Date: 02/01/97
Days: 3
Resort: Mammoth Mtn.
Hours: Day
Equipment: Alpine
Rating: 10
Primary-Surface: Packed powder
Secondary-Surfaces: Crusty, Powder
Gender: Male
Age: 44
Ability: Expert
Loved: Perfect snow on top, mild weather, light crowds
Hated: Nothing: Mammoth at its finest
Closed: None
Liftline-Waits: 10 min on 3 & 5 on weekend, skied 90K vert in 3 days
Moguls: Not that many, only a few days of full op since big storms

Outstanding snow conditions. Top runs had perfect wind-blown and wind packed powder all the down to St. Anton. We skied 26 runs up there over the 3 days. Hangman's and Wipe Out 2 have crown fracture lines, requiring about a 3 foot jump part way down. Saturday and Monday were partly cloudy with wind 10-20 on top. Sunday was perfectly clear with almost no wind. The only crusty or spring conditions were on the south facing areas of Chairs 9 and 25. Crowds were light for a weekend. The usual lift lines on 3 did not appear until 10AM Saturday even though the entire face of 3 had been groomed for awesome high speed cruising. Some lower areas (the only lower lifts we skied Sat. were 1 & 2 due to the superlative upper mtn. snow) might have been busy, as midstation lunch was crowded. Sunday had even fewer people despite the perfect weather and Monday was naturally empty. The base is very high, as Gravy Chute had to be plowed to avoid obstructing Chair 1. They should make July 4 again unless February and March are unusually dry.