Who is Bump Diamond?
Graduate of the Mammoth School of Fish
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The News Archive
The New Scene
January 14, 2008
Egad what a snarl over at the old Chair 9 this past weekend, huh? Skiers and snowboarders headed over to the new lift, "Cloud Nine Express," only to get caught on the 405 during the morning rush. Thank God for the lunch break and the San Diego Chargers. By the time the Bolts kicked off at one o'clock, the whole ski hill more or less emptied, except for the women and children and the baffled Euros. At that point, Mammoth Mountain basically turned into California's largest bar. The Jagermeister people ought to give us an award. Me? I caught the game in fits and starts, leaving wherever I was at the quarter breaks, play reviews and injury breaks. That gave me plenty off ski time, although it caused the usual confusion. What's L.T. doing on the sideline? Where is Rivers? By the time the Good Guys had beaten down Indy the ski day was basically over but the evening turned out to be just great. The ski hill brought back its Festival off Lights fireworks show over at Canyon Lodge, and it was really fantastic.We're So Drunk
November 21, 2007
There's drunk, and then there's falling down, utterly shitfaced, unholy and deathly drunk. Mammoth's cops came across the latter last week. Maybe the guy was bummed over the snow situation. Or the 13 percent bed tax. Or USC's season. Or he could have been one of those people in the lottery to get one of those 10 new liquor permits and just got tired of waiting. Who knows? So this guy was staying at an motel that was not identified in the police report. He was so polluted he could not leave his room. The motel people freaked out, natch, and called Mammoth's Finest. What they found was a dude whose blood alcohol was .57 percent -- a historic high for Mammoth, and that's really something.Our Stupid Street
November 3, 2007
It's good to hear that Mammoth is about to do something about our big, stupid street. That would be Meridian Blvd., which isn't a "boulevard" in any real sense except that it's lined with trees. Meridian, which runs from Old Mammoth Road up to Chair 15. is more like a runway. It has four traffic lanes, no sidewalks to speak of except up by the golf course, and it has a preposterous traffic light at Minaret Rd. It's a boulevard in the same sense that U.S. Hwy. 395 is a boulevard. Meridian has a 40 miles-an-hour speed limit and no sidewalks, so the moms with their strollers, the dogs with their humans and the pedestrians with their sneaks have to dodge drivers who are often generous in their interpretation of 40 miles an hour. In 2009, though, sanity might make a stand, right there at the corner of Meridian and Minaret.Shame On DFG
October 30, 2007
The California Department of Fish and Game, using tactics akin to a John LeCarre spy novel, at one point assigned a warden to shadow Mammoth "Bear Man" Steve Searles, hoping that the department could somehow bust him and get him out of their hair. In a report in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times, Al Zamudio, a former Fish and Game warden, said his supervisors assigned him to watch Searles. "I spent a lot of nights following Steve," Zamudio said. "My lieutenant told me to keep an eye on him. If I caught him doing anything illegal, he said he'd buy me a steak dinner." This ain't right. It's not right in Mammoth, it's not right for our sense of right and wrong, and it's not right for our town's policy of cohabitation with wildlife. This stinks.Summer Rules
July 7, 2007
Everybody showed up this week, so it's time to review the rules around here. 1. No whining. Everyone knows that this isn't summer; it's construction season. Big trucks. Hammering. More hammering. Table saws. A little more hammering. If you're looking for quiet, try Upstate New York, which overbuilt itself many decades ago. 2. No left turns. It's hard to believe that Mammoth can have traffic problems. After all, most of the streets are as wide as airport runways, and stoplights remain something of a novelty. That's actually the problem. SUVs stack up chockablock behind the one Hummer driver who will wait forever to make a left. Be a sport. Turn right and go around the block if you have to.Spooky
June 28, 2007
Went over to San Francisco, where the Sierra Business Council unveiled its spiffy new "State of the Sierra" report. Gotta admit is was under some spooky circumstances, what with the Angora Fire simultaneously devouring a chunk of Lake Tahoe forest and homes. But what the heck. It was entirely appropriate, too. The Sierra's population has more than doubled California's average rate in the last 10 years as pressure from the cities keeps on its relentless path. Projections indicate that that population will double between 1990 and 2020. Housing prices doubled between 1997 and 2003; smart planning in many mountain towns is stymied by local interests colliding.Bailed Out
June 14, 2007
That sure was a generous thing the Town Council did on behalf of Mammoth's taxpayers earlier this month. First, the council used some tax cash to bail out the Jazz Jubilee by handing out $15,000 when the organizers said they couldn't recover from losing a big sponsor. Then, on another front, the council lowered Development Impact Fees for builders on the premise that lowering the fees will prevent a collapse of the Transient Occupancy Tax base that fuels the town. This is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Anglers concerned about the late fishing season are said to be getting ready to petition the council for help in importing water to fill the streams in August and September, although no one knows how the council will pull that one off.Plastic Bags
May 21, 2007
That Town Cleanup Day last Saturday was the easiest one in memory. With the snowpack at near nothin' there wasn't much around except the usual and astonishing number of plastic bags blowing in the branches of the aspen tangles. I've had it with plastic bags. Australia outlawed 'em years ago. San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley are going to ban them. A guy goes to Vons to get three cans of beans and he gets three plastic bags, doubled, to carry them, home. Go figure that one. After a while, you just kind of get used to it, I guess. Someone goes to Rite Aid for a four-pack of batteries, and he gets a plastic bag.Name That Expresso
May 9, 2007
As soon as Mammoth Mountain opened up the competition to name the new Chair 9, the great minds of Mammoth went to work. "It's a 6 pack ... And it's Chair 9 ... So obviously, 69 Express!" wrote one of the wits on one of the mountain's message boards. Lots of other ideas are coming in. Before these ideas get lost to history, though, here are a scant few that showed up in public, on the threads, and here they are, lest they be lost in the cinders.Chair 9
April 11, 2007
Old Chair 9 took its last skiers and riders up the hill last weekend, and if there was any sentimentality about that, it didn't come from me. Chair 9 was a pain in the ass - literally for the people who got smacked in the hiney by the two-person, fixed-grip throwback. But once on board, hey! I usually get stuck with a stoner who's so far into his or her headphones that there's no one to talk to, so I just kinda sit there for the 10-minute ride to the top and wonder how long it takes for kneecaps to freeze.Branded
March 30, 2007
Uh oh. Marketing wonks from the oddly punctuated siegel + gale are in our midst, nosing around this way and that, and in about a year or so, the famous creators of the NBA logo, the Yahoo! URL Web interface and the Harley-Davidson brand logo will come up with ... Mammoth. Acting under the wand of Mammoth Mountain marketing specialist Noah Manduke and alongside town officials, Our Leaders are embarking on what town communications officer Stu Brown calls "a project to unify the town and resort around a single, concrete brand strategy that will define, dramatize and deliver on the unique appeal of Mammoth - the destination and the experience."Where's Oprah?
March 29, 2007
Oprah Winfrey was supposed to have been here, but she must have been so darned sneaky that nobody noticed her, or else she didn't get here at all, no matter what anybody says. My pal Judy Bridger said she had her eyes trained on the airport for any and all muscular jets for the last week, but she didn't see any that would have been Oprah's, so she doubted the rumor right away. On the other hand, they don't call her "Lyin' Judy" for nothing, so I myself took a wait-and-see stance. The first thing people thought of was that Oprah was coming up here for the April 9 first anniversary of the ski patrol tragedy.Being Mammoth
March 27, 2007
You know you're a true local if ... You want a dog park because the Inyo National Forest just doesn't cut it, somehow. You know that the speed limit on Main Street, a business corridor, is 35 miles an hour, while Meridian Blvd., a residential corridor, is 40 miles an hour. You know that one of the best restaurants in the Eastern Sierra is in a gas station and only open in the warm months. You know that there's good fishing in the winter along the Lower Owens. You've skied The Hose. You know how The Hose came to be.Green Mammoth Blues
March 11, 2007
The more I think about that Town Council meeting a month ago, the more I waver between befuddled and befumed, as in mixed up and angry. The Council on Wednesday, Feb. 7, adopted the "U.S. Mayors Climate Control Agreement, " a goody two-shoes thing that seeks to reduce greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), that are associated with global warming. Who can argue with that? The problem is that Mammoth officials all pat themselves on the back, then go to work the next day and try to figure out ways to convince more people to hop in their immense, gas-guzzling SUVs, drive six hours up and six hours back (Southern Caliornia) and, while here, enjoy 4WD, dirt bikes, snowmobiles and the ski area.Best In the World
February 20, 2007
She's got the best name for any athlete anywhere: Hannah Victory. She's 20 years old, races for the Mammoth Mountain Ski Team and is one of 14 skiers named to compete March 7-11 in the 2007 FIS Alpine Junior World Ski Championships in Austria. That's the good news. The bad news is that the U.S. Ski Team, still tagging itself as "best in the world," turns out to be worst in the world. All in all, it's been a tough year for American hubris. Here's how the New York Times put it on Sunday, Feb. 18: "The door smacked the United States on its way out of the Alpine skiing world championships Sunday, when it finished dead last in the team event. It put together the worst performance by any nation in the short history of team racing.The Presidents
February 9, 2007
The most confusing federal holiday of the year is upon us: Presidents' Day. It used to be easy. There were two really terrific presidents. George Washington, obviously, and Abraham Lincoln (apparently not so obviously in many parts of the Republic) whose birthdays are Feb. 12 and 22 respectively. OK, so Lincoln's Birthday never made it as an official federal holiday, like Washington's. The South wasn't so wild about Mr. Lincoln. In Alabama, Lincoln is dropped out entirely. Presidents' Day there is known as "Washington and Jefferson Day." Got that? In Connecticut, while Washington's Birthday is a federal holiday, Abraham Lincoln's birthday is still a state holiday, falling on February 12 regardless of the day of the week.Groundhog Day
February 1, 2007
Just now getting back from the daily bonfire where, in an effort to please the snow gods, we burned old ski boots, old skis, old bamboo poles and a couple of season passes to June Lake Ski Area. Someone also tossed in the severed head of a ... um, never mind. The subject of Groundhog Day came up, naturally, on account of it's tomorrow and is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. It's the weirdest holiday in any ski town. Who would actually *want* the winter to end? Around here, it hasn't even begun yet, hardly. Thus the daily bonfire. About Groundhog Day, though. Don't just dismiss it as a throwaway observanceContemplating Snow
January 23, 2007
I was sittin' around, contemplating the snow situation and here's some stuff I came up with: "Stewardesses" is the longest word in English that is typed with only the left hand; most American car horns honk in the key of F; Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, and the average person falls asleep in seven minutes. I don't know how I come up with this stuff, or why I remember that the citrus soda "7-UP" was created in 1929 and that the " 7" was selected after the original 7-ounce containers and 'UP' for the direction of the bubbles.Gourmet Gulch
January 11, 2007
It's not exactly Berkeley (what is?) but still, an itty-bitty kind of "gourmet gulch" has sprung up in the Sierra Center Mall. The new kid on the block is Mountain Wok, a new iteration of the old Ocean Wok, featuring Chinese. It's a sort of grab-and-go and it's not open yet, but it's Chinese and in Mammoth, that counts for world cuisine. The new place is a couple of doors away from Hot Chicks Rotisserie, which in turn is just down the line from Edisto Gallery and Tea Room, which is just downstairs from old standby Shogun. So there is Japanese, Chinese, organic-sensible and American. But the real coup is that Tailwaggers Gourmet Dog Bakery & Boutique is grouped in there, too, and let's just see Berkeley top that, huh?We Need Trails
December 7, 2006
Mammoth sent 20 citizens on the ballyhooed "Peer Resort Tour" and came back with a single, overriding revelation: "We need more trails." Forgive me when I say "Well, duh." There was more than just trails, though. After traipsing around the West, the members of the group also seem to think that the only way Mammoth is going to get all the stuff it wants is to start "thinking outside the box" in terms of financing. Double duh. And another thing: government entities such as towns, counties, Forest Services and so on, need to be on the same page and work together. Triple duh. I'm not sure that anybody exactly needed to go on a tour of Park City, Telluride, Aspen, Jackson Hole and Whistler to come up with this.What, Me Worry?
October 20, 2006
I wasn't feeling so hot this morning, which was disappointing, seeing as how this was the first day of the big "Life and Wellness" convention thing. I worried that I might not feel well enough to go, but I overrode that worry with some car-related anxieties and job stuff. I hacked and wheezed my way through a couple of cups of coffee, read the news online, picked up a scone and another cuppa Joe at the Edisto outpost at Canyon Lodge and settled in to hear Dr. Dennis Schumacher's presentation, "Seeking Perfect Health With Traditional and Alternative Medicine." Turns out I'd spent the entire morning killing myself.Indian Summer Begins
September 16, 2006
Temperatures dropped into the mid-20s in Mammoth overnight on Friday, Sept. 15, putting a fresh layer of ice on lawns whose eternally absent (and absent minded) owners still have their automatic sprinklers turned on. Up here, that's always the signal that Indian Summer has begun, which raises the annual question: What's the deal with Indian Summer, anyway? And did they have second homeowners in the 1600s? I padded on over to the University of Mammoth campus to inquire, and after chewing the fat with some profs in the History and Anthropolgy deparments, a couple of theories emerged.A Smooth Scenic Loop
July 24, 2006
If the six-mile-long Mammoth Lakes Scenic Loop can't be exactly scenic—it ain't scenic and it ain't a loop— then at least it oughta maybe be a smooth bike ride, which it also ain't. Somebody in the government agrees with that, thanks be to the cycling gods. On Monday, July 31, the town is going to have an Open House to gather community input for a proposed improvement on the road. The proposed improvements would rehabilitate, resurface and restore existing pavement, add paved shoulders, widen the curves, shift alignments to obtain the proposed pavement width, and construct paved ditches where desired width cannot be obtained.RIP Kava
July 20, 2006
The Bishop coffee wars, a happy time for latte-guzzlers, chai tea aficionados and chit-chatters up and down the East Side, has claimed its first victim. The Kava Coffeehouse, at 206 N. Main St. is "closed for the summer" and when I bopped in there the other day to see what was up, I ran straight into a realtor who is brokering the property. There are rumors all over the place as to what happened, but one downtown merchant voiced a prevalent theory: "When Starbucks came in (on the north side of town), that was just one too many coffeehouses."Boomtown Rats
July 17, 2006
The news from up here in Boomtown is all about Kevin Green, the Southern California real-estate whatever (broker? dealer? manager?) who stiffed a bunch of local restaurant owners out of deals they thought they had all wrapped up. Everything over at Gomez's, Berger's and Slocum's is now back to where it was before Green blew into town and blew people's minds by offering top dollar for properties (New motto: "Buy High, Sell High!"). And while the Grumpy's Sports Bar case is still apparently up in the air, nobody's really getting dreamy-eyed over the prospects for new, flat-panel TVs or more satellite sports packages any time soon. Gosh, do you think everyone involved in the Green Affair might have been riding on the last really big wave of the Boom, as if (in the words of Greg Brown) the Boom still had room?U of M Students: Radioactive Skiing
June 30, 2006
Physics students studying this summer at the University of Mammoth say they have developed a novel scheme for night skiing that would involve the use of natural resources. The students, working in cooperation with students in the U of M school of business, have proposed the "Yucca Mountain Ski Area" in Nevada, and say the business model would involve night skiing, but without the use of any lights. "With the nuclear waste stored inside the mountain, we think we can generate moderate to high glow levels year round," said Teeney Brayne, a graduate student from West Hollywood. "We think it would be trippier than Fever, by a long shot."Dogtown, U.S.A.
June 26, 2006
The canine crowd in Mammoth has rarely been more giddy. First, the town's veterinarian, Gaylon TeSlaa, was so hot to promote Mammoth as "Dogtown, U.S.A.," that there was talk of him teaming up with Tailwaggers to create a kind of wellness facility for hounds. It didn't work out, but it is said that Barry S. Sternlicht, chief of Starwood honcho at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, would give his blessing to the move. "This is where dogs come to revitalize their souls and their well beings," Sternlicht supposedly said, although I couldn't confirm the quote.Bear Eats Frosh Homework
June 16, 2006
In what has become a rite of the summer session, bears are hassling the new crop of University of Mammoth freshmen. According to UM security, four freshmen, calling themselves "The Four Freshmen," each complained in class this week that "a bear ate my homework." "Any other place, we'd just go ahead and flunk these kids," said the university's dean, Dean Strichter. In addition to food, the bear scavenged a paper on F. Scott Fitzgerald; a theme on Heidegger's theories of phenomenology; a workbook in introduction to German and a Maxim magazine.Mammoth Steps Up
June 7, 2006
Mammoth's voters revealed a refreshing streak of independence on Tuesday, declining to let the candidates or political action groups harsh their mellow. Wendy Sugimura? Who knew? Maybe it was because the other candidates had so many red, white and blue yard signs in front of vacant second-homeowners' houses that it actually got to be embarrassing. Yipes, already. And the TV commercials: Yow. Even the dog over at the Pavlovs was spotted cringing toward the end of the campaign.Victoria's Secret
June 5, 2006
We're all pretty much used to the L.L. Bean team of models and photographers who show up in Mammoth every year, and they're not hard to miss: extremely happy, all the time, sliding on the snow and finishing the day with graham crackers and milk, sitting around a fire on the old braid rug. And the Eddie Bauer catalog people are a pretty good bet for just as good a time, too. But this week, Mammoth Mountain enters a whole new level as pre-production work begins on behalf of Victoria's Secret. These are not L.L. Bean models coming to town.UM To Get 1-A Status?
June 2, 2006
University of Mammoth football might hit the big-time in the next few years if Mushers head coach Ronald "Bigs" LaBlash succeeds in his current quest. "I've applied to the NCAA for Division 1-A status," he said yesterday at a press conference that was attended by just me. "I see no reason why this institution cannot compete with the Cals, Stanfords, Oregons and Caltechs." Informed that Caltech did not compete at the Division I-A level in any sport, LaBlash said, "Well, there you go. See what I mean?"Memorial Day 2006
May 25, 2006
Every year, just about everybody forgets how just goldarned memorable Mammoth's Memorial Day weekends can be. It's a week of fun, celebration and hallowed tradition. First, there is the annual re-striping of the Vons lot. For one whole day, half the lot is closed while Black Gold Asphalt performs its traditional overlay and painting. While the trucks and rollers perform, Mammoth residents respond in the quaint old way: driving around in circles up by the theaters, pretending to look for spots. It's so much fun that the whole thing is repeated the next day.Mammoth 2011
May 11, 2006
Town Manager Robert F. Clark presented Mammothists with an inch thick "Long-Term Forecast" that details what Mammoth could become in five years. Assuming that Mammoth will continue to have some kind of growth, Clark painted a picture in which Mammoth, by 2011, will be "a village in a park," with a vibrant commercial core and a workforce that will live in the town. Mammoth would have a Main Street promenade, frequent bus service, regional air service to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas, outdoor festival sites and more activities and events.Mary Siceloff
May 1, 2006
The first time we ran into Mary Siceloff was at a Memorial Day art show in front of Footloose. She was working with the photographer and mountaineer Claude Fiddler then. It was some kind of greeting: a burst of energy complemented by her bright, boisterous, red hair and a smile that was as warm as the sun. And that was that. She always has had a knack for making friends for life in about 20 seconds.Long Live June
April 17, 2006
By now, everyone knows that, through an intervention of God herself, June Mountain Ski Area is going to remain a seven-days-a-week proposition. Why people love June befuddles many of my out-of-town cohorts, who just don't get "the June thing." These people are without aesthetic taste buds. So I made up a list of why I not only like, but *love* June Mountain. 1. Chair J1. It is the slowest chair in all of creation. It is a two-seat, fixed grip antique and it is the Eastern Sierra's best carnival ride. "We're going to get on that thing?!?!?!?!?"Prognosticating Spring
April 5, 2006
Given the record snow this season, we got to sitting around the other night, discussing the ramifications and whatnot. This was with Buck Meadows and Lyin' Judy Bridger and the rest of the gang. We were having a time over in The Ghetto. This house in particular had an extra refrigerator. All you do is open the front door and there is a solid wall of packed snow, with beers and whatever jammed in there. I thought I saw an Amy's frozen pizza, but maybe I dreamed that up. Buck said I probably dreamed it. Said it happens to him alla time.Heat Exchange
March 26, 2006
The Town Council Candidates' Forum that the Chamber is throwing in May could get to be quite a hoot if this past weekend's spat between incumbent Tony Barrett and challenger Therese Hankel is an indication. Hankel, a Mammoth attorney who was tossed off the Planning Commission by the Council last September for not playing team ball, wrote in a letter to The Sheet that Barrett shouldn't be voting on issues relating to the proposed Village parking structure. Barrett fired back in a letter than ran next to Hankel's. Hoo boy!RIP Booky Joint
March 13, 2006
In Mammoth, a business that can get to 30 years qualifies as an institution. One that can't get to 31 qualifies as a former institution, which is what we hear the Booky Joint is about to be at the end of March. The word is that owner Mike Coffey is closing 'er down, if for no other reason than an unmistakable lack of, er, actual books, which leaves The Book Chalet as the only (used) bookstore in town.Mammoth Whitewater
March 10, 2006
I just finished reading the Men's Journal article about the "50 Best Places To Live." No beefs here about including Mammoth and Bishop in the list, but I nevertheless was baffled by the magazine's assertion that we have whitewater sports around here. I asked some of the sporting goods places if they'd had any runs on whitewater kayaks or anything like that since the article hit the racks on March 7, and those people just stared back at me, as bewildered as a hatchery trout. Hmm. How could MJ have gotten it so mixed up? Finally—doh!— I figured it out, picked up the phone and called Lyin' Judy Bridger.Bye-Bye, Plaza
March 6, 2006
Only a Mammothist film buff could really truly enjoy the coincidence of all the Oscar Hollywooders trying to goad us back into theaters and away from our DVD players. Up here in the High Country, movies are still something of a novelty, and that's why it seemed like such a bummer when we found out that we're about to lose the Plaza Theater. But alas and alack and Men in Black, the Plaza is going to be part of a mixed-use, condo-retail project, so you can take yer Brokeback Mountain and put it where the projector don't shine, if you know what I mean, and I know you do.Mammoth Blows
February 27, 2006
Mammoth being the volatile place that it is, it seems inevitable that somebody would want to capitalize on it instead of whining so much. In their new online store, the shopkeepeers at MammothLocal.com have unleashed a whole new slew of products under the "Mammoth Blows" signature. There are totes and shirts and messenger bags and you name it. There's also a line of products from MammothLocal and Mammoth Monthly, but I'm going for the Blows stuff.Joining Bode
February 25, 2006
I have joined Bode, and it sure feels weird. It feels weird to be so comfortable with not winning five medals, and on such a big stage like the Olympics, too! I'm learning that it's all subjective, somehow, and not about medals, even if huge sponsors are paying lots and lots of dough to just win, baby. But I've learned so much just by joining up. Suddenly I can still keep my attention trained on what's important, like drinking beer late at night and hanging out in a groovy RV. Winning? Eh.Blogging With Team Aguirre
February 2, 2006
We were hanging out at Angel's at lunchtime and in walked Mike and Julie Aguirre, suddenly the two most high-profile parents in Mammoth on account of Mason, their Olympian halfpipe son. We got to talking about Mike's Blog, on which he's going to take us along for the Turin ride. So bookmark that, amigos. He'll post from Italy as soon he gets there, says he. He also promises some Internet TV on www.maniatv.com, but that won't come along until later.What's In A Name?
January 25, 2006
Turin? Torino? Just where the heckfire are the Olympic Games, anyway, and whattup with the Turin/Torino thing? If we go with the Americanized—I have a hunch the English are really to blame—version, then we also will have to refer to the famous "Shroud of Torino,” and that won't do. This reminds me of a column that the late, great and irate Richard O. Shirk penned on Feb. 16, 1986. "Foreign place names take a horrid pounding at the hands of the Americanos. The poor Italians take a ferocious lacing, and the results are universally ugly.Wow Tahoe, Huh?
January 17, 2006
I'm not exactly the sort to point fingers and go "nyah, nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah," but wow and holy cow, was Tahoe a mess last wekend or what? It's weird enough here in The Mam, having a ski hill that has no problem with 20,000 skiers and boarders but sags under their weight in the town, but boy, Tahoe, huh? The assignment couldn't have been easier: Pick a clear day after a storm, on the middle day of a three-day ski weekend (and wouldn't Dr. King have loved that?), head on down to the Bay Area and see if the Warriors might raise a little havoc with the Sonics.We're In Reno Now
January 6, 2006
Used to be, you turn on cable TV in Mammoth and you had no idea just where in the world you were, exactly. NBC was out of Sacramento. CBS was out of Denver, for heckfire's sake. Toss in a couple of L.A. stations and a Reno station that picked up Oakland 10 o'clock news, and you had an amazing TV mishmash. Personally, I dug it, but as of Jan. 1 all that's out the window. We're in Reno now, videoheads, so better start working on that western Nevada accent and wearing our Wranglers maybe an inch too long.The Storm's Aftermath
January 3, 2006
The best Christmas gift I know about was given to Town Manager Robert Clark. He got snowshoes. Never had a pair before, and why would he? Clark came to Mammoth from Catalina Island. "We used flip-flops there," he said Tuesday morning, Jan. 3, as Mammoth dug out from the New Year's Storm. "It was a good chance to try 'em out," he said. Meanwhile, not everybody had it so easy. A feller up near Chair 15 was digging out the inside of his truck Tuesday morning. "I can't believe I left my windows down," he complained.On The 395
December 21, 2005
Nothing quite like a long haul to Mammoth from Down South, huh? Unless you're prepared inside your vehicle, there's a very good chance you could actually starve to death anywhere along the 395 or between the Rte. 14 cutoff and the Owens Valley. "Jawbone Canyon" says it all. So here's to "Rutabaga's Food For Friends" in Lone Pine. There’s something about a place that offers toast with peanut butter and jelly—for a buck—that automatically appeals to my gourmet sensibilities. These people also will dish out a grilled cheese for $2.50, a PB&J for $2.50 or any half-sandwich in the house for the same price.
Poop-O-Rama At Shady Rest
December 13, 2005
Hey Mammoth, you want to gross out the out-of-towners? Take 'em cross country skiing or snowshoeing at Shady Rest Park, especially if we're going through a long period without new snow. Man, that place looks bad, bad, bad on account of dog owners not picking up their hounds' turds. Nobody likes a hound more than me. I go with Steve Rubenstein's mantra that it's impossible to have a bad time when your dog is having a good time. But seriously, this is out of hand down there. "Brown Wax" is so everywhere that it has become the theme.Town Council Disses Texas
December 12, 2005
The way the Town Fathers might have it, they maybe oughta ride in to the next Council Meeting on white horses, carrying posters of Pete Carroll and singing the USC fight song. But I say, "Hey, boys, hold on a minnit." In my paw was a Monday memo from Town Manager Robert Clark, explaining why the Council moved its regular meeting from Wednesday, Jan. 4, to Thursday, Jan. 5. "As an accommodation to fans of college football and USC," it says, "the first meeting in January has been rescheduled to Thursday ... so as not to conflict with the Rose Bowl showdown."United, Horizon or Alaska Air For The Mam?
December 8, 2005
We're getting closer to air, it looks like from here, but if it's big jets you want, fuhgeddabouddit. When commercial aircraft land at the Mammoth-Yosemite Airport next season, they'll likely be Bombardier's Q-400 turboprop and its CRJ-700 regional jet, both seating in the 50-70 range. Of course that's if Mammoth gets commercial air service at all. Only about a million things can hold things up, although participants at last month's so-called "Summit On Air Service" at the Grand Sierra Lodge seemed unusually bullish. View image 1 | View image 2Air Service, Schmair Service
December 5, 2005
It's not like I'd miss a ski day to read the Wall Street Journal, but there you go. Busted. Still, a nugget fell out of the pages, to wit: In a column called "Takeoffs and Landings," author Conor Dougherty has a riff about airlines boosting service to several major ski resorts, including more non-stop and jet flights. For example, Telluride recently added a 2% sales tax on lodging and restaurants and uses it to subsidize air service. View imageWrapped Up In Chains
December 1, 2005
It's hard to imagine that anyone would miss chaining up, but there you go.I got through last year's epic winter in a Toyota Corolla, using chains practically the entire time. It got to the point where I could get them on in about three minutes.
All this is in light of the fact that it is snowing right now (Thursday morning) and there is a Winter Storm Warning in effect until Friday morning.
Walkin' The Walk In Mammoth
November 30, 2005
I’ve been dodging cars, trucks, SUVs and skateboards in Mammoth for so long now I hardly know what to think about the new crosswalks.They’re lighted, by God, meaning … what?
Not all of them, mind you. But the crosswalk on Main St. in front of the Post Office, the crosswalk across Main St. at Laurel Mountain and a coupla crosswalks across Meridian are all wired now, waiting for finishing touches before they’ll start working.
Sierra Centre Mall Re-Do Creates Hassle
November 23, 2005
On the surface, the makeover of the Sierra Centre mall is a good thing.