday ended up being awesome. The wind turned on, and smoothed things nicely. I got a few nice lines down Climax, under the TOTW, but the best snow I found was in P2, which I just kept lapping. It was dense, but the wind smoothed things up and made it really nice to ski. Once I found P2 I just couldn&#39;t leave it, and I stayed until they shut down 23 around 2:40 pm. While the wind was what shut it down, it really did create a great day on Sunday. The base is great right now, and with the right wind the skiing off the top should be fun. I don&#39;t think I can get back up until the end of February, but this weekend should be fun for anyone who goes up.

Here is a clip of P2 on Sunday.

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/1057671113


Here is a clip from the avy chutes, from Saturday:

https://vimeo.com/1057951366

That was a fun weekend! Back after a week bombing groomers in the Dolomites with my 81 yr old dad and a couple of his friends, was sure nice to get the big sleds out and find some soft pow/wind buff!

Saturday was interesting and as long as your brought your patience it was pretty great. Ch 2 was shockingly quiet with the 10am start. Got 1st down Roger&#39;s, then a couple of Bear laps, before 2 broke with a big line by this point. Then 10 started so we boogied over there. As we got to the top there was 1 snowboarder hiking up to Lincoln. Buddy and I were then the first group to drop into Viva w/ another woman. Getting Viva first is always a great day. Definitely some wind on all the pow everywhere, but still super fun. After a couple 22 laps made my way to Mid where we waited for a fair while, but were probably 6th ish car to the top. Went to the Noids which really weren&#39;t great. Likely slid at some point, although no crown, but fairly compacted snow. Back up to Climax which was better, then a lap out toward 9 which was stellar and soft. Finished around 345. Not a lot of laps, but nearly all high quality. What a day!
Sunday had some moments of soft, but the Gondi closed pretty early for a couple hours which made 23 nearly unbearable, although the skiing was good we were getting close to pulling the plug. Then we saw the G start spinning so gambled and as we were loading G1 announced the top had opened again. Got a couple up there and then to 23 when the G got crowded which left 23 pretty empty.

Monday was pretty damn fun windbuff. The 184cm Legend Pro 105 that was made for 1ish years is such an amazing Mammoth wind buff tool! Just stoked to lap the top finding those veins of wind buff was sooo fun. If I can&#39;t ski blower Teton/Wasatch pow, this is definitely the next best thing. Monday was quiet and never had much of a line anywhere. All in all a great weekend!

ESS: Im in your picture of the line for G2. Ha! We should ski again!
The other thing to remember is Mammoth is no more crowded than in the 80&#39;s, pre high speed quads. It just depends on the snow. When it snows visits are high (1.3m to 1.5m) and when it doesn&#39;t snow they crater (767k &#39;93/&#39;94, 920k 2011 drought)
Here are some of the stats I was able to find: NYTimes article from 2003:&quot;After attracting 1.4 million skiers in 1985-86, Mammoth saw its annual visitors plunge to 767,000 in 1993-94.&quot;

Another article (https://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/co...rvival-2493663) listed 1.5m in &#39;05/&#39;06 and just 1m the following year. 920k in 2011 drought yr.
Powder lists 1.3m in a post from Jan 13, 2025

So my takeaway is busy seasons it&#39;s 1.4 to 1.5m skier days, which is a hell of a lot better now than it was in the 80&#39;s when you had old, slow, double chairs. I remember waiting in a solid 45min to 1hr lift line at the old ch2/ch18. Now if it&#39;s more than 15 or 20 mins I punt.

Sorry for the multiple spelling errors in my previous post. Everything looks fine when viewed from the Taptalk app, then when viewed from the website shit’s all jacked up?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7d28160cc0.jpg
Tuesday afternoon session in Wipe Out.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...89867526d1.jpg
Crowds?

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2f65315810.jpg
No lines, just laps.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ab021df87a.jpg
Speed limit? As fast as you wanted to go.

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Originally Posted by Eastern Sierra Skier

Sorry for the multiple spelling errors in my previous post. Everything looks fine when viewed from the Taptalk app, then when viewed from the website shit&rsquo;s all jacked up? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7d28160cc0.jpg Tuesday afternoon session in Wipe Out. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2f65315810.jpg No lines, just laps. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I ride snowbird and the record is not dissimilar. I have &quot;A Snowboarders Guide to North America&quot;, from 2000, and it laments how long it took to get a lap in. The pow locusts were ferocious and competitive too. I think the big holy hills have always been a zoo when it snows. The difference today is that EVERY hill is blown out on a pow day, unless it really doesnt have terrain/is 300 miles from a population center. Also those high speed quads mean the goods get trracked fast. For me, I take 1 lap for good turns and then its time to get technical. I dont think rocks and mando airs will ever stop filtering the riff raff.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ab021df87a.jpg

I love this chair so much. Thanks for sharing pics dude.

looks to be high and dry for the next few weeks.

We used to get down there for this week when my kid was still in elementary school. They don't have this week off but my wife's school does.

Was always shocked how quiet it was. COVID years were great but even the regular years it is really not too crowded.

Certain times of the day there were certain choke points but the hill is laid out so well, you can really avoid it.

The buff this year looks great. I was at KW Monday and the buff was great. From my experience the buff is usually even better.

Looks like a nice ski week.


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Way to get that buff ESS!I had to get out of there on Sunday evening, unfortunately. I figured this week would have some great skiing. Let&#39;s hope the wind machine keeps doing its job.

On another note, does anyone know what is up with the forum? I can&#39;t quote anything, if I quote a reply it quotes only the top post on a page, not the post I mean to quote. It doesn&#39;t seem to matter which browser I use. With Chrome I can post a video, but there is no direct way to post a video, you have to remember how to put it in, as opposed to images, which have a direct link. My videos don&#39;t show up in Firefox.I&#39;m not sure what has changed. Some of the spelling is off too. I can&#39;t put an apostrophe, it gives weird symbols.

FWIW I can't see your vids on the AP but can see ESS pics.

Your post has a few nonsense characters.

The forum is fucked


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Ott,Thanks for letting me know.I'm not sure exactly what is going on, but something is not working.I'm doing all this from a laptop, I'm not sure if that is part of the problem.

Yeah, when I edit it Fucks things up even worse. Either loses paragraphs, or adds F'up characters.

If anyone has a long drive and they are looking to kill some time checkout the Storm Skiing podcast with Mammoth CEO Eric Clarke. He talks alot about the Mammoth lift system, upgrades etc. Definitely worth a listen.

https://www.stormskiing.com/p/podcas...june-mountains


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What's with the strange silence on the patroller casualty? No accident report or anything? Is Mammoth trying to keep silent to avoid liability?

it’s called privacy

In past patrol deaths at the Palisades resorts (before they were Palisades) there was public information of the basic facts beyond just that an avalanche had occurred. If not, Cal OSHA reports are public record although it will be a while. I do think Mammoth skiers care about the patroller as a person and it would be reasonable for Mammoth to update her condition. Her name has not been released so I don't know how much privacy is involved. In my experience names have been released, at least when there are deaths. These folks are doing dangerous work for too little pay so that the rest of us can have fun. Naming them honors them but it should be up to the family, of course.

Comish,I'm having the same issue. Editing screws up paragraphs, which are not always there in the first place, and puts in funny symbols.ESS,I will check that out. Long drives are a big part of my life in the winter and spring!