Sky Meadow

I toured up in the Mammoth Lakes Basin today hoping to find some decent tree skiing and enjoy some seldom seen winter weather.

From the trailhead the snow is very thin. The Tamarack folks have been moving snow and grooming, but it's barely hanging in there. Lots of ice too.

Along the northeast side of Lake Mary the road is bare for a hundred yards or so. 

But between Lake Mary Store and the top of Coldwater the snowpack increases significantly with surprisingly good coverage in the trees.

Above Sky Meadow the trees were rimed and the cloud deck was low. Great winter scenery we haven't seen enough of this year.

The thin crusts at and below treeline have faceted out pretty well but the thicker crusts in the open terrain persist. Skiing the glades in the forest was real good on the sugar snow!

Hopefully we'll get a little more winter here soon!  

San Joaquin Knob

I was pretty impressed with the snow coverage up on San Joaquin Ridge during my last tour so I got out the maps and looked for something interesting out there to explore. Noticed a knob just off the ridge with a little northeast facing bowl and figured I should go check it out. Explore!

I parked about half way between Main Lodge and Chair 2 and headed straight north. After passing the sewage ponds (frozen but still stinky) and some funky micro terrain I emerged into open flats.

Glad I had my phone with the Earthmate app or I might have wandered off course in the forest. As it was I took a fairly direct line to the top of the knob. Looking back to the ski hill.

and north out to not so White Wing (right).

Ever pleasant views of the Minarets.

The bowl was holding real nice sugar snow over a solid base.

Took a couple of short, fun runs in there before heading back.

Cool zone with a remote feel. Good skiing too!

San Joaquin Ridge

I figured it would be good to get up in the hills, breath some mountain air, and get the legs and feet used to ski touring. Started at the ski area and headed up to the Minaret Vista and beyond.

 Looking back at the local ski hill. Heard the wind buff was exceptional.

Coverage was solid and the steady, cool winds were keeping the snow wintery except in the sheltered south facing zones.

I got in some fun low angle turns on this snow.

Pretty sweet views too.

Fun little outing.