Snow Sports and/or Surfing

So not Kratka Ridge...

 

Snow summit’s server is down right now...

i, like apparently the rest of SoCal, was going to look into heading up.

 

In spite of threats of 45 mph winds, and snowmaking running all day, I loaded up the Q and headed to the hills. Took off around 6:45 for Mt. High - a little later than I like to leave.

So Cal drivers aren't real smart about rain. First accident was on the 91 at Green River. Next was on the 215 - multi-vehicle including one that flipped. Then Chain Law on the 2 headed into Wrightwood. They waved me through without chains. No problems until I turned into the driveway to Mt. High. Some asshat in a Toyota 2-WD truck couldn't make it up the hill and couldn't get out of the way. 15 minutes later with the help of parking lot employees armed with gravel, the Toyota got up the hill. By then I am sure the line was backed up to Wrightwood! Once cleared of Toyota, the remaining 300 yards was no problem.

A foot of fresh. Low crowds. Perfect temps for snow-sliding - like 28°. Winds were calm with an occasional gust in the 15-20 mph range. 15 runs and out of there at 12:45. A stop at Village Grind for a coffee, then some gas - then stuck behind a nasty double crash on WB 91 at the Green River exit. (One crash involving multiple vehicles and ambulances, and a second crash about 1/4 mile further). Home by 3:00 despite the stops and traffic problems. What a great morning!

15 runs. 15,000 vertical feet. Snow Sliding is fun!

 

Oh and here's the third ski area that still does not allow snowboards. Ski it if you can!

https://www.madriverglen.com/

Correction - they allowed snowboards in the late 80s and banned them in the 90s.

 

Nice. I waffled about going, and when I did it was too late...I went the back way to attempt to minimize the madness, but chp closed the 38 above forest falls due to an accident.

There were ~50 cars chaining up at the mentone ranger station—5 miles from the chain control. The road was dry the whole way...The 2” of white stuff on the side of the road was enough for most folks to get themselves hurt sliding.

 

Yes - something we never saw in CO - the urban snow-play people. I guess when it actually snows in the city, it is not enough of a fascination to go drive to the snow, park off the side of the road, sled, build a snowman, make snow angels, have a snowball fight, leave your trash and go home.

 

Your comment reminds me of this article. I know it’s mostly about the proposed ski area at San Gorgonio, but it’s also about an easterner trying to understand the SoCal mountain culture. In 1965. Not much has changed, really.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1965/02/01/the-battle-for-a-mountain

Any New Englander reared in a cold, nubbly land where belly-flopping, ice-ball fights, tobogganing and bundling were taken for granted would be amazed to see the use southern Californians get out of a ski slope. If the slopes have any meager snow cover at all, the desperate Californians engage in what they call "snow play." For the benefit of old Down Easters who are not hep to modern recreational terms, by "snow play" a southern Californian means all the usual trivial, thrilling and dangerous pleasures of winter. For example, three weekends ago on the Mt. Baldy ski slopes, the highest in southern California, there were about four inches of intermittent glaze and slush on the upper reaches. Although all slopes were closed to skiers, the main chair lift still carried 1,800 snow players and sightseers to the 7,800-foot level. In this heavy traffic of nonskiers there were all ages—many family groups and collegians, and several packs of boy scouts and a busload of kids from the church of the Full Gospel Assembly of God. While most of the visitors were slowly lifted up the mountain on Saturday, at the base of the lift Greg Zemenek, 9, Steve Madison, 9, Ricky Traynor, 9, Dale Traynor, 8, and Darrell Traynor, 7—all of El Monte, Calif.—were battling with brown snowballs. It was not altogether clear who was siding with whom, but all five participants were carefully mixing one part mud to one part snow in their ammunition so that the sparse patches of slush would last for the duration of their small war.

 

Drove up yesterday to see how big bear was doing. What I saw can only be described as a massive covid cluster waiting to happen. If all those people made it to the resort, look out..there were a lot of people. Bumper to bumper for 20 miles, all the way down to the 2000 foot level.

that’s why I brought the splitter. Drove back to Green Valley, and hiked in past the snow play crowds. I didn’t find anything steep with enough cover to actually get good turns in, but I did find peace and quiet in the mountains. The family of deer that watched me try to descend seemed amused at my feeble attempts to actually slide.

 

One night in February 2008, I stood across the street of a bar in Durango observing the patrons drinking and stepping outside for a cig and chitchat. My colleague and I drove up from a pipeline project based in Gallup, but we both were born/raised/taught/trained in Southern California. Don’t be surprised to read the second snowball of the night was hurled back at me in response to instigating snow play. Everyone had a great time, and the trash was discarded appropriately.

 

I have the distinction of being the chain surf champion of 7th street in Durango. There was a span of chain outside of one of the ski shops (Alpine Sports?) and we would have balance contests as to who could stand on the chain longest. After frequenting the bars, of course. Extra credit for jumping onto the chain. Early slack-lining I guess.

Thank you for throwing away your trash after your snowball fight!

 

Drove up yesterday to see how big bear was doing. What I saw can only be described as a massive covid cluster waiting to happen. If all those people made it to the resort, look out..there were a lot of people. Bumper to bumper for 20 miles, all the way down to the 2000 foot level.[/QUOTE]

Massive covid cluster is right. I went to Mt High today, and the lines were the worst I've ever seen, because of covid rules not loading chairs to capacity, usually only 2 riders a time, the Blue Ridge line stretched all the way to the beginner chair. So they met the goal of not requiring people to ride with strangers, but you spend 20 minutes crammed with strangers shoulder to shoulder breathing on you, only mask enforcement was the lifties occasionally telling people to pull masks up when they got next to them at the loading point. It was the most covid-apprehensive situation I've been in, and I'm not normally that concerned with covid. It was sold out, but parking lot and # of people on the mountain seemed amount same as ever, no limiting of crowds was evident. I quit just before 2 PM, even though the snow was good...a guy bought my ticket for $100 when I walked back to the parking lot...it was a a strange encounter, I was about to give it to him, I hemmed a bit in case one of the nephews wanted me to go on one last ride,, but it was like he insisted on paying me, no bargaining, just "here, take the $100...I really want to get some riding in"

 

@Robbie Ooof - I'm headed up there in about 30 minutes. I hope it's not as bad today. Maybe they will make some kind of adjustment in crowd management so they don't get reported to the state and get closed down. Score on the $100 though! If I have a day ticket and leave early (I always leave early) I usually give it to someone with kids who is just arriving. Sounds like you were about to do the same. Tickets were limited so no one could buy them at the ski area. No wonder the dude gave you a Benji. I can see a strong re-sale black market developing!

I have a season pass now, so no giving away passes in the parking lot. Oh - but my wife and kid will have day tickets, and we will be leaving before 2. Hmmmmm.....

 

How do you re-attach the ticket?

 

oh man, flashbacks of "clipping tickets" in the parking lots back in the late 80's early 90's.

 

They are RFID chipped plastic that don't need to be clipped to the garment, just loose in a pocket, mechanical gates at lift queue sense them and open up when you approach. So easy to transfer to other people.

 

I see, obvs I haven't been to the snow in awhile!
..

 

[QUOTE="herzalot, I hope it's not as bad today. Maybe they will make some kind of adjustment in crowd management so they don't get reported to the state and get closed down."
I think yesterday (Wednesday) may have been worse because Tuesday was a disaster with 138 and Lone Pine backed up to the 15 all day, roads not fully cleared from the Monday storm. Maybe they let some of the Tuesday ticket holders in on Wednesday and doubled up the crowd. I hope you have a better day. I've gone on New Years Eve day in past years and the crowds are not as bad..because people have other party plans...but not this year, so who knows. I am obliged to go with a family group every Xmas-New Year holiday week, and its not really worth it! Except the kids enjoy it.

 

@Robbie - when you quote, you might want to leave the brackets and the word QUOTE on both ends of the quote. You can fiddle with the content in between if you like, but ya gotta leave those bracketed QUOTEs. If you cut off a bracket, it won't pull the quote.

So yes - we did do Mt. High this morning. Left Laguna Canyon at 7:15 and parked at 8:37. Wife's handicapped placard means front row for free. See? There are benefits to a chronic debilitating disease!

My daughter is a timid soul, so we just stayed on Roadrunner lift on the beginner trails, although she was eventually seeking and hitting all the baby "features" built up for snowboarders. Thatta girl! The "jumps" not the rails and boxes. The lift line got thick around 10:40, so we headed in for lunch at 11:00. Wife called it good at that point due to numb extremities (related to aforementioned disease). Daughter and I headed out for a few more runs in the sunshine. No lift lines as everybody went in to lunch and they opened the parallel "Coyote" lift. We left at 1:30. No one around looking for a ticket. Even those in the ticket lines had already purchased. Oh well, tried to pay it forward.

BTW - snow was excellent and they had opened up about 10 more runs since my visit on Monday. The Blue Ridge Express lift line looked nightmarish, as @Robbie described above.

Masked bandits on the lift:

 

@Herz' ya I'm no good at the quote/bracket syntax. Glad you had a good day! The Blue ridge chair was bad. I spent more time on Coyote/Roadrunner chairs with wife and the younguns than I ever have, the slow chairs had smaller and faster lines. For the rest of the year, I'm going to do night sessions, 5-10 PM, no more weekends or peak holidays. By mid February there is still a good amount of daylight, with nice sunsets, no crowds, night ticket only $45-55.

 

Any surfers checking out the Big waves I hear we're getting? Pics or it didn't happen

 

I'm not much of a big wave chaser nor a cold water surfer. I am a wimpy surfer who prefers his waves no bigger than 6' and his water temps no colder than 60°.

 

My stepson & I hit Tamarack in SD on Sunday, and it was DOH at times, and walled. I kayak surf, and it was a challenge just getting out past the break! Refractory waves from the 6' high tide made for crazy timing, and I only caught one before going back in. It's a rush to see what Mother Nature can dish out! No pics, so you can chalk this up to storytelling.

 

I've surfed Tamarack a couple of times. Head high, but not DOH for sure. Not a bad break at all, but yeah, high tide refracting waves are a nuisance. Plus, someone stole my flip flops!

 

Tamarack again tonight. A friend took pics, not knowing I was the kayaker!

 

Winters in the PNW are pretty crappy for mountain biking. You can still ride but you will be wet, cold , dark and the trails will be sloppy. Most of the elevation trails eventually get covered in snow as well. The good thing is that there are some pretty decent skiing options. I am an average skier. This year however my daughter who is 14 decided she wants to snowboard. So we both rented boards for the season and have been getting up to the mountains every other week. I suck at snowboarding but really enjoying learning with my daughter as we both progress. Took this incredible shot from White Pass in WA.

 

Winters in the PNW are pretty crappy for mountain biking indeed. I lived most of my life there before coming to SoCal 7 years ago. Being spoiled by having Summit at Snoqualmie areas a 50 minute drive from east Seattle suburbs on 6 lane I90 interstate, makes the struggle to get up to Mt High/Big Bear to ski the groomers over and over hardly worth it. I went from being a season pass holder at Summit/Crystal Mountain to maybe going 3 times a year here. (Mammoth is far better than anything in WA state though). And the blue sky day you had at White pass are hard to come by, many PNW mountains seem perpetually socked in a cloud layer. I miss the snow sports there, but year round biking here is more than a good trade off. For winter riding there best drained trails are Spring Lake /Lake Desire, Black Diamond, and the incomparable Tapeworm (you’ve probably already discovered these).

 

HA! Awesome perspective being that we essentially traded places, me moving to WA after living in Socal most of my life. I love winter MTB riding in Socal but for me personally I would not trade anything in the world for the summer season of riding and the other dry (or wet) days you get here. Mountain biking is definitely my thing over snow sports and I'm sorry Socal but nothing compares to the trails and culture up here for Mountain biking and it keeps getting better! I also dont miss the 100 degree spring summer and fall days in Socal LOL. I live in Maple Valley so Black Diamond is my go to winter spot and just up the road is Tiger Mountain, Raging River and Tokul. I still ride 3 to four times a week, rain or shine. For snow sports, I have been to Mammoth and I agree 100% nothing up here compares!

 

Mt High is an easy drive. Snow Summit/Big Bear is an ordeal.

 

I would think it can be pretty rough on bikes with all the moisture/dirt/mud??

 

While on quarantine, I’ve been watching a lot of NBCSN’s ski racing coverage. Ryan Cochran-Siegle had a good week in Super G.

FIS has figured out how to portray the sport in a compelling way that highlights the athleticism and daring. They’re able to capture the sound of the racers carving at 60 mph, and to show how much work the racers’ quads are doing over the chop.

UCI needs to step it up. FIS makes better tv out of XC skiing than UCI does with DH, and that’s just wrong.