Late January at Mammoth

User Demographics
Age: 
33
Gender: 
Male
Ability: 
Advanced
Trip Specifics
Resort: 
Mammoth
Start Date: 
27 Jan 2009
Duration in days: 
2
Hours: 
Day
Equipment: 
Snowboard
Overall rating: 
8
Primary snow surface: 
Packed powder
Secondary snow surfaces: 
Powder
Secondary snow surfaces: 
Hardpack
Secondary snow surfaces: 
Groomed
I loved: 
Gondola runs and everything up top
I hated: 
none
Lift/trails closed: 
nada
Liftline waits: 
zip
Quality of moguls: 
mid sized bumps that were still fairly soft
Jumps/Rails: 
not my scene

Great conditions this week on tues 27th/wed 28th following last week/end's storm (I think ~50" storm total). All runs and lifts were open, except for some wind delays on the upper gondola on the first morning. Chair 23 ran all day both days. All advanced terrain from Chair 9 thru the backside was open, with variable mid-winter conditions. Overall coverage was excellent, though I've seen it better. There are a few large rocks at the top of Climax, near the main drop. Some areas up top were a bit wind blown. Other depressions up top caught nice wind-packed powder that was uneven, but forgiving and great riding for advanced individuals that like steep terrain. We continued to find sweet pockets of soft powder in the bowls through the 2nd afternoon, but had to do some work to get out to those places. We rode many trees from mid-mountain thru the bottom, and agreed the coverage was great. I suffered only a couple minor dings in my base, despite 2 days of hard riding. Overall, a great time to be on a big mountain.