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Yesterday Mammoth Mountain announced the continuation of their MVP season pass program for next year.  Unlike the current MVP season pass, which they released in April 2009 for only the first 10,000 buyers whether you were an existing pass holder or not, next year’s program is closed to the general public and is only good for existing pass holders.

This is an interesting strategy - maybe Mammoth actually lost money on the 09-10 season pass offer and current attendance trends indicate they will make a better margin on keeping the MVP exclusive to current participants?  They did announce they’re raising prices next year to $92/day - what the hell… is this Vail?

I for one will be buying my MVP for sure… at those lift ticket prices, you get your money’s worth after just 7 days on the hill.  Check out the e-mail announcement I received:

This weekend has to go down on record as the best weather I’ve ever seen in Mammoth!  It was beautiful bluebird conditions, sunny and near 50 on the mountain.  But still the snow stayed good, it was not slushy at all in spite of the warmth.  No new snow fell, but what was in place was kept nicely groomed, and we didn’t even encounter any ice.  All in all a great weekend.  We arrived during the Olympics opening ceremonies and caught the 2nd half of it, and were inspired by the athletes and the excitement.  We rode all 3 days and were all over the mountain including the back side on Sunday, and checked out Hyde, Lakanuki, and Whiskey for dancing and happy hours.  (writeups to come separately.)  Fun people and great conditions, chalk another good one up for Mammoth…

We stayed at Mammoth Estates condos, right in the neighborhood where the gondola passes over

The sky stayed like this all weekend, no new snow but we didn’t care!

Posing with Shayboarder.com stickers

This lifty at Chair 23 was rocking the dookie chain old skool style

Headed down to Dave’s Run

Never seen it this warm and NOT windy at the top

The crew about to head down Upper Road Runner on the back side

On Sunday we met the “Mammoth Monkey” handing out Valentines at Steeps Bar at McCoy Station

Here are 2 real cool female Hotties on the Hill - Amy and Rebecca.  We met them at McCoy station at lunchtime this past Saturday as they waited for their friends to meet them.  I actually was eavesdropping a little bit because they were sitting right next to us and talking about the McCoy Web Cam so it was they who told me about it! And so I had to start talking to them. They were 2 cool chicks from the Long Beach area.  Both were snowboarding regular foot, and have been at it for 10 years.  And of course, relaxing at midday with a cold beer… ladies after my own heart.  Great meeting you two!

Please rate these hotties:  (11 votes, average: 3.55 out of 5)

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This weekend’s Mammoth trip was another fun one.  I went with a completely different group of folks than I usually do.  We had 2 condos and 14 people!  For 2 straight days, I was snowboarding with a group of guys, all of whom were better and a lot faster than me so I really had to step up my game to keep up with them and to “represent” for us women.  I don’t have a lot of pictures from the slopes because it was all-business, no-nonsense riding for the most part and I was so exhausted!

They took me through some deep powder tree runs; with all the recent snow there was still a few stashes to be found.  They also knew the mountain really well and so we went on some hidden little trails and secret spots..

Roger’s, runs under Chair 21, tree stashes way off the far side of Chair 5, the high side of China Bowl… lots of fun hidden and empty trails that I hope I remember how to get to another time.

The trip was also fun because I broke out of my usual routine and we checked out some new places for apres ski, dinner, and nightlife:  Hyde Lounge, Lakanuki, Gomez’s… I’ll be posting details on those separately.

The weather was great (except for some clouds on Fri and then snow showers on Saturday afternoon)… we had almost NO wind, and mostly blue skies.

It was also cold enough that the show stayed fresh feeling and there was not a lot of ice or crust on the runs.  Except for Chair 23 going down to Scotty’s.  Joana and I played a little human bowling with one another on that one.

But the weekend highlight for me - we ran in to Woolly, the Mammoth Mountain Mascot, TWICE this weekend!  Great photo ops at the top of Gold Rush and at McCoy Station.

This long MLK weekend we took a trip up to Mammoth.  As usual we stayed at Viewpoint Condos and enjoyed the proximity to the Village and Gondola.

On Friday night we stayed in and the members of the condo got acquainted.  I love getting groups of my friends together who don’t already know each other.  It always makes for a fun cross-section of the different areas of my life!

Saturday we got onto the mountain by 10am, which is early for Jess and my standards.  (Oftentimes, we are what surfers call “nooners!”)  It was a bright sunny day on the hill, and surprisingly not crowded for the Saturday of a 3 day weekend.

Earlier in the week there had been 15 new inches of snow, and with the temps staying pretty steadily low, there was no meltoff and subsequent freeze-over.  So we had packed powder conditions throughout the day with little to no ice on the runs.  In fact there was still semi-powder in places!   And it was nice that there were virtually NO lift lines, check out the wait at Chair 25:

We rode most of the day on Saturday and then Saturday evening the gang treated me to a nice birthday dinner at the Chart House, yum!  I had a delicious filet & shrimp meal, with a baked potato…what restaurants serve baked potatoes any more?  It even came with 5 different toppings.  A yummy indulgence.

After dinner we checked out the new Hyde Lounge for all of 5 minutes as it was too crowded, so it was off to enjoy the music at Lakanuki. After some dancing, we headed back to the condo.

Sunday turned out dark, stormy, and extremely windy.  We stayed out only a few hours, and I got very windburned.  Luckily I have that season pass so even just going out a few hours was “worth it” since I didn’t put out any more cash towards a lift ticket.  Sunday evening was another chill night, a repeat of Friday… but luckily I saw some people in our complex putting on chains in anticipation of Monday’s coming storms, so I followed suit before it got too dark, to get ready for the next day’s driving.   (Hired Goodyear to put the chains on actually!)

Monday was the big payoff!  It was spitting snow most of the night into Monday so there was a nice coating of 3-4″ in town… then we went up to the mountain early and that’s when it really started puking snow.  It was even less crowded on the hill on Monday than Sat. was… did a lot of people NOT have Monday off and took off home early?  This is a pic headed up Chair 25 looking down the runs:

The snow was mounting up like crazy and there were white-out conditions, but it was amazing if we stayed lower.  Gold Rush was windy and cold with very low visibility but the Lower Dry Creek run was super fun.  The powder built up all morning and we stayed near Roller Coaster and did  tree runs over and over, getting fresh powder tracks on most runs.  It was almost thigh deep in spots! We were soaked and completely encrusted in snow by noon when we got off the hill to head home.  It was one of the best days I’ve ever had on the mountain and I can’t wait to go back next weekend!

 Little Jenny making a snow angel at the end of our morning

Jess and Wade celebrating a great morning!

Well hey it’s my birthday today :-)  To celebrate, 8 of us are headed up to our favorite snowboarding getaway, of course Mammoth!  As is our custom, our crew is staying at Viewpoint Condos - probably the best value by far for the money.  It’s the perfect location - we just park the car and we’re in for the weekend, as Viewpoint is walking distance to the gondola and the Village.  Some might even say stumbling distance…

I will be interested to see how the night life and the village itself continues to evolve.  I’ve been hearing (and observing myself) that Mammoth is going really “luxe” and upscale - a big evolution from how it used to be, more chill and laid-back.  As part of its attempt to revitalize its image and become more worldly, to attract more tourist dollars, many new and very upscale shops & restaurants have opened in the Village.  Some might even say Mammoth is turning into the Los Angeles of the mountains!

As proof of this, I just about spit out my coffee when I read that there is now going to be a “Hyde Lounge Mammoth” opening this weekend.  I for one am kind of bummed that this has come to “our” little resort town - does the vibe of mean-looking bouncers creating false lines, dudes with Ed Hardy shirts, plasticky women with breast implants, and velvet ropes fit with the Mammoth scene?

As always, a lively discussion going on at the Mammoth forums.

Will report on the weekend when we return!

I was recently very excited to hear about this special offer.  On April 1, Mammoth Mountain will be offering its MVP season pass to EVERYBODY for $576, not just renewing members.

Backstory: A few years ago, Mammoth stopped selling this pass to just anyone, only offering it to renewing members.  The MVP was a super sweet deal - the price was around $500 for unlimited all-season riding.  I was so bummed when, in 2003 I bit the bullet and bought the MVP season pass.  Then, I ended up dislocating my shoulder and couldn’t ride the rest of the winter, argh.  So based on that, I didn’t end up buying another one for 2004, and I believe that was the year they cut off MVP pass sales to everyone but renewals.  Damn!

Well check out this email my friend Chris posted from the Mammoth CEO Rusty Gregory, detailing the new MVP offer.   Here are the key details of the promotion:

•  38,000 total MVP passes will be available to existing and new members.
• Passes will go on sale on April 1 and continue until the 38,000 MVP cap is reached.
• To ensure all existing MVPs can renew their pass, we will guarantee availability to MVPs if you renew April 1-12.
• All remaining passes will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis until sales hit the 38,000 limit. Keep a close eye on the website MVP Availability Meter.

So if you think that you want to take advantage of this, be sure to get on board with 37,999 of your closest snowboarding and skiing friends and get yourself a Mammoth season pass on April 1!

Finally!  This past weekend, Jessie and I took our first trip of the season to Mammoth together.  Last year we went so many times, this has been a disappointing season, mostly due to my strained calf injury. 

We got really lucky with weather.  There was no new snow, so this was good for our drive up, but potentially bad for the hill.  Luckily, the temps and the winds were at that just-right “goldilocks” level so that the snow didn’t get too icy and also didn’t melt and get slushy during the day!

(Looking up from Cornice, a little wind picked up - look how empty it is!)

Both days were clear bluebird sunny days and the snow was just perfect.  And no crowds!  Except for certain areas off Chair 23, and coming down to Cornice from the gondola at the top, there was virtually no ice.  The wind picked up a little bit in the afternoons on both Sat & Sun so it did get a little cold and by Saturday night we both felt wind-burned in the face.  Definitely wore the face mask out on Sunday!

 (Jessie about midway down Cornice - perfect bluebird conditions!)

I was tripping out a little bit on what the top held in store - I don’t think I have EVER seen the Mammoth sign buried with so much snow! Everybody was stunned and we all took turns taking pictures of one another (all the different groups up top) posing on top of the sign! There must have been 12 feet of snow on top alone. Amazing!

My leg held up well - I guess my intense physical therapy and devotion to getting back to the gym and practicing my physical therapy-assigned exercises helped me to get strong pretty fast.  By midday on Sat. after a few runs, I felt totally confident again. But I still wasn’t pushing myself TOO hard, as I was still a little scared to fall, feeling like the slightest sudden movement in my leg might make that freshly-healed torn calf just rip apart again (ew, what a visual!)   The good news is, I am ready to keep riding and getting stronger.

Not much to report on the night-life front - usually we make a night of it on Sat. at Lakanuki, dancing and partying till closing, but we are kind of over Lakanuki at this point, and decided to try something new.  We learned that there was a house music DJ playing at the Westin and went there.  It was so weird - they had a meeting room cordoned off, with a bar set up outside the room, and the DJ & monitors was set up in there with a cheesy light show.  We liked the DJ though; he played great music.  Weird setting…

No hotties on the hill to report on this trip although we did see these fun guys in the lift line at Gold Rush, wearing kilts:

 And of course no trip to Mammoth would be complete without a Bloody Break at either Mill Cafe or the Steeps Bar at McCoy station… this was us midday on Saturday:

Overall the weekend was GREAT except somehow midway through Sunday Jessie’s pocket got a hole in it (we are thinking it ripped apart at the seam on impact on a hard fall she took) and she ended up LOSING her car key and her cell phone on the hill somewhere!  We went back and tried to retrace our steps from when she saw both went missing, but on that giant mountain and in still-loose snow, who knows where they ended up.  And Mammoth Lost & Found had recovered nothing either. We had to call a locksmith to come out and MAKE a new car key for her.  Has this ever happened to anyone else?

 ( here’s the locksmith breaking into her car to make the key)

All worked out in the end, $250 later and we were very late getting home… but oh well, we made it home in one piece, and all in all was a wonderful weekend.  Glad to get back out there!

As my injured calf continues to heal (2 more weeks says my physical therapist!)  I am getting itchy to ride again.  I haven’t been since December due to this injury and it is killing me with the amount of new snow Mammoth has had!

Sometimes getting to the mountain on your own isn’t practical, or none of your usual snowboarding buddies are available.  What to do?  It’s simple: find a fun group to go with.  The internet makes it super easy to find like-minded local friends to go snowboarding with, among many other things!

Here in Southern California, getting to a really great mountain (Mammoth) is a long drive away.  The same is true in other major Western US cities like Denver, Salt Lake, San Francisco, etc.  I’ve found a number of fun snowboard and ski related groups here in LA that regularly organize group trips up to the mountains.  Usually accommodations and transportation is included, plus you get to meet new people!  A group trip is actually how Jessie and I first met 2 years ago!

If you’re looking to meet some fun new people to hit Mammoth with, check out these groups in LA for upcoming trips:

• SoCal Outdoor Adventurers
• The Time Outdoors
• West LA Ski & Snowboard Group
• Slope Surfers

If you’re not in LA, you can easily find your own snowboarding group trip organizers by looking on Meetup.com or Yahoo Groups.  Happy hunting!

In more bad economic news around the ski and snowboard industry, Mammoth Mountain recently announced it was laying off 101 employees.  After adjusting the projected visits down by 26% for this season, the resort let both seasonal as well as year-round employees go.

Stories at TransWorld Business and Mammoth Times.