Ski Report: Mt Baldy and the Rock Ski Theorem

I spent Saturday up at Mt. Baldy skiing with my friends Christina, Dianna, Tyler and Ben. It was a typical Baldy day...sunny (until clouds rolled in around 3pm) and upper 40's. The snow cover was good by Baldy standards, although there were still plenty of rocks and trees sticking out of the snow to keep things interesting. Due to the daily freeze-thaw cycle, we spent the morning skiing the south/southeast facing terrain off of chair 4 (to the left of the base lodge when looking up). It was already nice and soft by 10AM. We moved over to Thunder Mt around noon. Most of the off-piste terrain there was still frozen. But we were surprised to find that the snow on the north facing terrain(just to skiers right of the ridge the chair lift goes up) was still soft and powdery in spots. With this knowledge in hand, we headed over to South Bowl for a couple of runs before lunch. The snow in the north facing section of the bowl (all the way to skiers left) was good but inconsistent. It would alternate from being soft powder to ice topped with death cookies. All in all, it was good skiing that challenged you to adapt to the terrain and deal with it. We took a few more runs , moving further and further to skier's right working our way towards the lift. That side had definitely received more sun and we were able to find some nice untracked soft snow left over from last week's storm.
What left me really excited about Saturday was that it provided me even more reason to believe that there is strong scientific link between using rock skis and being able to ski over rocks without getting core shots. Like the week before, I was skiing where ever and as fast I wanted to, without really caring whether or not I hit a rock. The snow cover was marginally better than the week before, but there were still plenty of rocks to be found. Most of the day I was pretty good about avoiding rocks. But on the last run from the top, I was going full speed under the Thunder Mt lift. What I failed to notice on any of the rides up the lift that day was that towards the end of the slope, there was one spot where the snow stopped and a 5 yard stretch of gravel began. Unfortunately, I didn't see it until 10 yards before the snow stopped and I was going way too fast to be able to stop in time. So I decided to go with it and ski the gravel. I did jump off the snow a little to try to keep my full weight from being on the rocks. But as I was going over, I still heard that painful sound of base material meeting granite. Even though they were rock skis, a little part of me did die at that moment. I decided to wait until I was at the bottom to look at my skis as I'm a firm believer in the saying "igorance is bliss." Amazingly enough though, when I did look at them, there was nothing but a few long (2/3 ski length) scrapes and none of them were core shots. So it appears that either Dynastar is on to something in their choice of base material or there is a scientific link preventing rock skis from getting core shots.
The other interesting part of Saturday was that it was the first time I'd ever skied with little kids(since I was one myself). Ben brought his three sons along. The rest of us skied with Ben's two oldest sons, Andy (12) and Jake(9), while Ben skied with his youngest son Danny. I was amazed how good Andy and Jake were. Perhaps they weren't quite as good as the phenom kids who make it into the Warren Miller movies. But we took them down steep terrain that in places had really crappy snow. They didn't flinch for a minute and there was never any bitching. They were awesome. Before this I had always thought that it must be tough for a parent to have to give up skiing good terrain to spend years sticking to intermediate terrain teaching their kids to ski. But Saturday made me realize that it must be a great feeling when you finally see your kids become great skiers and develop the love for the sport that you have. The only thing that sucks is that Ben has a really narrow window to enjoy skiing with his sons because within 5-10 years they'll be good enough where they won't want to wait for dad anymore.

Ski Report: Sunday at Baldy

Today was my first day this year at Mt. Baldy. Before moving to San Diego last spring, I skied there twice last year over President's Day weekend while I was out here apartment hunting. I was treated to 3 feet of powder both days. I was told that I was spoiled and will never see conditions like that again. I haven't. But ever since then, I've been waiting to go back.

So today I finally made it. I got there around 9. The groomers had already softened up a bit, but all of the off-piste stuff was rock hard. I found a couple of strategies to make the morning off-piste experience more enjoyable. First, try to ski where others haven't gone (i.e. no tracks) yet. Even if its rock hard, you just dig in your edges and it’s just like skiing an eastern groomer. Second, try to challenge yourself by seeking out the worst conditions on the mountain. I’m dead serious! What I mean by this is that you should look for the worst combination of death cookies, rocks, trees and anything else that may be sticking out of the snow. Then you attack it and see who wins. I like to think that if it doesn't kill you, it only makes you a better skier. After a few runs of that, plain death cookies are absolute joy.
On their website, Baldy is reporting a 12-30" base. Although coverage on most of the mountain was surprisingly good, there were numerous places where that 12" was looking awfully generous. In the thinner areas, it was definitely more like 2" of snow intermixed with gravel and pine needles. Unlike my trip to Snowbird in December, I actually used foresight and brought my rock skis...a pair 193 Dynastar Max Zero's. For Baldy, this was the right choice and I would never recommend bringing your good skis there unless it was a year like last year. I don't how you are, but when I'm on my good skis and I really hit a rock and hear that scraping that screams "Core Shot!!!”, a little piece of me dies. But if you're on rock skis, it doesn't matter...they're just rock skis!. Just after lunch, I took a run off the chair to the left as you're looking up from the lodge. On the way down, I got to a section where there were interconnected 3 foot wide snow-covered bushes surround by gravel. With my Atomic MeX’s (my good skis) I would have run like a baby. But on my rock skis, I charged it, picked my way down with jump turns and had a great time doing it. The other great thing about rock skis is their tie in with Murphy's Law. Murphy's Law dictates that if you have new skis, every rock you hit will give you a core shot. But with rock skis, it says that you can purposely ski down gravel without getting a core shot. Sure enough, when I looked at my bases at the end of the day, even with a very sketchy thinely covered run down to the parking lot, they had nothing but minor scrapes.

The last part of today's Baldy rant has to do with high fashion. Baldy is the only place where I, dressed in a 5 year old red Patagonia shell and plain black Marmot bibs, feel like the pinnacle of fashion. It’s an old school mountain and people like to dress the part. I love the fact that you see one-piece suits (never thought I'd ever say that!!), old Descente ski sweaters, stretch pants accompanied by jester hats (always wanted one in junior high), and a woman sporting a white unitard. You got to love it! Oh yeah, one more thing, if you need any other reason to go up there, there was a dude on a hot pink Tua Monoski!