Written Tuesday March 07, 2006

skiing in california 03-07-2006

Tags: 3 month trip rainier

California has been treating me right. On Friday, I snowboarded at Mammoth with 22 inches of fresh new snow. On Monday, I skied at Heavenly with 6 inches of new snow. On Tues, I snowboarded at Alpine Meadows with 16 inches of new snow (and 6 more fell during the day)

I really liked Mammoth. I managed to stay in the trees, out of the wind and found plenty of powder. The entire upper section of the mountain was closed, so I will have to go back some day and ski in the bowls.

I did not really like Heavenly. I thought it was way over priced for the caliber of it’s terrain. It felt like I spent 1/2 of the day on lifts. I have to admit that it looks like it could be a fun place on powder day. The trees on upper portion of the california side looked amazing (but the chair to the top of the mountain was closed for most of the day). There were a number of annoyances with the mountain but the top ones were 1) No clocks anywhere on the mountain (so I almost go stuck on the wrong side of the mountain). 2) Lots of flats because of poorly placed lifts. 3) the only way from the California side to the Nevada side is a lift that is closed whenever there is high wind.

I really liked Alpine Meadows. It is big. Has very steep terrain and I got fresh face shots till my last run. All and all I loved it and if I lived here, it would be the mountain I skied at. I will probably be skiing Squaw tomorrow and then either Homewood or Norstar on thurs. Hopefully I will remember to take my camera for atleast one of those days.