by The Editors on December 29, 2008
An avalanche this morning at 9:30 AM blasted right up to the back door of the Bridger Restaurant at the top of the Bridger Gondola at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, according to a story from the Mercury News.
Resort spokeswoman Anna Olson said Monday’s slide happened shortly before the ski area was to open for the day. Some resort employees were in the area at the time but no members of the public. . . . “An immediate search took place and everyone was accounted for,” Olson said. “The incident is under full investigation.”
This avalanche run only two days after a skier died in an in-bounds avalanche at the resort.
[Link: San Jose Mercury News]
by The Editors on December 18, 2008
Early Tuesday morning it appears that Mammoth Mountain’s Dragon’s Tail slid and took patroller Corey Denton for a 1,000 foot ride, according to the LA Times.
Denton and another patroller were ski-cutting, or using their skis to trigger avalanches in preparation for the opening of that portion of terrain to skiers and snowboarders. . . . The snow broke loose above Denton, however, and took him on a 1,000-foot ride down the slope. He managed to keep his head above the snow but at some point slammed into a tree.
His partner watched Denton the whole way and got him to the hospital where it turned out he only had a couple cracked ribs. Only?
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on December 17, 2008
Squaw Valley lost three seasonal workers on Tuesday when a security guard discovered the women dead in their running car in an employee parking lot at 1:05 PM. They had apparently died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Lacey Louann Sutton, 22, of Marysville, Sara Alice McCullah, 21, of Marysville, and a 17-year-old from Loma Rica whose name was not released because of her age, were pronounced dead. Investigators found no evidence of alcohol or other drug use, and there were no signs of foul play. It snowed 10 inches the night before, and Giovannini said the exhaust fumes probably got blocked and then seeped through the floorboards. Exhaust you can smell because of the other chemicals in it. Carbon monoxide has no smell, no taste, no color,” he said. “If it’s slow and starts building up you will get drowsy, you might get nauseous and you begin to lose consciousness.”
Our thoughts are with their families and friends.
[Link: San Francisco Chronicle via Transworld Business]
by The Editors on December 17, 2008
Mammoth Mountain, LA’s favorite snowboard resort, has been fighting for years to become a destination resort.
Now, for the sixth time in its history (Desert Airlines, Sierra Pacific Airlines, Wings West, Alpha Air, and United Express have all failed), the mountain is pleased to announce that an airline will begin daily flights to Mammoth Yosemite Airport (or Bishop airport if it’s storming) staring tomorrow December 18, 2008. This time around it’s Horizon Air. And the flights leave LAX at 2:20 PM every day.
Mammoth’s master of hyperbole CEO Rusty Gregory is over-joyed. . . obviously:
“Horizon’s inaugural flight to Mammoth Mountain is one of the most pivotal moments in the history of the resort and the town,” said Rusty Gregory, CEO of Mammoth Mountain. “The air service transforms a five-plus hour drive from Southern California into an hour’s flight, making Mammoth even more convenient to experience.”
Well, let’s do the math: to get on the flight most people will have to drive at least an hour to get to LAX and park. Then they have to be there an hour early to clear security. The flight takes one hour, and the drive into town is 15 minutes, unless you’re forced to land in Bishop, then it’s an hour. So best case flyers could save one hour, or if it’s storming, no time at all. Also, flying requires packing and un-packing all the gear four times and when you get there, you don’t even have a car.
But, ah, good luck with that Horizon Air.
[Editors’ Note: We couldn’t pass this addendum regarding the new route’s first flight: “The plane landed about a half an hour late, as leaving Los Angeles had been slowed down by weather and other connector flights. —Examiner.com]
[Link: MarketWatch]
by The Editors on December 17, 2008
According to a story on CBC.ca, the cause of the Whistler Blackcomb Excalibur Gondola tower failure was “water seeping into a welded and bolted joint and cracking the metal as it froze.”
Thirteen people suffered minor injuries on Tuesday when one of the towers that supports the cables on the Excalibur Gondola near Fitzsimmons Creek partially collapsed, leaving three gondola cars dangling in mid-air. . . . People were left stranded in the cold for about three hours while fire crews went gondola to gondola removing the 53 passengers from the 30 trapped cars.
Good thing it was only on the lower section of the gondola.
[Link: CBC.ca]
by The Editors on December 16, 2008
Just days after the world-famous Peak-2-Peak Gondola opened Whistler is having a little trouble on one of its other gondolas.
At least a dozen passengers were trapped inside two dangling gondolas at Canada’s Whistler ski resort Tuesday after a tower partially collapsed. . . . Police said there were no serious injuries in the accident about 2:30 p.m. local time. But the passengers remained stranded as emergency officials worked on a plan to evacuate them from the gondolas on the Excalibur lift.
Maybe the resort (which is barely hanging on) was putting a little too much money into the Peak-2-Peak. Click here for video.
[Link: LA Times via YoBeat]
by The Editors on December 5, 2008
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, Florida-based investment company CNL Financial Group, Inc. is close to closing on the purchase of three resorts today.
The REIT is expected to close a deal Friday that will add Colorado’s Crested Butte Ski Resort, Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont and Mount Sunapee Ski Resort in New Hampshire to its portfolio of 112 properties. The company owns several other ski properties, including Sugarloaf in Maine and Mammoth Mountain Village in California, as well as dozens of golf courses and water parks.
Seems a strange time to be investing in ski resorts, but maybe they were really cheap.
[Link: Wall Street Journal]
by The Editors on December 4, 2008
We’ll say it straight up: there is still no real snow in California. The San Francisco Chronicle breaks down the NorCal bleakness (Mt. Shasta pictured right).
Temperatures as high as the 60s this past week at mountain resorts mean that most ski and snowboard runs are bare and the lifts deserted. But there are exceptions.
Those exceptions: Boreal, Heavenly, Mt. Rose, and Mammoth. Keep praying.
[Link: San Francisco Chronicle]
by The Editors on November 26, 2008
Dave McCoy was one of the last, great, hardcore, real-deal resort visionaries. McCoy no longer owns the mountain, but the resort still survives today because of the foundation he built for it. Ask any one of the tens of thousands of people who worked for him over the years and you will hear the same thing: Dave McCoy loved sliding down mountains and nothing made him happier than firing up the lifts at Mammoth Mountain and then heading out to count smiles.
There’s no way to understand my life unless you see where I’ve spent it. When it’s clear and calm on the mountain, there’s no more beautiful place in the world.
And he’s right. . . . like he’s always been.
[Link: Forbes]
by The Editors on November 2, 2008
Just got the official email. Mammoth Mountain opens tomorrow, November 3, 2008.
A powerful storm hit the Eastern Sierra over the weekend dropping up to 18 inches of snow on Mammoth Mountain. By late Sunday, resort operators made the decision to open the slopes for skiing and riding on Monday, November 3, a full 10 days prior to schedule.
Kind of late notice but it looks like we were right. Tickets are $52 and the Broadway express will begin running at 9 AM.
[Link: Mammoth Mountain]
