Photos and Words: Jamie Walter
The winter of 2015-16 will be one I quickly forget. While the west coast enjoyed the benefits of El Nino (I'm happy for you guys, I really am), we saw more rain storms than snow storms out east, along with dismally thin base depths. There wasn't much to be stoked on, especially after such an amazing season the year before; productivity was low, and morale even lower. Many of my east coast peers decided to ditch their skis for their summer pastimes weeks ago, but I didn't want to write this season off as a loss quite yet. I wanted to end the season on a high note.
I wanted to have the best damn spring skiing trip ever.
And so, less than 48 hours after I wrapped up my job in Maine last Friday, I was on a plane from Boston to Salt Lake City to meet up with Evan Heath. He and I will spend the next three weeks on the road together, covering over 1250 miles from Park City, UT to Mammoth, CA to Mount Hood, OR. These meccas of spring skiing host some of the rowdiest and best events of the year, and you can bet we'll be there to document what goes down. More on those shenanigans as they come.
For the first leg of our trip, Evan and I were joined by Vincent Gagnier, the 22-year-old Québécois legend who can grab his skis in ways you didn't know were possible. The trio of us loaded Evan's Tacoma up to the gills on Monday morning, grabbed an unhealthy amount of McDonald's breakfast food in Park City, and set off on a nine hour drive across the deserts of Nevada. The drive was less than eventful; grey skies and rain showers pestered us nearly the whole way, while the few towns we passed through did little to capture our hearts. We eventually coasted into town and settled into an Air B&B that will be our home base for the next week.
After Mr. Bishop's late arrival Monday evening, we woke up to a quintessential spring day on Tuesday; bluebird skies, temps in the 40's, and perfect corn snow from top to bottom. For my first time to Mammoth, it was about as good as it gets. We quickly shuffled up to the mountain and took a nice gondola lap to the summit.
The winter of 2015-16 will be one I quickly forget. While the west coast enjoyed the benefits of El Nino (I'm happy for you guys, I really am), we saw more rain storms than snow storms out east, along with dismally thin base depths. There wasn't much to be stoked on, especially after such an amazing season the year before; productivity was low, and morale even lower. Many of my east coast peers decided to ditch their skis for their summer pastimes weeks ago, but I didn't want to write this season off as a loss quite yet. I wanted to end the season on a high note.
I wanted to have the best damn spring skiing trip ever.
And so, less than 48 hours after I wrapped up my job in Maine last Friday, I was on a plane from Boston to Salt Lake City to meet up with Evan Heath. He and I will spend the next three weeks on the road together, covering over 1250 miles from Park City, UT to Mammoth, CA to Mount Hood, OR. These meccas of spring skiing host some of the rowdiest and best events of the year, and you can bet we'll be there to document what goes down. More on those shenanigans as they come.
For the first leg of our trip, Evan and I were joined by Vincent Gagnier, the 22-year-old Québécois legend who can grab his skis in ways you didn't know were possible. The trio of us loaded Evan's Tacoma up to the gills on Monday morning, grabbed an unhealthy amount of McDonald's breakfast food in Park City, and set off on a nine hour drive across the deserts of Nevada. The drive was less than eventful; grey skies and rain showers pestered us nearly the whole way, while the few towns we passed through did little to capture our hearts. We eventually coasted into town and settled into an Air B&B that will be our home base for the next week.
After Mr. Bishop's late arrival Monday evening, we woke up to a quintessential spring day on Tuesday; bluebird skies, temps in the 40's, and perfect corn snow from top to bottom. For my first time to Mammoth, it was about as good as it gets. We quickly shuffled up to the mountain and took a nice gondola lap to the summit.
