New 3-Dot News

June 17, 2005

By Mammoth Monthly
"On The Racks Now"

    Nothing quite like the activists of Mammoth. When the town’s Planning Commission called a public meeting last May for responses to a critical environmental document that is to accompany the town’s general plan, a rush totalling 11 people stampeded through the doors—three couples and five loners. Lesson: What Mammoth gets is what Mammoth is going to deserve, whatever that is. By the way, nothing in that document addressed noise or traffic, and we say “Whoa!” … After a season of trying out a new route, we can now all agree that the Red Route ought to go back to the Village bus hub, where it was during the 2003-04 season.  Man, oh man, the backups on Minaret Rd. and Old Mammoth Rd., as a result of offloading passengers, caused horrendous and altogether stupid traffic backups last winter. … Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was Paul McCartney in Mammoth. The former Beatle, now 62, showed up at Whiskey Creek on Tuesday, April 10. The word around town is that he jammed, had a hilarious time playing and so on, but none o' that is true. The fact is, he showed up at Whiskey Creek with pals and an entourage. Everyone ate. Everyone left. "He likes to be pampered," said one of the Whiskey Creekers. … Really hard to get a grip on how many people actually come here each year. The best figures the town can come up with are 3 million visits, with most visitors staying four days, putting the total “Mammoth One-Year Universe” at 750,000 or thereabouts. … Hey that’s Tony Barrett and Paul Jurowitz eyeballing Las Vegas as an expanded market for Gallerie Barjur. … Where else but in a library would someone see this sign, in a single-stall setup: “No Smoking. No Reading.” … Mammoth has had an advisory since 1977 that instructs pilots to overfly the town or other populated areas, Crowley Lake included, but there are some pilots of the so-called “Mammoth Air Force” who just won’t obey, for whatever idiotic reason. … Bump Diamond, taking a break from writing his musings at MammothBlog , was sittin’ in with backcountry skier John Dittli last May 9, talking about the corn snow season and why it was so shaky this spring. “Because,” Dittli said, balefully looking out his window, “it’s still snowing!” … Von’s will remodel in August, trying to ease some of the congestion, and we’re going to be really interested in how the store pulls that off in the middle of the summer season, without an expansion. Bump’s blog (see above) will cover the action daily. … Wow what a crummy fishing opener, huh? Tom Loe, on his website at www.sierradrifters.com, said as late as May 12 that “the soon-to-be-record-breaking winter of  ‘aught five’ have many fisheries frozen, snowbound or flooded.  Lakes and streams above 8,500 feet are still firmly in winter’s grips.” He also said, by way of warning the Crowley Lake fans, “LADWP sources tell us that “we are going to make Crowley a big empty hole to prepare for the runoff.” … Meanwhile, over on the East Walker, Mammoth guide Dave Neal, writing in his blog at http://flyfishingmammoth.typepad.com on Opening Day, remarked “Ahhhh, the East Walker hatches, bugs so thick they’d clog a chain link fence if you’d seine with it. Why would a 20-inch hawg trout move two inches in 50-degree water to eat one of an artificial Baetis offering?  Drift over and over, keep the faith, and hope to bump a fish on the nose, I guess.” … Don Frankin, the force behind the 6-year-old “Method Fest” film festival, wants to create a “sister” event in Mammoth for next June.  He and others were tub-thumping the event at press time, and we say go for it. ,,, Tony Barrett and John Eastman are mortal locks to run for Council again next year, but insiders ain’t so sure about Mayor Rick Wood, who some say is wearying of the rough ‘n tumble after eight years. … That’s Mark Schlenz and partner Jane Freeburg as the now yogis/owners at Tadasan studios, trying to answer the pressing question: Do yogis join Rotary? … On a busy ski day at Juniper Springs/Little Eagle, 6,000 skiers/boarders access the mountain, which is reason enough for a new lodge, ice rink or not. … When landowner Bill Cunningham unloaded his controversial Mono Lake land parcel to Mammoth Mountain, it was at the same time that he was eyeballing some property in Santa Cruz. “We caught Bill at a weak moment,” quipped Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory at a Collaborative Planning Team meeting. … Speaking of the hill, here’s to Clifford Mann and his operations crew for pulling off the National Alpine Championships last April.  Everything except one downhill race went off, in spite of heavy snow and high winds. On one day, snowcats carried the athletes to the start of the slalom races when the chairlifts stopped running because of wind. “Magic Mountain,” said Mann with a wink, and that was the truth. … Superstar skier Bode Miller had a great time hanging out at Whiskey Creek during the championships, and left a credit card there as a souvenir for the barkeeps.  The barkeeps declined to frame it and got the card back to the woozy World Cup champ the next day. … That’s Mike Jarvis, former newspaperman and Mono County supe who is now flacking for the state’s Department of Resources. … Veteran mountaineer R.J. Secor, author of the Sierra climbing bible “The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails,” was seriously injured April 16 when he slid more than 1,000 feet down a snow-covered slope in a backcountry area of Mt. Baldy.  Secor, 48, of Pasadena, apparently lost control during a seated glissade — a maneuver that mountaineers use to descend a steep or icy slope.