December 21, 2006
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Beginning of the snowboarding season
I was a little worried with the late season this year but I am so glad I went to Mammoth this last weekend. It was snowing most of Saturday and there was a foot of fresh powder off the top of Cornice…one of the best conditions I’ve seen it ever…luckily we got there before it got alltracked up. After 4 years of step-in bindings, I’ve finally decided to switch over to straps…I’ll get better control plus I end up always waiting for my friends to strap in anyways. Not to mention I thrashed my current boots and bindings (a strap broke and one of the screws came off) so it’s a good excuse to get new gear. It was also a cheap weekend ($40/person with 12 people in the condo). After spending some much needed time in the Jacuzzi, we had a pasta dinner, drank numerous quantities of alcohol, and played taboo.
It was the first time I drove up Saturday morning and surprisingly I wasn’t that tired. I actually got more sleep than if I had driven up late Friday night and there was no traffic. Bought these new chains for my car that work great…they have a diamond pattern so you get better traction plus it attaches at 2 points so you don’t have to move the car to take them off and on and they’re self-tightening. I’m also planning on going back to Mammoth this Friday so I’ll be up there for 10 days from 12/22/06 to 1/1/07 so let me know if you’ll be up there during those times and maybe we can meet up. I plan on bringing my snowshoes and doing some backcountry snowboarding too either to the Sherwins and/or White Mountain. I want to get more practice riding fakie. Right now I can connect a few turns but I want to get a lot better. Hopefully I’ll have some videos to post up next time of me doing some jumps. By the end of this season, I want to be able to do 180s off the jumps. Thank god I have the Mammoth MVP season pass. For only $450 it is the best deal ever seeing as how the price for a day lift ticket rose to $78 this year. For dinner we stopped at Amigo’s in Bishop for some good Mexican food.
I ended upbuying a 7mm wetsuit that was on sale for only $150 at Sports Chalet so I’m all set to go diving now. Anyone up for going to Belize next year to get their advanced scuba certification?
Took the bf out for a belated birthday dinner at Sasabune in Brentwood. We ordered the omakase (chef’s menu). The sushi was so fresh! They don’t open on the weekends because the fish markets are closed on the weekends and they only buy the freshest fish. They also don’t serve california or spicy tuna rolls. The rice is served warm (according to old Japanese custom) so it tends to fall apart more and the wasabi is creamier than normal because it is freshly grated. The chef is also particular about telling you which sushi not to eat with soy sauce. For 2 people the bill came out to only $140 including a bottle of sake and we were both full. We had albacore sashimi, toro, tuna, blue crab handroll, yellowtail, mackarel, butterfish, salmon skin handroll, some other stuff I can’t remember, and mexican cactus sorbet. This is definitely in my top 3 sushi places in LA.
Also had dinner with a friend at Bite in Venice. I tried the robata-yaki with quail eggs wrapped in bacon which I liked but the aligator was a little too crispy for my taste. Their Chilean wine was good too. Afterwards in the parking lot by the beach we saw a shooting star.
*PP*
Comments (19)
ooo, belize, sounds like fun, i’d go for the spearfishing alone, heh.
Wow so there was good snow up there this past weekend huh? Is there anything you won’t try?
Sounds sweet. Check out mammoth mountaineering for renting gear for backcountry riding. They even rent splitboards. It is way easier than snowshoes. Mammoth mountaineering is also good for checking out information about backcountry conditions. Keep in mind they’re much less risk averse than the rest of us if you get avy information from them. If the avalanche conditions near Mammoth are out of control, check out the mountains in the Buttermilks: table mountain, etc.
Definitely jealous of the conditions. Sounds much better than riding the closed runs at Baldy. I couldn’t go for the weekend — had a friend visiting from France.
w00t! yeah, riding untracked pow was awesome… a little tiring on the back foot though.
hmm…backcountry snowboarding? i don’t think there’s enough snow yet…
If you’re going to the Sherwins watch out for the dirt and rocks. I’ll be Mammoth from 22th – 26th. Hopefully we’ll get some more snow up there.
brrrrrrrr…so cold…
dood, that’s one of the things we did in our instructor clinics, was to ride switch (fakie). Did it for about an hour and a half. Freakin’ great, I had so much fun, but damn, that fear of hauling ass down a hill backwards (I ride with my bindings at Positive 30 and Positive 15) gave me such an adrenaline rush (and reminded me what my students must be going through). We even skated and chairlifted switch. Nearly died there.
Well, be carefull out in the backcountry. Make sure to bring a good transciever!
hey chickadee…. i might be in Belize next year… doing the earthwatch for a fellowship through my work… call me and i will let you know what 2 weeks i will be there if I am given that location… i am also picking thailand, australia and a couple places in europe…. =)
oh btw… i’ll see you up in mammoth next week… =)
Woah, someone’s living life to the fullest!! GO GO GO!!!
wow, you went up to mammoth for a weekend and you’re going up again this weekend for 10 days?
with all this practice, you’ll probably become a pro and we’ll see you on TV
Mammoth no matter will always be better than Bear. I’m a total snow snob and used to only ride Mammoth… shoot I grew up there before the whole boarding craze and never once stepped foot on local mtns and this was snow snob at age 12. ha ha. These days I can’t complain – where else can I drive 1 hr, be in the mtn riding where gearing up and lugging equip isn’t a drag … no major crowds to deal with , be done by 1pm, drink and be home, in bed and toasty by 5pm
.. nothing like local mtns.
We only rode half day so I didn’t want to venture too far or high since it was more quantity of runs for me . I like the hidden runs and back trails too. WIsh I had more time. Hey it was 12hr turn around so its’ all good.
Later this year …. June Mtn. Much better than Mammoth. We should meet up
belize?! how much would a trip like that cost?! me, me, me, count me in…
I heard Mammoth has some great deals! If only I could board…I would go!
rather gutsy wind these couple of days… hope you guys didn’t get snowed-in -_-
glad mammoth turned out to be good for u
it was great to meet up with your group at mammoth. you didn’t miss much on sunday, the snow was much nicer on saturday.