Mammoth 2021-2022 snow mandate thread.

[enlosandes]

Excited to ski the resort tomorrow for the first time in over two weeks!

Check out the crown line from Scotties to the Paranoids and the rubble below. It's pretty eye opening.

[Ottime]

Unlike many resorts in CA and the Rockies, MM seems to have dogged the bullet regarding staff shortages and their impact on mountain ops ..... or am I mis-reading the situation?
Is there something unique about Mammoth (location? Elevation? Staff salary levels?) that keeps things apparently turning over smoothly?

Unlike davjr96, the only MM employees I know are year round salaried employees. They have a lot of those folks which might help them in years like this. Having staff that live locally and have worked for you for years is a huge benefit when you are training new staff each year. At least that is my guess. OTOH, there is for sure a housing issue for their seasonal staff. I would also assume that MM can attract more seasonal workers with a season that potential runs for 6-8 months as opposed to a Vail run KW which is only open for 4 months. That places is having some serious staffing and management issues this year.

[spanghew]

They used to import half of the youth of Oz to run the lifts, and set them up in a company store scenario in company housing (auto-removed from their meager paychecks) and visas that only enabled them to work at Mammoth or go home. Trainee patrollers were sometimes dragooned to work lifts in the early season as well.

[Bobcat Sig]

Check out the crown line from Scotties to the Paranoids and the rubble below. It's pretty eye opening.

It was gnar. Stared at it for a good while from Main and at the top of Stump Alley while we were there. Word was that it slid all the way down to St Anton's. The crown propagation was wild... HUGE!

[comish]

Been here for nearly 2.5 weeks. It's still windy!!! We had one day of no wind pow skiing super early in the cycle. From then on it's been hurricane season and some serious wind buff. Yesterday on 23 w/ 2 of my kids, the wind buff was epic, but man was that chair swinging! We were definitely using the vagina bar and hoping the chair didn't bang into the tower. We decided to exit after that ride and got down to 21 just as all of Main shut down.

Housing is the issue in Mammoth, but yes, in the grand scheme of things they handled the holiday period well. The Ikon black out really helps moderate the crowds during the holidays. With the exception of storm/wind clusters the lines were totally manageable and the skiing was great! I have heard they are down some lift mechanics and with the older lifts prone to breaking (looking at you ch1 and ch16) they have been super busy, but did a pretty good job given what Ullr and Mother Nature threw at them.

Had a great banter, as ch3 got shut on us the other day, with lifties and mechanic. We asked him to call God to see when we could ride. He promptly grabbed the lift phone, with it's busted cable, and started jabbering. Then yelled at the lift mechanic to talk to God as well. They were all good energy and doing the best they could. Lift mechanic told us he was gonna sled up to the top shack, which hadn't been done in 10 days to get the chair running for us! Alas, the wind kept nuking and he came down to give us the bad news, but appreciated the effort and the good natured communication.

Town is still packed. LAUSD doesn't have school this week and the Ikon black out is over. Bring Milk because there was none yesterday afternoon.

[comish]

Oh yeah, that crown is huge. Slide went to the ground, about 9 to 11' depending on aspect. Debris went all the way to the top shack of ch11

Apparently Climax went to the ground as well, although you can't tell there. It's basically all filled in.

The wind has definitely fucked up the top layer of a lot of the mountain OR completely buffed it out. Told mini Comish one afternoon to dial it back a notch since there were so many unexpected wind lips, burms, coral reef, etc. He promptly flies off one going splat onto the flat below. He told us that night he had been so proud of himself for going slower I'm hosed after this year. Kid is flying.

[Boomer28]

Oh yeah, that crown is huge. Slide went to the ground, about 9 to 11' depending on aspect. Debris went all the way to the top shack of ch11

Apparently Climax went to the ground as well, although you can't tell there. It's basically all filled in.

The wind has definitely fucked up the top layer of a lot of the mountain OR completely buffed it out. Told mini Comish one afternoon to dial it back a notch since there were so many unexpected wind lips, burms, coral reef, etc. He promptly flies off one going splat onto the flat below. He told us that night he had been so proud of himself for going slower I'm hosed after this year. Kid is flying.

Yup heard it almost took out the shack....not sure if it was that or another one but Scotty, the troller who got banged up in the slide, sounds like he's on the mend which is great news.

I just drove home today after being there for a week and your report is pretty spot on. Saturday was all-time day with barely any wind and hungover masses resulting in an empty mountain. 5yr old had her first 4 days of ski school and was riding the lifts by day 3 and telling me to keep by by day 4. I'm fucked.

Hiked up to summit from 23 yesterday after a few laps to ski Daves down to 9 only to realize too late 9 was closed and wasted some time getting back up from Eagle. Wind at summit was at least 70+ consistent gusting 20+ more. It was a bad idea but the wind buff on Daves was glorious. Your point on the inconsistency of the wind affected areas is also on point. My group had several people eat shit after trying to cut a turn on snow that more resembled styrofoam...

Oh yea, been years since I've been on here but got the bug again after taking a few years off & recovering from bad accident. I'm 90% now and my kid is getting me pumped up for jumping back in. Feel old AF looking around here & the join dates but good to see a few crusty fucks are left.

[Bobcat Sig]

... My group had several people eat shit after trying to cut a turn on snow that more resembled styrofoam...

That got me bad last week. I kept calling it windboard. But it was more wind-hammered, breakable concrete. I augered in hard more than once when my skis submarined. Fun stuff with that Eastern Sierra wind.

[liv2ski]

Not going to lie, when the snow gets like that I stick mostly to the groomers. That wind hammered cement sucks on my old out of shape legs.

[hutash]

That reminds me of a Mammoth experience with reverse windboard. Instead of the usual Mammoth wind groomer from the southwest it was from a North wind, Instead of skiing off thousands of little one inch wind lips, they were the opposite direction and it was like hitting thousands of little wall...not fun.

[nickbokhoven]

Back up this week. The wind machine turned on this afternoon, buffing the top out nicely. There is a lot of corral out there. I was reminded today why I like this place. Lots of sun, usually good temps, variety of terrain. Laps on 23 with the youngins was the highlight. Back at for three more days.


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[Boomer28]

Wasn't planning on coming back up so soon but when you get offered a ride that takes an hour you take it...

[MTT]

Wasn't planning on coming back up so soon but when you get offered a ride that takes an hour you take it...

Nice doesn’t get much better than that
Did they have a car waiting?

[thefrush]

Last two days on the hill were fun, especially yesterday, skied bell-to-bell. The mountain is in fine shape, and the wind has been doing it's thing. Dropouts & Wipeouts yesterday were all smoothed out chalky goodness top-to-bottom. Man that was a blast. The winds picked back up today and things were a little bit more choppy but still some smooth panels to be found and the windbuff was refreshing. Still a lot of people in town. I heard LAUSD is still out this week and the USGP is this weekend. Been fun to watch the athletes working the course the past couple of days.

[Boomer28]

Nice doesn’t get much better than that
Did they have a car waiting?

Pilot lives up here 75% of year and keeps his truck in the hanger along with the dirt bikes & sleds....made it in an hour 10 with about a 25 knt headwind, flew up around the back of Whitney/Kings Canyon which was super fun for me. Smoothest flight in a long time.

Warm in town today...40s at base and on warmer side but windy af (20-25 estimated). Warmth/sun loosened up some of the windpack and hopefully we get a few inches refresher tomorrow. Really stoked for USGP, host is friends with Colby Stevenson's family and we'll be cheering him on.

[liv2ski]

Guys, we have a celebratory in Mammoth this week. Hopefully I get to ski with him Tuesday.

[Barnballs]

Interesting weekend...strange wind-board, firm pack, carvable chalk.
Climax better than it looked, West Bowl & Rogers actually fun.
And Avi 2 kinda delivered on Sat.

Top of Dave's


Climax


Avi II

[Long duc dong]

Yesterday was fun. Will be out today and tomorrow. Red arctyrex jacket, blue pants 4frnt ehp skis, black Lange boots with orange buckles and one green buck;e on each boot. Black helmet with GoPro. Mostly 23 and upper gondi. Give me a shout if you see me.

[sruffian]

Any hope of a corn cycle setting up by this weekend? Will be down on the eastside this weekend, originally to tour but we'll see w/ current conditions....

Also partner bailed if anyone wants to tour

[Boomer28]

Def warming up, left Monday and it was super nice in town. Sat/Sunday were great mellow lap days. Hardly a breath of wind and bluebird. Skied in a vest and was plenty warm. Feels like a dry January on tap, I'd be surprised to see any real snow before end of the the month but I hope to be proven wrong...at least the base is super solid....

[liv2ski]

Boomer summed up the conditions, dry with little wind. A really nice and relaxing 3 day trip capped off by skiing a few hours with Benny today. Good dood and skier.

[Benny Profane]

Good to meet you. Awesome mountain.

[Long duc dong]

To add to what others have said, housing has become a huge issue in Mammoth.

We don't have a ski lease for the first time in 14 years due to our landlord selling the condo and basically nothing on the long term rental market.

For us that is a nuisance. It means we have to plan, and spend more, two things we are not really used to. It is pushing us to maybe buy something, despite the prices.

For the locals, it is a MUCH bigger issue. Being a weekender and not having a ski lease sucks, but the housing situation for locals is simply a disaster. The long term rental market is non-existent, and what is available is very pricey on local wages.

I've talked to lots of locals and heard stories of people who have been renting the same place for a decade getting the boot after it sells. With the spike in prices lots of the buyers want to airbnb to get enough money, renting a 2 bedroom place for 2000 simply won't cut it with the mortgage they are taking on.

The place we have been renting for the last 5 years went for 560k, which was basically asking price. It probably needs some work, in the pictures I could see the notes the owner put in place to warn us to be careful with the sink drain. The complex does not have a hot tub and the parking is limited, we usually parked in the public lot on Lake Mary. It absolutely blows me away that they got as much as they did for it. There are actually other places for similar, or lower, prices that I would prefer. I wonder if the new owners have negotiated Tyrol Lane when it is icy.....

Obviously, the seasonal locals have it worse than the long-term guys. Living has always been tough in ski towns, my second year in Tahoe I lived in a weekly motel in Reno for the first month and a half, but the pandemic and airbnb has made things much worse.

[TahoeJ]

^^ Pretty much the same story in every ski / mountain town in the western US.

[liv2ski]

Air B&B has really fucked up the long term rental situation for people. I don't know what the solution is, other than building new properties with deed restrictions on being used as a STR. They need to build a fuck ton more up there and there is room to do so, but every builder wants to build million dollar homes, not more reasonably priced homes or Dog forbid actual apartment rentals.