Snow Sports and/or Surfing

Lights were on at Mt. High tonight. Prep is underway. Snowmaking?

 

From their website:

Opening Next Week?!
November 6 2020
The forecast is looking great and there is a chance we could be open for skiing & snowboarding as early as next week.

 

Broke down and bought Ikon passes all around for the family today. The discount coming back, guaranteed pass assurance, and iffy availability of lift tickets made it kind of a no brainer. Heading to June as a family just before the holidays, and I'm likely going up next weekend by myself, and at least another weekend in early December. Feels good to have that settled.

 

W

we just got settled in tonight in Mammoth. Kinda windy...

 

Three things you can count on in this life - death, taxes, and winds in Mammoth. - My old roommate Markie

 

Yeah, I logged on to the site yesterday. Opening day - all lifts on weather hold. Welcome to Mammoth.

 

And...I think that’s a wrap on opening weekend...lift lines are long. The line attendants did a pretty good job keeping us organized and properly spaced, but the amount of open acreage can’t handle that many people. Not worth all the dodging and being dodged.

But our low expectations were met, we skied opening weekend...

 

Took today off work, the daughter is back from school and wanted to snowboard. The best-groomed man made hard pack I’ve ever ridden, and with few people, it stayed that way until 1:30. The daughter found her legs after our tailgate PB&J lunch, and I had to pay attention to keep up. when you’ve spent all day lapping Miracle Mile, eventually you get it wired. But to go from “falling leaf” blue runs last season to cutting and slashing straight down the fall line today...not sure where that came from.

 

That's huge! Stoked for you. I keep saying "this year will be the year" for my daughter, but it keeps not happening, and her enthusiasm for it is in the tank. Because I had to sit out last year she only went once, so it will be interesting to see what this year season brings. Hopefully older, stronger, more patient kicks in this year. Our plans keep getting thwarted, so I still haven't had Day 1 yet. I'm strongly considering doing the 1-day kamikaze run to Mammoth on Sunday just to end the drought for myself.

 

Rad. A friend of mine's daughter rides Mammoth every single open weekend. She has been sponsored since she was like 8. She just lives for it, and her dad is so cool he drives her there every weekend from Valencia. I just love following their Instagram and seeing the joy.

 

That's awesome.

 

Feb 8th 2020...just a few little waves...

 

Bah - no one eve got tubed. Whimps!

 

Some years ago I was flying from SNA to SFO. I had a good window seat.
The flight mostly followed 101 and then went off the coast about Monterey.
We went right over Maverick's and IT WAS GOING OFF!!
I could see boats and helos and a good number of surfers out. We were maybe 8-10k feet up but I could see the lineup well.
I had that super excited but have to quite kinda thing going on.
Got some weird looks from other passengers. Guess I wasn't too quiet about it.
Not too many people knew about Maverick's then.
Mark Foo died the next day.

 

My wife and I had the good fortune of making a trip down to Pillar point on a pretty big day. It was fun to stand on the cliff and watch. The break is a little far out (compared to, say, Pipeline) but we still got to see quite a bit.

 

This is a fun watch.

 

Yup. Lots of confidence from that lad. The snow looked really interesting - not powder in the fluffy dry sense of the word, but soft and really consistent.

 

A priceless news clip from Canadian Broadcasting Company 1985:



Damn Californians!

 

I have to agree. Almost as bad as skateboarders

 

Only three ski areas left in the US not allowing snowboards. Name them. No using Google - give me your guesses.

Not sure about up there in Canadia.

As a frequent rider of both types of snow-sliding devices, I believe we can get along just fine.

That said. beginning snowboarders are more likely to bowl over skiers than beginning skiers are to take out snowboarders. I see it every time I take my daughter skiing.

 

I’ve got two of the three on my ikon pass, don’t know the third.

Big Air Green Valley RIP.

 

Names - I want names!

I will give you a hint on the third, their motto is "Ski it if you can." Eastern ski area. NO GOOGLING!

 

I know Alta. I want to say Crystal Mountain in Washington, though I might be wrong on that. I think a 2nd one in Utah also. That's all I've got without the Google.

 

Got one! And you are regionally correct on one of the others.

 

Snowbird?

 

Nope. Other side of the Wasatch range. Think Hoity Toity...

 

Alta, Taos and Deer Valley?

 

Two out of three...

Taos decided money was more important than heritage about a dozen years ago.

From the website...
"Although many travelers choose Taos for the incredible skiing and snowboarding..."

The third ski area is in the Eastern US. Not something you would guess unless you have spent time out there. Second hint. Home of the only single seat chairlift still in operation.