I hit June Mt. on the way home after skiing Alpine Meadows, Kirkwood and Mt.
Rose the previous 3 days. Sunday I skied 8 runs in the Mt. Rose Chutes in 6-8
inches new over a previous unconsolidated storm earlier last week. Therefore
my legs were totally dead today (Monday 2/21).
We left the Carson Valley a little before 7AM and arrived at June Mt. about
9:15. Observing the weather as I drove over snowy and foggy Conway Summit, I
surmised that Mammoth would be a poor call with holiday traffic and the upper
mountain almost certainly closed. It snowed all day at June, very hard after
lunch, and it had snowed about 2 feet over the previous 3 days.
June is not that busy even on holidays, so there was powder everywhere. Much
of June is pretty flat, so as at Northstar in the big dump 6 weeks ago you
need to watch your step or you will get stuck. Due to my dead legs I contented
myself with low angle runs most of the time. But I still couldn't resist a
couple of the steeper shots at the top of June. And I skied 3 runs on June's
rarely open Face. The snow was heavier down there, but it's steep and gravity
makes it work, especially on fat skis.
We left at 2:30 to drive back to L.A. Despite the storm the snow was not
sticking to the road between June and Sherwin Grade. The surprise was the
torrential rain in the desert between Lone Pine and Mojave. A few miles above
Mojave there was an accident that took 35 minutes to clear, and then a 5 mile
detour around a flooded section of road.
I arrived home at 9PM, after 1100 miles of driving in 4 days, 81K vertical,
19K of it powder, and too tired to contemplate the 4-6 feet of snow that fell
on Mt. Baldy while I was at Tahoe. But I'll be ready to check that out this
weekend.