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EL NINO WITH ONE LAST BLAST FOR THE SIERRA!
With our third child arriving into our family around mid-May, life has been a tad busy for family ski trips the month prior and after his entry into planet Earth. However, given the amount of snowfall in the Sierra this season, the two older kids and I still wanted to get in our annual late season trip Mammoth and that day happened to land on June 12th, 2016.
After almost two weeks of scorching high altitude temperatures prior to our arrival, my main concern was packing proper sunscreen let alone even a proper ski coat. Well, a few days before our departure, the weather forecast shifted and took the sun completely out of the equation. The day prior displayed ‘sun’…the day after displayed ‘sun.’ But, our day of planned skiing displayed ‘rain & snow’ with a high temperature of 38F.
After a pleasant drive over Highway 108, Sonora Pass, the day earlier, fast forward to the morning of June 12th, 2016…after a night of thunder and lightning, we awoke to pouring rain in the Village of Mammoth. The older kid is yelling at me that ‘he doesn’t ski in the rain’ and my youngest is only concerned about the promised massive doughnut at the Main Lodge prior to skiing. As we made our way up to the Main Lodge, the rain did not let up and we were soaked by the time we dropped off our gear by Broadway Express.
However, Dad was overly optimistic…probably because from McCoy Station and above was showing new snowfall but he studied the animated satellite image and thought to himself ‘I think we may just get a gap in the storm.’ After a hearty breakfast, dad proceeded to walk onto the deck to take a look at the weather and by some sort of miracle, the rain had stopped. Granted, it was still cloudy, but you could see to the top of Broadway and we wouldn’t get soaked ‘trying’ to ski.
After meeting up with Scott, my Mammoth helper for the day, we decided to head up to Chair 3 to check the conditions. The first thing we noticed is that the weather report scared off most of the skiers for the day. Secondly, it was apparent it was snowing at the bottom of Chair 3. Thirdly, it actually snowed a fair bit…at least a few inches of heavy powder. Given that this type of skiing is tough for a 5 year old, the 5 year old and I lapped Broadway Express…which was basically our own private run for an hour. My son and Scott ran some laps on Chair 3 until we noticed that the Upper Gondola was now open. After a quick texting mission, we all met up to head to the Summit to see what the weather was doing up there. Like a Christmas miracle, we were above the clouds and it must have snowed around 6 inches or so. After some mid June snowball fights and snow angels, Scott and my son rallied some pow runs off Cornice Bowl while my daughter and I continued our people-less runs on Broadway Express.
With a 1pm lift closure, Dad needed to get his fix as well. While the kids ate lunch, he ventured all over Chair 23 from the Dropout to Wipeout Chutes to hiking down into Paranoids #1. Ultimately, he still found some untracked snow and given that it was June 12th, he may have even yelled out a ‘woot woot’ while skiing down. In any case, that is the rumor according to TMZ.
At 12:30pm the snow started to get slower as the daytime temps started to rise. My son wanted one more top to bottom run off Chair 23 and then as we walked to the car at 1pm, it started to rain…and it continued for an hour or so on the ride back home. Ultimately, it was a radical wintery day in June and a trip the kids and I will always remember.
And remember kids, as of 06/23/16, Mammoth Mountain is still open for skiing and riding. Access is via the Upper and Lower Gondola, Chair 3 and Chair 23 but it looks to be melting FAST! So get there sooner than later.
Mammoth Today – June 23rd, 2016…
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June 11th, 2016 – On our way over Highway 108, the snow started to appear…
Time to stretch our legs on Sonora Pass…
If these damn kids weren’t with me, I could hike up…ahhh forget it.
Leavitt Peak and the Y Couloir looking mighty fine for mid-June…
The kids are starting to get used to this annual photo…
But they also like to throw snowballs at Dad…
Leavitt Meadow is a stunning place and highly recommended…
Leavitt Falls was roaring and so were the mosquitos…
Life on Highway 395 but with ominous clouds approaching…
Bridgeport, California is kind of scenic…
The morning of our ski day wasn’t looking too promising…
After breakfast, the rain stopped! Yippie!…
I spy some fresh snow on the Paranoids…
You kids ready????
‘Hey Dad, I’m totally getting freshies…’
‘Hey Dad, I think I’ll go for slashes…’
We had Broadway all to ourselves, so we took the entire run…edge to edge.
We decided to head to the summit and Cornice Bowl was looking prime…
Mid-June snow angels? Check!
Mammoth summit sign photo? Check!
I told you it snowed…
The last wintery look until next season?…
Fresh turns down Climax…
Climax was skiing well…if you like powder in June…
The older son goes for June freshies in Cornice Bowl…
Meanwhile the 5 year old and I work on her carving on the lower mountain…
Then we worked on her hucking…
With Dad’s poles in hand, she migrated to GS training…
Time to ski for real sans kids…
First stop was over in the Dropout Chute zone…
Surprisingly a fair amount of untracked turns considering it was late in the ski day …
Chair 23 is California’s late season warrior…
I then migrated over to the Wipeout Chutes to have a look…
I’ll take a mid June slash session anytime…
With a little elbow grease and some fresh snow covered scree downclimbing, I made it into Paranoid #1 with not a track in sight…
There was just enough new snow to soften the blow of the suncups underneath…
With a closing time of 1pm, people were still getting after it at 12:30pm…
After reuniting with the older kid, we decided to do one more lap from the top of Chair 23…
By this time, the snow was getting pretty thick and tough to manage for kid on 115cm skis…
Funny enough, the groomer was still carvetastic down to the Main Lodge…
Time to say goodbye to Wooly…
And then it was back into Summer on the western traverse…
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getting after it with Moments……….awesome
kids look like they had a good time
We were at Mammoth June 12-13 also. We waited until the rain stopped and got on the about 9:30. There was no announcement of the 4-6 inches up top so that was a mostly pleasant surprise. The reality was that new snow was thick and exhausting to push around, especially the first day arriving from sea level. http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12165
The next day Monday was much better. The snow set up overnight, weather was clear but not too warm (max 50F) so the snow did not get too sticky before noon closing. http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12166