May 11th-13th, 2007

PLACES WITH SNOW TO SCHUSS DOWN:

Mammoth Mountain, Tioga Pass recon shoot, Sonora Pass (Mt. Leavitt, etc) and the infamously, always permanently, seriously, and humorously closed Kirkwood Cirque.

FRIENDS OF GRAVITY:

666, Zippy, Sierra Cement, Bcrider, Slim, and Hairy (who appeared out of the sulfur pits of Mammoth)

WEATHER:

How does bluebird, 50 F, no wind, and corn snow without suncups sound?

****CAUTION****

If above sounds horrible, click back on your browser of choice now!

SYNOPSIS:

Arrive to South Lake from SF at 12:45 am on Friday morning, day-trip-it’ from SLT to Mammy, Sonora, and KW Cirque respectively the following days, ski, and basically, buy a ton of gasoline….high octane of course.

Mammoth total snowfall = 231”
Kirkwood total snowfall = ~ 385”
Sonora Pass total snowfall = let’s say ~300”

MUSIC: Well….S L A Y E R

Slayer – “Angel of Death”

DAY ONE: MAMMOTH, CA (an area where one accesses the terrain via lifts)

The objective was to burn the rust of my shredded Gotamas via the groomed run system, and then bend some edges skiing over to the Paranoids, etc in order to punish some wide open corned bowls & chutes.

….but something strange happened. As I rode a lift, alone of course, a gothic yet animalistic creature appeared on a pair of Blizzards. It was then that I was in the presence of Hairy, the mythical being from the Eastern Sierra. Many have read about him, few actually seen him in first-person….ladies and gentlemen….he is real.

Ooooooh, Ahhhhhh. The Sawtooths and Beef (its what’s for lunch) as viewed from Bridgeport….

Another rare summer viewing of a winter creature…..yes, a snowcat:

The park was in a medium showing. Couple rails, few medium tables, one large table, and a pretty pathetic, although lengthly, pipe for Mammoth’s standards.

The upper mountain is accessed via the Gondola…

Sad year for Da Noids, but worth the hike for the epic corn steeze…

Stump Alley was nothing short of amazing…probably due to the fact that only about 40 people were at Mammoth on Friday. That’s right folks….let em’ run!

What’s the word? Ah yes, obligatory.

As one looks to the South….he finds snow and mountains.

This guy popped out of nowhere. I told him I wanted gnar. He smiled and then I followed….

Chair 23 goodnessssssssssssssssssss….

Smooth snow, and some obstacles…

Just what the doctor ordered…

As prescribed by Dr. Hairy.

…..and yes….Hairy in motion….on skis.

Over to the Paranoids to access Phillipes…little tricky.

Don’t plan on skiing form the top, I got the middle finger form my Gotamas…

But well worth it if you ask me….

Hairy got some vid-caps on the epic descent…

Warning though, little air towards the end….I suggest allowing time to thaw.

Aggressive FUN skiing!

Did I mention that we saw few if any of the human race after 1pm…?

Mammoth…all to ourselves. Can be yours until Memorial Day.

….and Hairy approved.

Figured I’d help the Tioga Massive by taking some recon shots…not looking worth it if you ask me…but who am I but a Tioga jong.

Lots of vertical, little snow…

DAY TWO: SONORA PASS, HWY 108, EASTERN SIERRA, CALIFORNIA

Four people, 5 cameras….not a small task even for a veteran TR geek.

2 weeks earlier…we did this:

http://www.slaythegnar.com/2007/04/sleepless-at-sonora-pass-mt-leavitt-ca-042707/

*Video – HD Video by bcrider (includes various shots from both outings)

After a sleepover eating candy and playing Mega-Man 2 on NES with Bcrider, we departed to Sonora at 5:15 am…

Of course, with the proper driving materials…

Time, 7:51 am – Sierra Cement contemplates on how skins actually work…

Zippy on the other hand got his off an 18 Wheeler…

And the Mid-May playground after a shitty season comes into view…

666 does his favorite 80’s dance up the Mars landscape known as Sonora…

No-Name peak…you know, if you want to do laps up and down to your SUV.

The boys start to bond rather quickly…

Zippy scratches some early morning Bluetooth…

Sierra Cement is anti-switchback when skinning…I hate him.

That’s how he was able to get this pic of us ‘normal folk’…

Bcrider scopes a line we didn’t see two weeks ago…

Zippy scouts the “Y”…

Here is a view of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of California…

We decide on the Paris Hilton sized chute…

Sierra Cement paves away…

Zippy links some turns while listening to Hot Chip….

Splitboard dot what?

CA Chutin’…..

Zippy, again, in the Moment…on skis.

Schusssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, Schusssssssssssssssssssssssssssss……

666 down the crux…

Bcrider takes shooting chuting way too seriously….

666 down the gut…of Ms. Hilton

And Zippy zips down the fan….

666 goes to Kansas…

Mr. Electro at 150 bpm….

He switched tracks during this turn….amazing.

The knuckle dragger is on deck….

Ok, I’ll admit it, it sort of looks cool….

666 – up to evil things…

Mr. Cement prefers cement that is not quick drying….

Mr. AD-HD…

Zippy heads to lunch….

…quad-shot express

Nap time for Zippy’s longest tour to date…

666 dreams about taking off his boots…

Off to Dead Man’s Chute…

Ummmm…..getting a little steep guys.

There’s always one in the group…

666 was tired…he told me so.

Who is the dork? He’s not with us is he?

All digital music here….sadly, no cassette walkmen.

What would a couloir TR be without a tip-shot…?

666 gets first tracks since IT WAS HIS IDEA TO HIKE THIS THING!!!

Of course, he made selfish big turns…

Goth shot…

You are so not hardcore without hard boots?

Zippy remixes that boarder’s line….

And hits #7 on the underground off-piste skiing chart…

Dad takes a turn…..

Rad move dude…

Zippy, only releases on vinyl…

Bcsnowrider….ridin’…having a fun time.

CementMan pops some corn….

Yeah dude….now throw a sick method

Zippy spins his tracks in reverse…AT style…

The line of choice…well I chose it, but I’m not going to brag or anything.

Uberdork….on his way to the highway

Leaving his mark for the tourists that think they are on their way to Yosemite…

Poor little guy….he’s pooped.

The bottom face has been SLAYED…

So pretty pretty….

These jerks wouldn’t give us lift back to our cars….people these days.

Nice view of that line I picked out for everyone…too bad it sucked.

In the metropolis of Walker, they have this….

…where you can hand pick from these:

DAY THREE:

Lets stay close to home this time, have normal wake-up hours, and hit Starbucks on the way, shall we? Well then, lets go ski the Cirque at Kirkwood. ITS SO EXTREME THAT ONE CANNOT SKI IT LEGALLY DURING THE SKI SEASON!!!!!

E X T R E M E !

I guess they could still be open…but that would mean using electricity, so forget it.

The forbidden line is the only one that actually ‘goes’….

Slim crosses a chairlift graveyard…

…and soon reaches north-facing Bluetooth during the skin

Captain Xmas reaches the summit with Caples Lake in the background…

666 drops into Carnells…

The snow was so K-factor….

Sub 400 inch years are so hot right now…

Santa sheds the xmas gear….

G N A R ?

Slim stepped it up here….blind straightlines are never relaxing

666 finds heavenly smoothness in mid-Carnells…

….looks terribly carveable

Slim on the same line….

666 pulls a Schmidt…

Then gets hella volcanic….

Slim gets his steep on….WHY IS THIS CLOSED?????????

…and then traverses into an open gem

Aggressive Alpine Skiing? You be the judge.

Looks like someone has been practicing his carves….

Slim says farewell to Kirkwood and rides Thunder Saddle to the car

Of course 666 has the best T-shirt for the Cirque descent….

….Mid-May 07’ Stoke Nerdblog transmission over