The Minarets

It seemed as if Mother Nature was playing a cruel joke on California. The early season La Niña storms were tracking north to Washington and British Columbia, leaving the snow-starved gentry of Tahoe and Mammoth to play with their mountain bikes. By early January, it appeared that Cali was in for a tough year.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, California found redemption at the hands of the snow gods. Ten feet of fresh snow fell on Mammoth in 10 days. The PowderChaser alerts were going off like crazy, and the highly anticipated Gravity Games were saved at the last minute. Now that the Games were over, I decided to consult the Magic 8 Ball to see if I should take a quick trip to Mammoth. All signs pointed to yes.

"Steep chutes and bowls are the rule rather than the exception, and the nice pow stashes in the trees are usually delicious...."

Mammoth Mountain is truly a unique ski area. The shape of this immense extinct volcano is the ultimate eye-candy for the snow slider. (Wait a minute, wasn't Mount St. Helens supposed to be extinct too?) The entire mountain is visible from miles away, so you can start choosing your lines when you're driving in.

Everything about this mountain is big. Put it in the same category with other big mountain favorites like Jackson, Whistler/Blackcomb, Little Cottonwood, Squaw... With 3,100 feet of leg-burning vert, and an elevation of 11,000 feet, this place is no joke. Steep chutes and bowls are the rule rather than the exception, and the nice pow stashes in the trees are usually delicious. Oh, one other thing, you can expect sunny days 70% of the season. Bring sunscreen.

The fact that Mammoth is a five-hour drive from LA does not deter most Southern California weekend warriors. They drive right past Big Bear, and cruise right on up highway 395 for two days of Mammoth bliss. San Franciscans don't seem to want to drive past Tahoe. Too bad for them! Mammoth is only a three-hour drive from Reno. Reno is only an hour-and-a-half flight from Seattle. Makes sense to me!

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When I arrived in Mammoth, all my prayers were answered. The snow was piled high on the side of the road, and the skies were clear and blue. It had the makings of an epic day! After a breakfast of champions (latté with a Red Bull chaser) it was time to begin the quest for pow. The freshies had been mostly chewed up the day before, but with the hot sun already beating down at 9am, we were ready to hike for our turns if we had to. My friend Matt and I headed onto the new gondola, which rolls right out of the base and straight to 11,000 feet.

"Lets go do a quick hike up Hemlock," Matt said. Sure, I thought, what better way to warm up. This led me to a revelation. When it snows 10 feet in a short period of time, hikes which are usually easy become post-hole marathons. Make no mistake, it was worth it. The steep face of Hemlock Bowl was coated with bottomless powder. Thank God for fat skis!

Next we hooked up with local ripper Chris "Rasta" Samuels for more Hemlock freshies. He had been lapping it all morning, and the smile on his face told the story. Rasta has been a Mammoth local for seven seasons now, and there is no place he'd rather be. "This mountain has it all!" Rasta's skiing habits are dictated by the conditions. Powder means freeride the steeps, the lack thereof calls for sessions in the terrain park. "The local scene is pretty laid back here," he says.

	Rasta

After a night of kicking down beers at the Clocktower, I can see why. Rasta keeps himself busy by skiing hard, hot tubbing, and working on his soon-to-be-launched website, RastaSki.com.

I went into the afternoon thinking that it couldn't get any better. I was wrong. I met up with a local snowboarder, Gary Fisher (not the father of the mountainbike). Gary has spent five seasons in Mammoth, and he was on a mission to find the goods. I was lucky enough to come along. Eddie from LA jumped aboard, and next thing you know, we passed through a boundary gate and entered Crest Bowl, aka, The Promised Land – Nirvana, Eden, Mecca, whatever you want to call it, it was the run of the year.

The sun drenched snow fields off the back of the hill were amazing. Undeniably, these were the best turns of the year. The powder was beyond bottomless. Amazingly, no one had found this paradise of pow, and we took full advantage of it. The last stretch of this run hits the backside of Dragons Tail, encompassing some of the most beautiful scenery anywhere. An amazing natural tunnel chute called Hole in the Wall will require a return visit from me. The bottom of this run leads out to the Tamarack Lodge, and a quick shuttle gets you right back to the resort!

So I hope this serves as a wake up call to all those who have not yet experienced Mammoth. It is the type of place that warrants a visit, albeit a pilgrimage. So the next time you plan that trip to Utah, or perhaps Jackson, think about heading to Mammoth instead. It just might change your perspective.

— Brian Levin, going back to Cali for MountainZone.com

Book your Mammoth Vacation on SkiResorts.com!

Check out the Gravity Games at Mammoth on NBC Feb 12th and 13th!