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Published: June 13th 2009
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Supervisors
These are the Patrol Supervisors at Mammoth. On the anniversary of the fumorole incident we met at the top before the mountain opened, took pictures and took a personal moment of silence. Spring 2009!
It was a great season on Mammoth Mountain; my best ever. We ended with 477 inches of snow!!! I had my first chest deep day and accomplished a lot in my skiing. To end the season, we explored around Mammoth, skiing Hollywood Bowl and Rock Chute, and going to the Reds Meadow Hot Springs.
My roommate, Andrew and I took a trip up north with a plan to summit the two volcanoes; Mt. Shasta and Mt. Hood. We were unable to summit either mountain, but we returned with great experiences and all of our appendages intact.
Mt. Shasta was our first stop on the trip. We rented crampons and ice axes from a climbing shop in town and got advise from the employees on where to begin our summit attempt. We were advised to take the main route, Avalanche Gulch, which was the only trailhead that you could drive to, all the others were 3-9 mile hikes just to get to the beginning of the trail. The clerk also informed us that there is a Sierra Club cabin 2 miles from the Trailhead. We decided to spend the night in the cabin in order to be
Memorial
This is the memorial for; Walter Rosenthal, Scott McAndrews and James Juarez. Whom, on April 6, 2006, succumbed to C02 gases after falling into a snow cave created by a volcanic gas vent. two miles closer to our goal. Leaving at 6pm, we made it to the cabin fairly quickly despite taking the wrong trail and overshooting it by a few hundred yards. We slept on the benches inside and began our ascent at 2am. We covered ground quickly due to the hard snow and broad slope. We arrived at the highest skiable point around 9am, just in time to watch a wall of clouds cover the summit, preventing us from seeing our goal. We tried to wait it out, but the clouds were not releasing their hold of the summit. So, we later descended before we got wet. The first 1,000 vertical feet was icy-survival skiing and the other 5,000ft. was sweet sweet corn! It was a tough climb, but very rewarding; even without the true summit.
On Mt. Hood, we began our skin to find a four-inch thick layer of ice covering the entire mountain, so instead of summitting we watched Matthias Giraud Ski B.A.S.E. jump the 400ft. tall Mississippi Head. It was amazing!! We were hanging out with the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol at the Top Station and they had mentioned that someone was supposed to B.A.S.E. jump off
Reds Meadow
A few of us skied off the backside of Mammoth and went to the Reds Meadow Hot Spring. The spot was empty it was HOT. Nice day. an out-of-bounds cliff later that day, when a guy covered from head-to-toe in bright neon green with brand new everything. I immediately knew it was him and when he skied up I asked, "Are you the one Ski Basing today?" he said "Yep, that's me!" with a huge smile on his face. I then asked if we could tag along to watch, he said of course and then dropped a case of Red Bull at the Patrol Shack. We followed him on a traverse to the west of the ski area and at one point he told us that this would be the best spot to watch. We said our good byes and threw fist pumps in the air and then waited. Matthias got in position a few hundred feet above the massive cliff and then we heard a helicopter in the distance. It came up quickly and we could see that it was a Red Bull Helicopter. It did one circle around the area and then Matthias took off. With just a few turns and then he straight-lined the rest. He flew off the cliff with a lot of speed and did a front flip. As he came around
Skin out of Reds
It was so hot that we just stayed in our swim suits on the way out. he pulled the 'chute and the cords got a little hung up on his arm for a second and then it opened. Whew! Scary!
It was the craziest thing I had ever seen. Throwing dynamite and being caught in avalanches didn't even compare.
After that spectacle, we skied the late-spring mush on mountain for the rest of the day. That evening we were returning our crampons and ice-axes at the shop and we started to tell the story. The workers were all, "oh yeah, that's Matthias he's our Eider Rep". And then before we could finish the story, in comes Matthias to drop off some Eider gear at the store. I went up to him and gave him a firm hand shake and said, "Man that was the craziest thing I've ever seen! You have balls the size of a Semi-Truck!" He modestly said, "Oh yeah that was fun, but when it was over I called my girlfriend on my friends phone and she freaked out on me. She thought it was my friend calling to give bad news." Then I asked him about the 'chute getting caught on his arm and he said, "Yeah that was a
Hollywood Bowl
Off the Mammoth Crest there is a dominant couloir in the middle that I wanted to ski since I first saw it. little scary, if it would have stuck for five more seconds it could have been really bad Ha Ha Ha" He had a huge smile the whole time we were talking and you could just tell he loved Ski Basing so much any outcome was worth it.
After Mt. Hood, Andrew and I split ways and I met up with Jeremy Gatzmiller for for a Dead show at Columbia River Gorge. Then, flew back to Colorado to visit my parents, my brother and some friends. It was good to get home before I began working again. Matt and I were able to squeeze in four backcountry ski days during my trip. Mt. Toll, Mt. Kelso, Sh!t for Brains Coulour and Dave's Wave.
I just returned from my first 8 day trip working for the California Department of Fish and Game, Surveying the High Mountain Lakes of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range for the California Mountain Yellow Legged Frog.
Hope everyone is enjoying Spring. Time to get out of the boots and into sandals!!!
PHIL
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