2015-2016 Mammoth/Baldy/Big Bear/SoCal: Let's Start the Show!

**hutash** · 02-17-2016, 09:46 PM

That was before the present storm. 23 was good, 14 was narginal.

**Dexter Rutecki** · 02-18-2016, 12:37 PM

So...Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday--Mammoth? Anyone? Ready to schralp the gnar and/or gape it up as conditions dictate...

Big thanks to Hutash, BTW...

**Eastern Sierra Skier** · 02-19-2016, 01:39 PM

Yesterday's hurricane winds in the afternoon made for some sweet wind buff up top this morning. Dave's, the hump, and under hangers are sweet! West wind over the top looks to keep things fresh. Will try to post some pics later.

**Deep Days** · 02-19-2016, 06:15 PM

Rad. Girlfriend and I are about to get on the road, so should be in at a reasonable hour and on pace to get on the hill pretty early tomorrow. Hoping temps are still amenable for some nice wintry snow early in the morning. I might even try to chair 9 for first time tomorrow! As above, carte blanche for Sunday, so holler if you're up there. Hoping to find some stuff on climax to jump off of, albeit smaller if possible.

**Eastern Sierra Skier** · 02-20-2016, 02:24 AM

Here are some iphone photos of the top today as promised. The pics don't do it justice of how good it was today.
Dropout from 23. Top left of pic shows how the wind was funneling snow into hangmans all day.

**Deep Days** · 02-21-2016, 10:36 AM

On the redline now. Going to make circuit from monument or even maybe the paranoids to drop outs or wipeouts to maybe cornice, climax, Dave's. Then over to 22 and Canyon ( snow was outstanding there yesterday) and work my way over to chair nine. Prob will be about cooked after that!

Holler if you wanna ski. Three oh 3- seven 48 - 43 three seven

**Vets** · 02-21-2016, 10:48 PM

Dragon's Back today (02/21/16)

**Dexter Rutecki** · 02-21-2016, 11:41 PM

No one skiing Tue, Wed, Thur?

**~mikey b** · 02-21-2016, 11:54 PM

No

You will be alone.

No one else will ski

**Dexter Rutecki** · 02-22-2016, 12:06 AM

That always happens to me.

**Long duc dong** · 02-23-2016, 12:44 PM

I had a great weekend at Mammoth this weekend. I skied mainly Dave's, sign line of Climax, and the noids. After I found how good P2 was I pretty much stayed there. Classic conditions in that area. Hope everyone else had fun.

**Deep Days** · 02-23-2016, 02:19 PM

Agreed. Sunday was pretty fun, although a bit firmer and chunkier than I had hoped. The promises of buttery windbuff from Friday had all but disappeared. Good coverage up there though. I found pretty good snow in Avy 2 and Canyon side (not much sun or wind effect) both Sat and Sun. Didn't get into 'noids, Hangman's, or Dave's, but Climax (esp right side) had some soft stuff. Dropouts had some mini-things to jump off but a lot getting filled in (except for the knobs I would really like). Almost went to 9/Eagle, but some people said it was firm as hell even at 1130a...

Definitely some sweet linkables in Climax, though. Didn't hit #1 on its own before trying to link a 1-2 punch, due to pretty tight/precise landing. Probly a fun 10-15 ft diving board. Enough space in the landing, I think, to shut 'er down before #2 and could definitely take #2 much longer. Give 'er a go!

Video of alternate, with justifiable "Gosey out of control" after the first one (ya, I suck, I can't ski, yada yada whatever). Need to hit the gym! (As I've been saying all season...) Wish I had had another hour to fuck around there. Love that area! Pretty typical snow for all of climax--better in general than further left along G2/23.

Have fun up there. Looks like it'll be 3 weekends before I return. Hopefully will bring the snow with me.

**Eastern Sierra Skier** · 02-25-2016, 01:19 AM

Originally Posted by Deep Days

Agreed. Sunday was pretty fun, although a bit firmer and chunkier than I had hoped.

Spent Sunday afternoon lapping 23. Everyone left and the place was empty. Wipe outs get that late afternoon sun this time of year.
Pointed out Glen Plake skiing wipe outs to my 12 year old son as we rode 23. My son "That guy is smooth." Yes he is.

Some stoke from today.

Mammoth mid week, non holiday is hard to beat. I never get tired of this view. It's a good day when the toughest decision I have is, "Do I go left or right off the chair?"

**Barnballs** · 03-01-2016, 10:19 PM

This past weekend was wind-fill hero heaven. Drops, Wipes, Dave's, Face of 5, Christmas & China Bowl...refilling all weekend. Additionally, all the main lodge groomers were butter by noon and the 25-side skied perfect corn by 11am.

**Long duc dong** · 03-02-2016, 02:31 PM

Nice shot of Hangman's. It really looks nice and smooth. I love it when it's like that. It has been good this year, not to rutted out. I have gotten some nice laps there, which is always fun.

**hutash** · 03-02-2016, 06:24 PM

Mammoth wind buff never ceases to amaze. I would have thought things would be cooked after this prolonged high pressure system, but those pics look schweet.

**Truckee Joe** · 03-04-2016, 12:44 PM

Ill be coming down to mammoth for the weekend, any Mags want to trade Mammoth tickets for Squaw tickets? PM me if your in the trading mood, Thanks.

**hutash** · 03-04-2016, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Truckee Joe

Ill be coming down to mammoth for the weekend, any Mags want to trade Mammoth tickets for Squaw tickets? PM me if your in the trading mood, Thanks.

Can't help with any trading, but if you need a Bring a Friend discount (basically half price day tickets) shoot me a PM with name and email address.

edit: needs to be done tonight for skiing tomorrow.
edit the edit: PM me even if only slightly interested. Even if you choose not to use it you have it, and it doesn't count against my allotment unless you redeem it.

**liv2ski** · 03-06-2016, 03:41 PM

Mammoth did not suck today (but it did yesterday) Hopefully tomorrow is as fun.

**hutash** · 03-07-2016, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by liv2ski

Mammoth did not suck today (but it did yesterday) Hopefully tomorrow is as fun.

Pics, or a four foot dump didn't happen.

**Long duc dong** · 03-07-2016, 12:57 PM

Great Mammoth weekend. Saturday afternoon started to get really fun in Gravy Chute as stuff started to fill in, then Sunday morning was awesome on chairs 25 and 22, until they got shut down due to wind. We went down to Eagle to get a drink and hopefully wait out the wind. When we came out and got on Eagle it was the windiest I have ever seen Eagle, which makes me shudder at how windy the top must have been. A great start to March.

**Eastern Sierra Skier** · 03-14-2016, 06:16 AM

The following just turned up on local real estate agent Paul Oster's bi weekly email post. No confirmation if it's correct or not.

"The Ski Area recently posted their season pass programs for 2016-17 and many people are a bit shocked. But maybe it is a good thing. It appears that the "Value" pass is gone. What has been the Value Pass the past decade or so is now going to cost $999 (but you still get to ski at Big Bear!). This is a big price increase and the word isn't out yet. And there has been no explanation for the ~25% increase, just here it is. Obviously they want to test the demand. These are back to the prices of season passes before the MVP. Back then they used to sell 1500-2000 a year depending on the season (you didn't pre-purchase).

Meanwhile Vail's Epic Pass will cost $809 for 2016/17. It is good at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Park City/Canyons, Heavenly Valley, Northstar, Kirkwood and others. It is unlimited. Vail Resorts also offers a "Tahoe Local Pass" for $529 which is good at Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood with holiday black-out dates. It also includes five days at the other Vail resorts.

So Mammoth Mountain has taken a bold step with aggressive pricing for their season pass. It is like the "old days" when season passes came with a significant price. Of course the basic lift ticket price has gone up too. We'll see if the numbers fall off. Or not. Maybe they think the southern California economy is so good that the new price will be supported. Maybe it will mean fewer skiers on the mountain.

The CEO of Vail Resorts was on CNBC last week and he reported that Vail has seen a "double digit" increase in Epic Pass sales. It is reported that they sell more than 500,000 season passes and pass holders come from all 50 states and 80 countries internationally. The Epic Pass is considered "the ultimate travel loyalty program." The value of their stock is also up 53% in the past 12 months. I wonder if there is a correlation.

Besides selling season passes, the industry has moved toward "dynamic pricing" that reflects the demand of the particular day. Holidays and Saturdays can run as high as $165 at Vail. The industry is trying to incentivize more advance purchases. At Mammoth they don't even post prices; the walk-up price is determined by some algorithm.

Vail Resorts was recently named one of the "World's 50 Most Innovative Companies" by Fast Company magazine. The Epic Pass is noted as the cornerstone of that innovation.

We'll see if Mammoth can remain competitive, or if they are trying to create enough value to attract a big purchase price from Vail Resorts. It sure seems that way. If that is the end result then we should all be happy to pay the new price."

Per Mammoths web page, passes go on sale 3/21. No prices have been released as of yet. Comments anyone???????

**Vets** · 03-14-2016, 06:54 AM

^
This makes my Mountain Collective purchase sound much more valuable. (BTW - I selected Mammoth Resorts for my bonus 3rd day.)
I can buy a Mountain Collective ($379) AND an Epic Tahoe Local ($529) for less than the cost of a Mammoth pass.
It also looks like you will need to pay $1099 for a premium pass if you want to have the added benefit of 50% off at Mountain Collective resorts.
I remember the "good old days" when I purchased my first Mammoth pass in spring of 2003 for $399 and it was good for the rest of 2003 and all of the 2003-2004 season.

**Eastern Sierra Skier** · 03-14-2016, 07:20 AM

Here a link to the blog regarding the 2016/2017 pass prices.
http://www.mammothrealestateblog.com...good-idea.html

I have a Mt Rose pass with ZERO black out days purchased last spring for $399, and the Squaw/Alpine bronze pass (holiday blackouts and no Saturdays) also purchased last spring for $349. Total cost=$748. Mammoth for $999? WTF!! Hey Rusty, can you please explain your business strategy to me?

**Long duc dong** · 03-14-2016, 12:39 PM

I guess they are testing it to see just how much they can wring out of people. I will buy it anyway, but $999 is a huge increase. The thing is, us Mammoth folks don't have another choice. If you want to spend your weekends skiing a world class mountain and you don't want to fly to ski every weekend it is Mammoth. Unlike Tahoe Mammoth has no competition.

That really is a huge increase. I hope it is not true. I too remember the days of $399. I guess a good season has given them the impetus to raise the prices. The whole Big Bear thing bugs me, I don't ski there when I'm not at Mammoth so that is useless. I was pissed when they bought Big Bear because I thought they would use it as an excuse to raise pass prices and sure enough they have. I would like to say fuck them but unfortunately I don't have the choice. Sometimes I wish I lived in the Bay.