page@ucla-cs.UUCP (02/13/86)
The following information is copied for your information from the LA Times of Feb. 9, 1986. Southern California skiers will probably be familier with most of this. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Mammoth Mountain, the nations's largest downhill ski resort, has the ski season in California- November through June. The latest closing day in the resort's 39-year history was July 28. Yearly snowfall on the mountain averages 335 inches; 567 inches fell during the 1982-32 season. The heaviest snowfall for a 24-hour period- eight feet- occurred in 1969. The coldest estimated temperature on top of Mammoth Mountain is 45 degrees below zero. Permanent, year-round residents of Mammoth Lakes now total 4,500; from November to May the figure is 7500. On major holiday weekends 45,000 to 50,000 people fill the village. In winder, 75% of the tourists come from Southern California; about two-thirds are ages 20-39. About half of the summer visitors come from Los Angeles; a third or so have annual incomes of more than $50,000. Mammoth Lakes has 2,500 condominium units. Mammoth Mountain is the largest volcano in the Long Valley caldera. It last erupted 200,000 years ago. ================================================================== Some more info not in the LA times: Mammoth currently has 90 inches of snow. An additional four feet are expected out of the storm that is currently approaching the West Coast. The top of the mountain is at 11,053 ft. The Main Lodge is at 9,000 ft. Mammoth is located in a trough in the Sierra through which many of the Pacific Storms which manage to slip this far south funnel. Because of this, Mammoth gets considerably more snow than the surrounding area. Mammoth gets huge crowds but the ski area is equally enormous so lift lines are seldom intolerable. I do generally ski downhill on weekdays and XC on weekends.
jimmy@scgvaxd.UUCP (j a Raisanen) (02/18/86)
In article <8916@ucla-cs.ARPA> page@ucla-cs.UUCP writes: >Yearly snowfall on the mountain averages 335 inches; 567 inches fell >during the 1982-32 season. The heaviest snowfall for a 24-hour period- >eight feet- occurred in 1969. > >Mammoth currently has 90 inches of snow. An additional four feet are >expected out of the storm that is currently approaching the West Coast. > I hear they received at least 8 feet of snow from the last storm and are expecting more from the next!!!!! I wonder if it tied that record??
jwp@sdchem.UUCP (John Pierce) (02/21/86)
As of 1620 this afternoon (Thu, 20Feb) Mammoth was reporting 220 inches of
"fresh packed powder" [whatever that's supposed to mean]. Lifts expected
to be open Friday:
T-bars 1,2
Gondola 1
Chairs 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 24, 25
Temperature today had reached 25, with light to moderate winds, and apparently
it was not snowing at the time. Chains required.
That's a lot of snow on the ground, even for Mammoth (i.e. skiing *down* into
chair 2 instead of sidestepping up, skiing directly onto the main lodge sun
deck, etc). I seem to remember that Mammoth changed from measuring snow depth
at the top to measuring it at the mid-point Chalet, or maybe even the main
lodge; does anybody know for certain? What's significant, however, are the
lifts that are closed:
Gondola 2; Chairs 3, 5, 9, 11(?), 13, 14, 23
(I can't imagine 11 is really closed; I probably just missed it on the report.)
Which means the whole top, "face of 5", *both* sides of 3, and the back of
the mountain are all closed. The question, of course, really is whether that's
due to avalanche conditions, or whether Uncle Dave is simply saving the snow
for the weekend crowds. My suspicion is that it's the latter (since that's
common practice), but I've never seen the front of 3 or chair 12 closed for
that reason except in late April and May, so there may really be avalanche
danger.
John Pierce, Chemistry, UC San Diego
jwp%chem@ucsd.edu
{decvax,sdcsvax}!sdchem!jwp