May 5, 2006, Mammoth Mtn., CA

Another beautiful spring day and for the first time in years , we arrived at Mammoth with no wind. Someone told us the lifts opened at 7:30am so we pulled in the parking lot at 7:15 and were amazed that we were in the first line near the Main Lodge. We noticed none of the lifts were operating yet and that sinking feeling of "I think they are still opening at 8:30". Even the ticket booths were closed. We used or Whistler Edge cards and received 25% off the normal spring rate of $56. Back in March when returning from Mexico, we were able to negotiate a 50% discount with the Edge card.

Everything is now operating out of the Main Lodge at 8900 feet. They closed Canyon and Eagle Lodges on April 30. The mountain had 5 high speed quads, chair 5 plus lower and upper gondola operating which is an enormous amount of their terrain. It was perfect cruising and we followed the sun around the mountain for corn as it softened. Mammoth plans to stay open until July 4 due to the large snow pack.

For those considering touring locally, the snow pack at Mammoth Crest and The Sherwins is still considerable. The snow line for McGee Peak has receded considerably and would require hiking(yuck) to the snow.

Zap & Jill