Mammoth, Parks & Parker

     Tuesday morning was clear, sunny and windy, with gusts to 50 mph necessitating the additional layers. Parker wanted only parks since his Elan Puzzler skis have edges with the profile of a ski pole! I opted for my K2 Hardsides 188cm 98mm. Even though longer and wider than the firm snow warranted I knew I would find some wind sluff at the top off Chair 23 and would want these beasts underfoot when I did. We spent the morning lapping the Forest Trail intermediate park and then South Park for some jibbing and a nice three-jump line that Parker favored. We brought the GoPros with us and tried a few laps with the Chesty mount. Since I was not comfortable straightlining the park jumps at Parker’s speed, I made a few check turns which sways the camera and makes it hard to focus on Parker, the subject. We opted for the ski pole mount for the GoPro that was much easier to control. I could use this method without my own ski poles and also without turning. After some trial and error, some coaching from Parker, my downloads were actually pretty good, even though Parker needed to edit two or three runs into one flow. It was fun and good to spend time with Parker doing what he loves. 

     After several laps on the South Park, we headed up Chair 5 for what could only be described as a controlled ice-slide down to McCoys for lunch. The view from McCoy's up to the summit was spectacular. Accented by the backlight I noticed that the skiers in the Cornice Bowl off Chair 23 were producing some snowy spray with each turn, much more so than loose granular. Parker and I parted ways and I headed up to check it out. There was a 30-foot wide band of windblown sluff that had accumulated three inches deep on the skier’s right of the bowl. A few skiers had figured this out, but most were struggling with the steep, or missing the band in the flat light and not fully taking advantage of this bonus. I made three laps to hit this line again. The Hardsides were the perfect tool for the trade. By 3:45 my legs had had enough. I headed down to the Thunder Bound Express and arrived at the top terminal just as Parker was getting off the lift with some newfound park buddies. By now the video cameras were put away and we made a few laps on this lift, catching last chair at 4:00 pm. I lapped Broadway and Ralphies cruisers while Parker lapped the adjacent Main Park a few more times. He was enjoying his buddies and I was enjoying the last few high-speed bombers of the day on the Hardsides. 

     After the bullwheels slowed to a stop, we met up with John Urdi and Matt Gebo at the Yodeler at the base of the lifts, right next to the Inn. A few cold ‘root beers,’ an appetizer, and then to the room for an early night as Parker edited the day’s adventures.