There is nothing better than summer shredding at Mammoth Mountain. Morning park riding, afternoon skate, and an evening at the tubs. Day, after day, after day all the way until July 4, 2010.
“Those of us who run Mammoth Mountain came here to ski and ride as much as possible so we always open as early as we can and stay open as long as the snow lasts,” said Rusty Gregory, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mammoth Mountain. “We have the best April snow conditions I’ve seen in my 32 years on the mountain. With as much snow as we have, our customers would riot if we closed down as early as the other ski resorts. Keeping the mountain open until July 4th is what ‘Playing Big’ is all about.”
And the best news? Next year’s season pass is good beginning May 1, 2010. Follow the jump for more. [click to continue…]
New York Times has tapped into the newest extreme sport. It’s called “Airboarding” and it is apparently sweeping the nation.
Also known as snow body boards, Airboards (the Swiss company Fun-Care holds the trademark) are inflated raftlike sleds with underside grooves and side handles that allow you to turn using forearm pressure and shifting body weight. You grab the board, take a few running steps, plop down on your stomach headfirst, and you’re off. (Helmets are required.) When you want to stop, you just lean hard enough for a 90-degree hockey stop or dig your boots into the snow or simply roll right off the raft..
Hoodoo Ski Area, Schweitzer Mountain Resort, and Smugglers’ Notch are renting them so get humpin’.
The good news is that the Long Valley caldera, like her big sister Yellowstone in Wyoming, is not getting ready to super-erupt and again cover half of North America in ash. The bad news is that when Long Valley does someday get hot and bothered again, it may prove to be surprisingly bi-polar.
In other words it could blast and ooze, according to Stanford University geologist Gail Mahood. Mahood’s new research on the Mammoth supervolcano has not changed any future activity projections, though. That stat remains at “less than a one percent chance that it’s going to blow in any given year.”
According to a story in the Wall Street JournalIntrawest owner Fortress Investments LLC has reached an agreement with creditors to restructure its $1.4 billion debt and will not be auctioning off equity today.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the new deal will allow Intrawest owner Fortress to inject an additional $150 million of equity into the business to pay down debt and retain control of the resort company. . . The report also indicates a new $1.2-billion loan package will extend debt maturities by as long as four years and will charge a higher rate of interest than existing debt.
If you subscribe to the WSJ you can read all the details.
Creditors including the estate of collapsed bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., who have sought control of Intrawest since it missed a final payment in December on a $1.4 billion loan, agreed to extend the deadline for the auction until Feb. 26, according to the person, who declined to be identified because terms are private.
Nice of them not to dirty up the Olympic proceedings with some financial realities isn’t it?
Nicholas Pontillo, 24, of Lake Villa, IL, had been drinking and when he saw an ambulance in the parking lot of Madison, Wisconsin’s Tyrol Basin Ski & Snowboard Resort. The ambulance was running with the keys in and the door open so and apparently couldn’t help himself according to a story on Channel3000.com. The fact that there was someone in the back, probably made it even more attractive.
Fitchrona EMS had gone to the ski area on a medical call and a patient was being treated in the back of the ambulance when Nicholas Pontillo, 24, of Lake Villa, IL, climbed into the driver’s seat and drove around the parking lot, according to authorities.
Pontillo didn’t drive anywhere. He just drove around the parking lot until he was arrested. Now he’s in the Dane County Jail.
Fortress says it is negotiating with the Canadian government, which it says promised to make it whole for the time Whistler/Blackcomb mountain is used for the Olympics. Intrawest is trying to get roughly $90 million, and wants to be paid before the Games start on Feb. 12, a source said. . . If it does not get paid, Fortress plans to start legal proceedings, the source added. It is unclear if that could disrupt the Winter Olympics.
It appears that even the Winter Olympics have some high hurdle events.
And new bill before the California State Assembly could force California resorts to nut up regarding safety. The bill, AB 1652 was created by Dr. Dan Gregorie after the snowboarding death of his 24-year-old daughter. If passed it would require California ski resorts to do the following according to a story on ConsumerAffairs.com:
• Require each employee to wear a ski helmet.
• Adopt and enforce mandatory helmet use for all patrons age 18 years and younger.
• Prepare and post annual safety plans for public access.
• Provide accessible information regarding deaths and injuries, including the what, where, when, why and how of each incident.
• Establish standardized signage for ski-area boundaries and hazard warnings.
• Provide standardized safety padding for use at lift towers and other fixed obstacles.
Banks have seized Intrawest Holdings, the owner of the Whistler ski resort that’s hosting the Olympic downhill races next month, after the resort operator missed a big debt payment, and now plan to auction the company off right in the middle of the games. . . Intrawest’s owner, Fortress Investment Group, lost control after missing a big interest payment to its lenders. The lenders, which include Lehman Brothers and Davidson Kempner, plan to auction off ownership of Intrawest on Feb. 19, according to a notice published in major newspapers. The first events of the games are scheduled for Feb. 12 and the closing ceremony is set for Feb. 28.
[Editors’ note: The following was our original post from earlier today] Investors who have loaned Intrawest close to $1.4 billion dollars say they may foreclose on the resort operator next week according to a story in the New York Post.
Sources tell The Post that creditors holding $1.4 billion of debt on Whistler owner Intrawest are planning to foreclose on the company within the next week and a half, casting a shadow on the resort, which will host the alpine events of the 2010 Olympics. “It will probably happen within 10 days,” a source said. . . The showdown comes amid an impasse between the estate of fallen investment bank Lehman Brothers, Intrawest’s largest creditor, and Intrawest owner Fortress Investment Group, the publicly traded hedge fund run by Wesley Edens. . . By forcing Intrawest into bankruptcy, Lehman and other creditors could raise several billion dollars repossessing Intrawest and selling off its various resorts.
Luckily, all the snowboard events are taking place at Cypress Mountain. . . where last week they closed because there is no snow. But not to worry. They still have 23 days to load up.
