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Flights from LAX to Mammoth are finally here!

Erica — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:33:36 +0000

Bringing the blog out of off-season hiatus for this story… from an email I received today:

Mammoth and Horizon Air proudly introduce non-stop flights from LAX to MMH (Mammoth Yosemite Airport.) That’s right, the wait is over. Horizon will offer daily flights departing LAX at 2:20pm and landing at MMH at 3:25pm. The planes will depart MMH at 4:05pm and return to LAX at 5:10pm. Once at MMH, you’re only fifteen minutes from the mountain*. So you can make more turns, get more air and have more hot tub time than ever before.

Looks like the flights will start on Dec. 18 this year, and they’re kicking off the service with introductory fares. Very excited at the prospect to not drive for 5+ hours any more! Read more here… now the countown begins till snowboarding season is back again!

Last post of the season

Erica — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:14:31 +0000

Well, this weekend was pretty bittersweet - it was my last trip to the mountains for the season. The conditions were really bad at Mammoth - very windy and icy on pretty much the entire mountain. I had probably the worst fall of the entire year on Sunday, with a fist-sized bruise covering my entire right elbow to show for it. Not the greatest way to end the season, but oh well. It was a fun one, and I look forward to next year! I may possibly continue to post through the spring/summer, but since I won’t be doing any boarding, I doubt it. I’ll pretty much be putting the blog into hibernation.

Now it’s time to focus on biking, hiking, BBQing, and surfing for the summer!

Mountain Missteps - Too much sunscreen!

Erica — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:57:38 +0000

This guy, spotted in Mammoth a month ago, was over-the-top with his sun protection - he had so much on that his skin looked gray… it kinda matched his hair! Who knows, his eyebrows may have already been gray but it looked like just the excess sunscreen turned them lighter:

I’m all for sun protection, but this was just crazy. The funniest thing was when he started putting on MORE! Jessie and I just about died laughing…

Music to get you pumped for snowboarding

Erica — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:42:58 +0000

All right, all right, I know I should have posted this weeks ago so all of you folks who drive up to the mountain on a regular basis could have some new ideas for your in-car playlists! Even though the season is drawing to a close (argh, it was near 80 in some areas in LA last weekend), I know I’ll still be heading up to Mammoth a few more times.

With the long drive, in addition to the games and conversation to be had, good music is a must for passing the time. I asked the usual suspects what music they love to hear either when they’re driving, getting suited up to hit the hill in the morning, or having drinks while preparing to hit the town after a day of boarding! Ranging from punk to old school hip-hop, these choices will get you pumped up.

Eileen

Social D - Mommies little monster
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Offspring - Original Prankster
Linkin Park - What I’ve done
3 doors down - Kryptonite
Nickleback - Rockstar
Lenny Kravitz - Fly away
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend

Stacy

Princess Pop:
- Britney’s new hits Gimme More and Piece of
Me…or pretty much the whole new album!

Hip Hop with a California twist:
- Biggie - Going back to Cali
- 2Pac - California Love
- LLCoolJ - Goin back to Cali

White Trash Rock:
- Ozzy - Crazy Train or I don’t know
- AC/DC - Back in Black
- Metallica - Master of Puppets

Lil Jenny

Old Skool Albums:

Jane’s Addiction (ALL OF THEM!!!!)
Green Day - Dookie
Offspring - Ixnay on the Hombre
Face To Face - Face To Face
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Hole - Live Through This
Alanis Morrisette (when I was with girls only) - Jagged Little Pill
Particularly You Oughta Know, Hand In My Pocket, Isn’t It Ironic

Nowadays add to the Old School:
Sum 41 - No Reason, love it!
Madonna - Sorry
80’s New Wave especially
B-Movie - nowhere Girl
Depeche Mode
Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf

Shannon from Shayboarder wrote a post about her music playlists back in December.

As for me, I’m partial to hip-hop… particularly Ludacris’ “MOVE BITCH” track… it’s fun to play in the car when we’re trying to find parking and people are being idiots

Jessie and I also love the Beastie Boys, Missy Elliot… and I really like the latest Kanye album. I’m also a house music head but that doesn’t always go over well!

What is some of your favorite music for snowboarding, driving to the mountains, or before you go out and do the apres-ski thing?

Mountain Missteps - Snow Valley Pink & Black Nightmare

Erica — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:30:23 +0000

Spotted on the Snow Valley slopes last Monday…

This is wrong on so many levels!

Snow Valley - St. Patrick’s Day Snowboarding

Erica — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:44:36 +0000

On Monday Liz and I both had off work so with her free Snow Valley tickets from a Ralphs promotion we drove up for the day. The cool thing about Snow Valley is that it’s on the way to Big Bear, but is about 30 minutes less drive time each way through those winding mountain roads. It’s promoted as being “140 turns closer to skiing!”

You can actually see Big Bear Lake from the chairlift, it was beautiful in the distance:

The day was gorgeous - blue skies with no clouds, and a temp around mid 40’s. And it was a Monday, so there was NOBODY on the mountain! I think there were maybe 30 cars in the entire parking lot.

Snow Valley was actually a pleasant surprise - I have driven past it countless times en route to Snow Summit, and I always thought it was some rinky-dink tubing/sledding resort. Not so! There’s actually 14 different chairs, and at the very top (~7800 ft. elevation) there are some black diamond runs. The resort even has a varied and large terrain park, with features including little kickers, tabletops, giant tires to jump over, and tons of rails & fun boxes. (No halfpipe though.) Here I am on the approach:

Here’s Liz going off the edge of the rainbow rail:

They had just gotten 6 inches of snow on Sunday, but there were high winds creating a lot of icy conditions in spite of the runs being groomed. It really didn’t soften up until after 1:30pm, with the sun beating down.

Because it was Monday, and it was so empty, Snow Valley only opened Chair 1. So unfortunately we didn’t experience the full mountain, only about 3-4 of the runs available. We couldn’t get to the back/top runs that almost looked like they were in a little bowl.

We got a lot of runs in though, and were the second-to-last people off the hill at the end of the day! (We were dawdling around in the park taking pictures of each other on the little jumps.) For free tickets, even though we had limited run/chairlift access, it was totally worth it. I got in one more day this season, and got to practice hitting the tabletops without a ton of people in the park.

Liz and I both really enjoyed the day - we want to go back another time when it’s fully open. Lift tickets are only $52 (weekends) and you can usually find some discounts through one of the resort’s promotional partners. Check them out sometime!

Some snow forecast for local mountains

Erica — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:26:12 +0000

It’s been very spring-like here in LA the past two weeks, so it’s been somewhat discouraging in terms of making plans to go snowboarding. However, the forecast for this weekend is for cooler temps and rain in LA county, with snow levels in our local mountains coming down to 4000 feet on Sunday. Yay!

As such, Liz and I are planning to hit Snow Valley on Monday since we both have off work. I’ve never been to that resort but I am looking forward to some fresh snow and exploring a new mountain! It’s on highway 18, on the way up to Big Bear. Elevations are a little lower, but the peak is over 7800′ and the base around 6800. There look to be a lot of trails that are blacks, so hopefully it will be a pleasant surprise.

Afterwards, maybe we’ll even make it back to LA for a few green beers since Mon is St. Patrick’s Day. Will report back with pictures early next week!

Weather forecast for Snow Valley

Mountain Missteps - Mammoth Purple/Pink Fashion Victim

Erica — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:46:12 +0000

Powder blue jacket, pink and grey camoflage pants, and a purple helmet with pink goggle straps? I’m sorry, but this outfit belongs on a Care Bear, NOT a snowboarder.

Do you have any “don’ts” from your time on the hill? Send them in! Email me - erica AT snowboard-women dotcom.

Hottie on the Hill from Mammoth - Daniella

Erica — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:24:27 +0000

We met Daniella at Mill Cafe right after we met Woolly… she was wearing the coolest sunglasses! She snowboards and was taking a break that afternoon on the sundeck. I had to get a pic of those glasses - classic.

Nice meeting you Daniella!

Rate this hottie… (and her sunglasses!) Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Mammoth Hotties on the Hill from Whiskey Creek

Erica — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:30:11 +0000

We met these guys at Whiskey Creek during the amazing Happy Hour there. (ps- go there from 4pm-5:30pm, you will not be sorry - half price on all their great food!)

Group of really cool guys from San Diego, celebrating a “guys weekend” on the hill. From left - Darren, Jeff, (Jessie in the middle), Kevin, and Ryan.

If I remember correctly, Darren and Ryan ski, and Jeff and Kevin snowboard. Way fun meeting you guys!

Rate ‘em! Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.