Mammoth lost a lot of snow since my previous visit June 18. When we stopped in Bishop (4,000 ft.) at 8PM Friday it was still 95F, after hitting 110 midday. It was 60 at the Main Lodge at 7:45AM Saturday and 70 when I quit skiing just before noon.
Two weeks ago there was speculation/grumbling about whether Mammoth would stay open past July 4. It's quite clear to me now why they won't. In 1983 and 1995 there was solid natural cover to the Main Lodge like 2 weeks ago (also in 1998 according to someone who had been there). 1993 was similar to this year but a bit better covered on the lower mountain.
As the pictures below show, it is quite evident the amount of work that Mammoth does to maintain quality skiing. In addition to the strips of snow connecting the lower runs back to Chair 1, similar maintenance was needed at the unloading stations of Chairs 1 and 3. There was the usual extensive job of grooming and salting, though with no overnight freeze the surface was not as smooth as 2 weeks ago, and Andrew quit after just 4 runs.
Finally, in contrast to Snowbird's massive lift line at Little Cloud, Mammoth ran 2 HS quads (1&3), the 8-passenger gondola and the fixed triple chair 23 to handle a similar crowd. Thus the only line was 5-10 minutes on chair 3, because it serves the terrain park Mammoth built in Saddle Bowl in late May. The operation of chair 23 in June midweek also stabilized the snow in Wipe Out/Drop Out, which had excellent skiing this time compared to rutted-out conditions in 1993 and 1995 when it did not run after Memorial Day.
With the warm weather I had a shorter ski day (20,300 vert) than on June 18 but skied 7 runs up top: 2 x Climax, Cornice from both gondola and chair 23 aspects, Wipe Out, Drop Out and Scotty's. It was still a great day of skiing from my perspective. However, I know from past experience that the combination of weather and skier traffic probably made conditions sketchier each day of the holiday weekend.
Two weeks ago there was speculation/grumbling about whether Mammoth would stay open past July 4. It's quite clear to me now why they won't. In 1983 and 1995 there was solid natural cover to the Main Lodge like 2 weeks ago (also in 1998 according to someone who had been there). 1993 was similar to this year but a bit better covered on the lower mountain.
As the pictures below show, it is quite evident the amount of work that Mammoth does to maintain quality skiing. In addition to the strips of snow connecting the lower runs back to Chair 1, similar maintenance was needed at the unloading stations of Chairs 1 and 3. There was the usual extensive job of grooming and salting, though with no overnight freeze the surface was not as smooth as 2 weeks ago, and Andrew quit after just 4 runs.
Finally, in contrast to Snowbird's massive lift line at Little Cloud, Mammoth ran 2 HS quads (1&3), the 8-passenger gondola and the fixed triple chair 23 to handle a similar crowd. Thus the only line was 5-10 minutes on chair 3, because it serves the terrain park Mammoth built in Saddle Bowl in late May. The operation of chair 23 in June midweek also stabilized the snow in Wipe Out/Drop Out, which had excellent skiing this time compared to rutted-out conditions in 1993 and 1995 when it did not run after Memorial Day.
With the warm weather I had a shorter ski day (20,300 vert) than on June 18 but skied 7 runs up top: 2 x Climax, Cornice from both gondola and chair 23 aspects, Wipe Out, Drop Out and Scotty's. It was still a great day of skiing from my perspective. However, I know from past experience that the combination of weather and skier traffic probably made conditions sketchier each day of the holiday weekend.
Although I like my Endless Winter t-shirt, people still have a hard time imagining that I went skiing last month.