Mammoth Mountain Photo Shot Tour 2-2-2012

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http://mammothsnowman.com/imagegalleries/01-31-2012/

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Right now we are calling the base at 8000 feet 2 feet with up to 4-5+ feet of packed out base up on the top of Mammoth Mountain.  That means it is still low tide around most of the hill and you just need to use some caution.  Once you get a feel of what is covered and safe to ride you can relax and rip it up all day long.

Mammoth Mountain Today Online – Fresh Video from Mammoth

Main Lodge 

This area has great coverage with a 3-4+ foot base of groomed out packed powder.  The snow has set up nicely and the am groomers are great.  As the day warms up Gravy Chute and Baby Gravy are soft enough to carve some worthy turns in. Watch for rocks at the top of the chute and the wall. 

The Top

Coverage is decent, but in spots like Climax you need to choose your turns carefully.  At the top of Climax they have a gate that allows you one entrance in.  It is a bit ice the first ten feet.  This is a result of last year snow pack still in the ground at 11,000 feet.  Be careful and this is not a problem.

The snow up top has gotten packed out nicely by skiers, riders and the wind.  As the days warms there is some nice soft packed powder around.  Try the Drop Outs for some fun.. you can avoid the rocks up high by traversing in from upper Cornice Bowl.

Canyon and Eagle Area

A base of about 2 feet is what you will find at these lodges.  The snow took a hit from the warm temperatures and turned spring like on Wednesday.  So your going to find some firm snow over there early in the morning.  Your best bet is to ride up 15 and then 16 and at that point head to chairs 5 or 2 for the best snow in the AM’s.

Chair 9 Area

We had some great fun early in the week over in the great east bowl.  At this point this area needs more snow for sure.  The groomers are fun, but I would avoid Gold Hill at this point.  Lot’s of little trees are sticking out and they will grab your skis or board if your not careful. If you like adventure use the little trees as a slalom course.

Best route for chair 9 riders is to take the ridge run over to Solitude and then hit up one of the lower groomer runs back to chair 9.  The snow near the bottom of 9 is very firm early in the am so be prepared for it.   The best news is this area will ski and ride great when the next series of storms hit.

Image

We got a few sample photos using some new gear the other day.  You can see those images here.  Image Gallery 1-26-2012

The Unbound Parks at Main are going off right now. Check out this video for the details.

About the Author: The Snowman has been posting blog reports about Mammoth Mountain since the summer of 1990. Snowman started out on the old Mammoth BBS system and used a 56k dial up connection to log on.

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Many of our web site users have helped us out over the years with donations.

All that money has gone into hosting fees, and photo shot and video gear.

Right now you can still make a donation to the site, but for each dollar you give, you can chose to receive a sticker in return.

Each sticker costs us .42 cents plus postage and a envelope to send to you. So about .50 cents per unit.

I have 200 of these stickers sitting here ready to ship out today.

$10 – 10 Stickers + 3.00 Ship & Handling = $13.00

$20 – 20 Stickers + 3.00 Ship & Handling = $13.00

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From Mammoth Lakes Tourism – Thursday, January 5, 2012

Good morning,

The total projected average resort occupancy* is as follows:

Friday, January 6, 2012 – Saturday, January 7, 2012 = 38%
(65% same weekend in 2011, down in 2012)

Sunday, Janurary 8, 2012 – Thursday, January 12, 2012 = 21%
(35% same midweek in 2011, down in 2012)

So far for MLK weekend Friday, Jan. 13- Sunday, Jan. 15 = 40%

Hotels/Motels/B&B:29% (Fri-Sat) 15% (Sun-Thurs)
Condos:46% (Fri-Sat) / 26% (Sun-Thurs)

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The company has completed its most successful Christmas and New Year holiday period in my 34 years on the mountain. Never in our history have we hosted so many guests with so little natural snow and produced such a high quality experience on and off the mountain.

I had the opportunity to talk to scores of guests over the last 2 weeks. They were universally effusive about how much fun they were having and couldn’t believe that Mammoth had top to bottom skiing, the Unbound pipe and parks were going off, June was open, Woolly’s Adventure Summit had snow for the tubers, and that we even had cross country skiing up to Minaret Summit. They were wowed by the fireworks at Night of Lights and on New Year’s Eve, and had a blast at the concerts and DJ events. The Village rocked and they loved that we opened a day care and brought Sushi Rei back.

Many of our guests came to Mammoth from Northern California for the first time because the Tahoe resorts’ lower elevation and limited snowmaking capabilities only allowed the operation of a small fraction of the terrain and services Mammoth provided. A significant number chose Mammoth over their usual winter vacation spots in Colorado and Utah. You all worked very hard and performed wonderfully. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of our guests and a grateful community, thank you very, very much.

But now, the crowds are returning home, the temperatures are warming and the weather is forecast to provide more sun than snow in the days to come. I know that all of you are wondering how the company intends to deal with the less than optimistic outlook going forward.

Here is what I know:

So far, this winter is the driest on record since the 1800s. I’ve talked to the heads of major resorts in California, Utah and Colorado. Each of them are cutting back on lifts, terrain and staffing to save money. Many think that the winter of 2011-12 will never really get started and the weeks and months to come will just bring more of the same.

Here is what I believe:

We operate the best mountain in the country and we run it better than our friends at other resorts run theirs. Skiers want to ski and boarders want to ride. This yearning and the demand it produces doesn’t go away just because Mother Nature isn’t cooperative. Mammoth is the skier and rider’s mountain. When it snows, they will come. In my 34 years on the mountain, I’ve seen several severe drought years with little or no snow in October, November or December. It snowed by mid January in each of those years.

Here is what we are going to do:

We are going to do the opposite of what other resorts are doing. We are not going to cut services or service to save money. We are going to keep everything open – Eagle, Canyon, the Village, all the current lifts and all the terrain possible. If temperatures allow snowmaking, we will add more runs and lifts as soon as we can, even if it’s during the middle of the week when crowds are light. We are going to keep our seasonal employees and year-round employees. If hours of work get too thin for some, we will feed each of them every night to make it possible for them to stay in town. We will continue to operate all our shops and restaurants everyday on the regular winter schedule. Our rental shops will be renting all categories of skis and boards including demos, everyday.

We are going to do just what we did over the holiday. We are going to give our guests way more than they expect, and way more than our competition. We will do it the Mammoth Way with big smiles, a positive vibe and the informal, authentically sincere service we are famous for. Our guests will love us for it and they will come back.

If any of you are unclear on what I mean or what we are doing, call me at 760.934.0731or visit me in my office so that I can set you straight. I don’t want anyone to underestimate the company’s commitment to the quality of our guest’s experience or misunderstand their individual role in delivering it.

I wish each of you, your family and friends a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Rusty

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