May 8th, Saturday @ 9:14 AM Hello and thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a great week.
Yesterday there was a high of 52 at Main Lodge with the base on the runs at 2-5 feet with no snow left at the sesame street snow study site. Mammoth Lakes got up into the low 60s while Bishop was in the mid 80s.
Current conditions as of this update it’s 38 at Main Lodge, 44 in Mammoth Lakes and 61 in Bishop. Up at the top of Mammoth Mountain its 31 degrees with a NE wind at 31 MPH gusting to 40 MPH.
The weather forecast calls for clear blue skies to be with us for the next 7-10 days. Highs peaked on Wednesday and have now dropped by 8-10 degrees and should stay about the same over the next few days.
The NE flow is creating even cooler conditions than forecast, looking pretty firm snow wise this morning over the higher elevations.
The expected high at Main Lodge today through Sunday will be near 52 degrees. Over night lows will drop down into the low 30s by Friday and the light nightly freezes will continue into early Tuesday morning before we lose the freeze again.
As far as winds go over the higher elevations of the ski area expect N to NE winds today turning to the SW on Sunday and well into next week. Winds speeds will be 10 to 15 mph over the lower elevations with gusts as high as 30-40 mph over the higher elevations.
For Mammoth Lakes highs will be into the upper 50s to low 60s this weekend with a moderate warm up by the middle of next week. Night time lows for the town will be in the low to mid 30s over the weekend. For those of you who will be in Bishop this weekend the afternoon highs are expected to be in the low 70’s with overnight lows in the mid 40’s.
The aspen trees from Crowley Lake to Mammoth Lakes still have no leaves while all the tress down in the Bishop and Round Valley areas have now fully greened up. The high desert shrubs at all elevations have also all greened up now.
While the plants are greening up, it’s already very dry from the last 2 dry winters we’ve had. Fire danger is already extreme and everyone needs to take caution to prevent fire here in the Eastern Sierra.
If you’re out camping please note fire restrictions will be up soon and that means no campfires and no BBQs out in the dispersed camping area
For those of you coming up to get some spring snow fun in, make plans to ski and ride early, grab some lunch and then take a second afternoon adventure. It’s a great time of year to take a walk, mountain bike, fish or maybe go for a nice scenic drive up and through the June Lake Loop and back.
Mammoth Mountain Snow Report: 5-7-2021 It’s been a fun week of spring skiing and snowboard out on Mammoth Mountain. The first part of the week was a bit warm but it’s cooled off now and the snow is getting much better.
Checking in on the snow base at the snow study site at 9000 feet we are down to 1 inch of snow. Let’s remember that this is natural snow, there is no snowmaking that took place at the snow study site, so it can go down to dirt while there is still skiing and riding down to Main Lodge.
Out on the runs I would say there is a good 2-5 feet from Main Lodge to the Top. Crew have been pushing snow around and will continue to do so to keep Mammoth open for 3 more weeks.
My bet is by the end of the season Broadway will be down to a ribbon of snow with everything else pretty much melted out that feeds into Main Lodge.
Grooming continues like normal out of Main Lodge with both Scotties and Cornice up top getting groomed nightly. All the lower runs are groomed out nightly and when it warms up they turn into a nice soft buttery surface.
Up Top Wipe Out 1 has been the winner this week with enough traffic to make the snow into a nice spring slush. By noon once you get out of the upper section it has been getting a bit slow. Some of this snow is still trying to convert back to spring from the snow we got 10 days ago.
Climax is fun, also try Sign Line for the best snow off of G2 and of course Cornice is good with some fun corn and slush.
The Unbound Parks are still fully built out and will be good to go for at least a couple more weeks if not longer.
Lift hours this week will be 7:30 to 2 PM with chairs 1, 2, 3, 6, 11 and 23 along with G1 and G2. During the mid week chairs 5 and 10 will not be open, but they look to run those lifts this Friday – Sunday.
If you’re going to be out on the hill the next few weeks you need to wax daily or your going to stick badly in the spring snow. Unless you like hard snow I would avoid the 7:30 start, for those who like it fast and firm have at it. To those who like the snow soft, a 8:30 to 9 AM start is going to be best this weekend.
FYI: if you wax up and go out early in the hard snow most that wax is going to rub off before you really need it. Early birds I would have a pair of skis or a board for early starts and then switch over to a fresh set up after 9 am with yellow wax when it’s really starting to get wet out there.