It’s been a cold, hard winter for fans of June Mountain’s rocking terrain, after parent company Mammoth closed the mountain due to budgetary constraints last year. Now, it appears Mammoth Mountain is putting that all behind them by announcing that June Mountain will reopen for business in “mid-December 2013.”
“We couldn’t be more pleased to announce that June Mountain will be back in operation for the 2013-14 season,” said Carl Williams, general manager of June Mountain. “Next winter we look forward to bringing skiers and snowboarders a great on-mountain experience while also planning for June’s future, including the possibility of a new lift and enhanced snowmaking.”
Now all they need is a new way to get up the face and things will be right back on track. Might have to wait until 2015-16 for that, however. For the official word from Mammoth follow the jump.
An avalanche near Vail, Colorado claimed the life of one snowboarder on Thursday, April 18, 2013, according to a story on The Denver Channel. The slide happened after the friends had been “taking turns” riding Avalanche Bowl all day on Thursday.
Deputies say it appears the avalanche was triggered by two snowboarders who were dropped off at the top of the bowl by the third person on a snowmobile. . . One snowboarder escaped the avalanche, but the other was trapped. The friends found the trapped snowboarder using avalanche beacons but were unable to revive the person.
The Eagle County Sheriff’s office also thought it was important to mention that the snowboarders were under the includes of “Dead-Head OG” at the time of the avalanche. Our thoughts are with the snowboarders family and friends.
Chelone “Chilly” Miller, 29, was found dead in the van where he lived in Mammoth Lakes, California on Sunday afternoon, April 7, 2013, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Miller, the brother of Olympic skier Bode Miller, was working toward making the 2014 US Olympic Team in snowboard cross.
According to the statement, the sheriff’s office dispatch received a call around 12:45 p.m. Sunday regarding an unresponsive male in his van. Paramedics, the fire department and deputies were dispatched to the scene, whereupon arrival “it was determined that Mr. Miller was deceased,” the statement said.
According to a story on ESPN.com/Action, Miller was found by a close friend.
Miller — affectionately known as “Chilly” — played golf Friday and spent Saturday lapping the resort’s terrain park. He had planned to fly to Alaska to compete in the Arctic Man race on Friday, an event that pairs snowmobilers with skiers and snowboarders who reach speeds in excess of 80 mph. “He was a very talented snowboarder and a great friend,” said John Teller, a Mammoth-based skicross racer who won X Games gold in 2011.
No foul play is suspected in Miller’s death. According to ESPN he had a “history of seizures” following a 2005 motorcycle crash that left him in a coma for 11 days. Our thoughts are with Miller’s friends and family.
A 38-year-old British snowboarder was found dead 16 feet down in a crevasse on a glacier at Grand Montet in Chamonix France on Wednesday, March 27, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
It is believed the man had snowboarded over a snow bridge on the Rognon glacier and it had collapsed under his weight. . . A helicopter immediately flew over the scene of the accident at Grand Montets and two rescuers were winched down into the crevasse. . . But the man was already dead.
The man was a local who lived in Passy. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
An snowboarder cruising out of bounds in Aspen, Colorado’s Highland Bowl yesterday afternoon (March 20, 2013) discovered the body of what is thought to be a skier Jeff Walker, 55, (pictured right) who has been missing for two weeks, according to a story in the Aspen Daily News.
Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle confirmed a snowboarder found a dead body in what’s known as the “grey zones,” beyond the Northwoods portion of the bowl and an area called Child’s Play. The snowboarder reported the body to Highlands ski patrol around 4 p.m. Patrollers went to the area, confirmed that a body was there, took photographs and called the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.
Our thoughts are with Walker’s family and friends as well as with the snowboarder who found him. Not exactly the way to end a day in the Grey Zones.
While we didn’t see any rotary bindings during our cruise of the 2013 SIA Snow Show in Denver (we’re sure they were there, they always are) we are glad to see that the ubiquitously useless innovation is not yet dead. A post on Shreddit alerted us to the Rotary Binding which is currently attempting to raise funds on Kickstarter. And there’s nothing new here:
Anyone who has ever gotten on or off a chairlift with a snowboard knows how uncomfortable it can be. Simply getting on and off requires painful bending of the knees and ankles in directions they were never meant to bend! . . Our state of the art bindings allow the board to rotate around the front foot by the simple tug of a cord. The Rotary Snowboard Bindings are extremely simple and safe to use while making your way to the next ski lift.
Michael Fultz, of San Diego, California, hopes to raise $100,000 for the project. With 28 days to go he’s got close to $3,000. We’re guessing he won’t reach his goal, but that’s probably best for everyone involved. Because seriously, we’ll say this again, “No one who snowboards wants a rotating binding.”
Emily “Mimi” Watts, a 26-year-old British snowboarder (pictured right), is fighting for her life in an Annecy, France hospital after falling headfirst into a snowdrift and being stuck for 45 minutes at Chamonix on Saturday afternoon, December 8, 2012. She had suffered cardiac arrest by the time rescuers arrived, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
Describing Mimi as ‘heavenly’ and with a ‘passion for life’, her aunt Shona Pollock said her parents and brothers had rushed to be at her bedside. . . The design student was evacuated to hospital in nearby Annecy, before being transferred to a specialist unit. . . Miss Pollock said: ‘She is not very well I am afraid, she is still alive, but she is not very well, the family are at her bedside, they are all there. . . ‘We don’t know exactly what happened at the moment, but we believe she was snowboarding on piste and they tend to do little jumps. . . and went into a snow fall and suffocated. . . ‘That is what they think, but nobody quite knows for sure.
Our thoughts are with Watts and her family and friends. We hope she can pull through this.
[Editors’ Note: As of December 12, 2012 it appears that Mimi Watts is and has been “brain dead” since she suffocated on the hill and that her family says “it is only a matter of time before her life support is switched off.” Sad news for everyone. Mail Online.
[Update December 13, 2012: Mimi Watts has died according to a story on Sky News. She was 26.]
A 28-year-old snowboarder from Sydney, Australia died at New South Wales Thredbo Resort on Friday, July 27, 2012 after slamming into a tree, according to a story in the Canberra Times.
The Sydney man suffered ‘‘massive internal injuries’’ and died almost instantly after hitting a tree about 11.30am on Thredbo’s Supertrail run, police say. . . He was treated by a number of off-duty doctors and the Thredbo Ski Patrol also responded. . . But the man was dead before he arrived at the Thredbo medical centre.
A 32-year-old snowboarder died last Tuesday (April 17, 2012) while riding off-piste at the French resort of Val Thorens, according to a story on Valthonet.com.
The man was with a group of three snowboarders who had hiked up the Mont du Borgne, on the Saint Martin de Belleville side of the valley when the tragic accident happened. . . At around 7 pm the snowboarder was swept away from the rest of the group by a huge avalanche measuring 100 metres wide by 300 metres long. . . The rescue team dug the victim out of the avalanche just before nightfall and performed emergency CPR but the man could not be revived and was pronounced dead.
Our thought are with the man’s family and friends.
A male snowboarder riding Blackcomb Mountain’s Seventh Heaven was found unconscious and not breathing in a tree well Wednesday at 11 AM, according to a story on CBC News.
Police said a skier found the snowboarder about 11 a.m. PT Wednesday, head down in snow at the foot of a tree beside a ski run on the mountain called Seventh Heaven. . . “The skier tried to pull the male from the tree well but was unable to do so,” said RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair. . . “He hiked further up the hill to alert other skiers and snowboarders in the area. Together they were able to pull the male [out].”
The snowboarder was taking to the Whistler Heath Care Center where he was pronounced dead. Our thoughts are with his friends and family.
It’s been a cold, hard winter for fans of June Mountain’s rocking terrain, after parent company Mammoth closed the mountain due to budgetary constraints last year. Now, it appears Mammoth Mountain is putting that all behind them by announcing that June Mountain will reopen for business in “mid-December 2013.”
