12-10-08

Jamie and I have officially been up on Mammoth Mountain a few times this season. What's it like? AWESOME! Jamie likes to snowboard but I prefer skiing. However you choose to get down the slopes the outcome is the same...Fun, fun, fun.

If you have kids make sure that you take them skiing/snowboarding in Mammoth. The mountain is so gigantic which makes for more runs with less people on them. Teach them yourselves or enroll them into the great ski/snowboard school that Mammoth offers. I can tell you first hand that all of the instructors are fantastic and really work with each individual child. Mammoth Mountain is truly the only one of its kind in California.

The current chairs operating are: Broadway Express, Stump Alley Express, Face Lift Express, Thunder Bound Express, Gold Rush Express, Roller Coaster Express, Discovery Chair, Chair 5, Chair 12, Chair 23 and both the Upper and Lower Panorama Gondolas.  Main Park, Forest Trail Park and Disco Park are all open with a variety of rails, boxes, jibs and jumps.

We are all eagerly awaiting the predicted snowfall for this coming weekend! Although Mammoth has not had a good dumping in awhile they are still able to continue making snow due to the low tempuratures at night. On that note...Let's all THINK SNOW!!!

It's true! Today, November 3, 2008 Mammoth Mountain opened its first lift. Broadway Express is operating daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on a base of 6-12 inches. The ski season has begun and you can feel the excitement all over our great little town.

Jamie and I both love living in Mammoth. It is truly a unique place. Whether you have grown up here, like Jamie, or lived elsewhere, (me!) you never get tired of all that this area has to offer. Where else could my family and I have been hiking in shorts to Devil's Postpile/Rainbow Falls and then be up at the Mountain, sledding and skiing...just five days later!

Even trick-or-treating is a unique experience in Mammoth. If you don't live here and have kids, you should try it one year. (Just make sure their costumes are warm!) This being a resort town, there are a lot of second homeowners. Trick-or-treating would be quite hard if you were to just pick any neighborhood because there would be a lot of empty homes. Instead, there is one specific housing tract called The Trails that has been designated as "the spot" that the whole town goes to! All of the people that live in those homes really go all out and the kids absolutely love it. Parents love it because it is so safe. The police and fire dept. block off the entire neighborhood and are there making sure everything is under control. Check it out next year and in the meantime...Happy Mammoth ski season!

The Town of Mammoth Lakes and Mammoth Mountain Ski Area welcomed the first commercial aircraft in over a decade to arrive in Mammoth Lakes, California on October 14, 2008. Travelling from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the 74 seat, high-speed, twin-engine turboprop Bombardier Q400 operated by Horizon Air safely touched down as scheduled at 10:05 a.m. With a snowy Mammoth Mountain in the background, courtesy of an early-season snowstorm the previous weekend, the first passengers exited the plane to be greeted by a gathering of town dignitaries and local residents. This inaugural flight was designed to give Horizon Air staff and special media guests a glimpse of what is to come when nonstop daily service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Mammoth Lakes begins on December 18, 2008.

For the upcoming winter, the 65 minute flight departs Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) daily at 2:20 p.m. and arrives at Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) at 3:25 p.m. The return flight leaves Mammoth at 4:05 p.m. and arrives at LAX at 5:10 p.m. In preparation for commercial air service from Horizon Air, Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) recently underwent $8 million in improvements including a renovated 5,000 sq. foot commercial terminal building, a reconstructed runway and taxiway, new runway lighting, new ramp lighting and a new automated weather system. The last commercial air service to MMH airport was Transworld Express in 1995.