Who is Bump Diamond?
He's elusive, everyone knows that much. And we found one of his Vons lists recently. It had rice noodles, pad thai sauce, miso soup, bagged salad and Mammoth Brewing Co.'s Double Nut Brown.
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Wrapped 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.

Continue reading "Wrapped Up In Chains" »

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.

Continue reading "Walkin' The Walk In Mammoth" »

Sierra Centre Mall Re-Do Creates Hassle

November 23, 2005

On the surface, the makeover of the Sierra Centre mall is a good thing.

Img_0547But while waiting for the faded, chipped red facing to be replaced, customers found themselves once again with parking difficulties.

Welcome Back, Everybody!

November 10, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     A guy gets used to the shoulder season around here—no traffic, no lines anywhere for anything and, in fact, no people except local people who know each other.    That all changes this...

Mammoth To Skate Park Riders: "Not Yet!"

September 30, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     That was some launch last weekend of the Volcom Brothers Skate Park, but town officials now say it might have been a leetle too successful.    "It's important for users of the park...

Whatup With "Indian Summer," Anyway?

September 28, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     A couple of days ago, while waxing about fall weather, I asked where the term "Indian Summer" came from, and aren't we all happy that we have Wikipedia in our lives?    Here's...

Ski Area Main Lodge "Masterplan" Under Public Review

September 27, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Mammoth Mountain Ski Area has a large master plan for remaking the Main Lodge Area. All the ski area needs right now to make it a go are a few people poking around...

Suddenly, It's Autumn In Mammoth

September 26, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     That was one short summer, huh?    No doubt there will be warm days ahead in the weirdly named Indian Summer (can someone please explain that to me?) and probably there will be...

Hankel Tossed From Planning Commission; She Vows To Run For Council

September 22, 2005

By Brandon RussellSpecial to MammothBlog     In a controversial decision that could determine the tone and substance of next year’s municipal elections, the Mammoth Town Council Wednesday night voted to oust local attorney Therese Hankel from the Planning Commission. ...

A Freebie At Mono Lake, Schulman Grove

September 21, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     If there is anybody out there who has not visited the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest because of something so inconsequential as fees, Saturday is the day you can bust on in to the...

SKI: Mammoth Mountain Ranks No. 9

September 18, 2005

By Bump Diamond Man About Town     All over town these days, people are holding nine fingers above their heads and chanting, "We're No. 9! We're No. 9"    OK, so they're not, but it's not beyond the realm...

Bears Eat Frosh Homework

September 16, 2005

By Nook LoganSpecial to MammothBlog    In what has become a rite of autumn, bears are hassling the new crop of Mammoth University freshmen.    According to MU security, four freshmen, calling themselves "The Four Freshmen,"  each complained in class...

U of M To Get 1-A Status?

September 15, 2005

By Nook LoganSpecial to MammothBlog     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...

The Mountain Bike Championships At Canyon Lodge

September 14, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Veteran mountain bikers who maybe have taken one too many tumbles over the handlebars might be wandering around Main Lodge tomorrow, wondering just where in the heck are the 2005 USA Cycling Mountain...

Finally, A Little Sense At Vons

September 12, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Just before I got outta Dodge for a little low-altitude attitude I dropped in at Vons to experience another slice of remodeling horror, but I didn't get it.     The store is...

Gusty, Mean Winds Hit High Sierra Fall Century

September 10, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     So there was Dennis Phillips, cyclist extraordinaire, riding in a pack of Eastside Velo racers, when the peloton zoomed over Watterson Summit and began the long—and usually delicious—descent to Crowley Lake.    But...

Lazy Days In Mammoth

September 8, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Boy, things sure are quiet around town today, and it looks as if it's going to be quiet for a while.    Even with up to 900 road cyclists coming to town for...

Homeowners Win War With Sherwin Skiers, Boarders

September 8, 2005

By Brandon RussellSpecial To The Blog     Skiers and snowboarders who park on the privately owned Ranch Road for access to the Sherwins took a blow Wednesday when the Mammoth Town Council voted to allow homeowners to erect a...

Snow Is In The Forecast

September 8, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The National Weather Service has put the "S" word into its weekend weather advisories, suggesting the Sierra Nevada could get snow above 8,000 feet.    That would put the snow line right about...

Big (Bad) Weather On The Way

September 7, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The weather gods must have heard that the century cyclists are in town, because they're getting set to throw a little mean weather at Mammoth.    Last year, during an autumn that was...

Two Quakes Shake The Eastern Sierra

September 6, 2005

    Two earthquakes, one of them measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale, shook up the Eastern  Sierra Monday night and Tuesday morning.    The U.S. Geological Survey described the first temblor, the 3.4, as a "minor quake." It happened...

Hiking High On Yosemite's Mono Pass Trail

September 4, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town Editor's Note: This article appeared in the September/October issue of Mammoth Monthly magazine.    This is high country. Really high. The trailhead for the Mono Pass Trail in Yosemite National Park is at 9,690 feet. ...

Feels Like A Million People Are Here

September 1, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     I must be going nutso. The Town says Mammoth is going to be only 67 percent full this coming weekend, but I ain't buyin' it.    Here it is, only Thursday, and Rite...

Vons Is Getting Really Messy

August 31, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Everybody knew this re-model was going to be an ordeal, but clearly some shoppers at Vons are going out of their skulls trying to navigate through the store.    Doesn't help that it's...

That Was Some Wind, Hey?

August 30, 2005

    Enough for the bashing around with the wind, huh?    A low pressure system moving throughout he Pacific Northwest and Northern Nevada yesterday brought strong winds to Mammoth and to the areas nearby.     Wind gusts in...

2.1 Quake Shakes Mammoth

August 29, 2005

    A 2.1 earthquake, a so-called "micro-quake," shook Mammoth at 10:59 a.m. today.    The temblor was clearly felt throughout the town, and it was followed by a very short aftershock.     Here's the deal (computer generated) from...

Cheese On Aisle 4

August 29, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Lotsa locals are wandering around Vons this weekend looking a little bit like ducks that have been hit in the head with a mallet.    It's starting to get to where nothing is...

The Beer, Wine And Booze Have Moved

August 28, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Very disorienting stuff happening at Vons all week, but nothing like Friday and Saturday, when they moved the beer and the booze. This is all about the 10-week re-model of our only grocery...

Fred Fisher of Earthjustice, RIP

August 27, 2005

This came in the other day, on the Earthjustice web site:        Fred Fisher, a founder of Earthjustice, died of cancer on August 16, 2005. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife Susan, his sons Matt...

"The Sheet" Drops Midweek Editions

August 27, 2005

    "The Sheet," a bold experiment in daily journalism in Mammoth, has been scaled back into a weekly newspaper, according to publlisher Ted Carleton.    "I could wax further about economies of scale and printing costs and increasing child...

Felici Trio Names New Pianist

August 26, 2005

    The Felici Trio named Wen-Ting Huang as its new pianist, the Trio said in a news release today.    Wen-Ting, who  won the National Excellence Award for Young Artistic Talents in Taiwan when she was 15, replaces Paullina...

NORBA Comes To Town
Last Year For Mammoth?

August 24, 2005

    Last year’s USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships were such a hit around here that NORBA, the National Off Road Bike Association, and Mammoth Mountain are going to do it again.    This year, however, the venue is...

Vons Pharmacy Aisles Take A Hit

August 23, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Just got back from Vons to see what's what with the big remodel, and there's a lot, that's what.    I already covered, in my last post to The Vons Report, the disappearance...

The Fall Century In a Blur

August 23, 2005

    Mammoth’s High Sierra Fall Century bike ride, a beautiful 96-mile tour that tests the lungs and stamina of just about everybody who rides it, is just another day in the saddle for a group of East Siders who...

Forget Me Dot: 3-Dot News

August 21, 2005

So Swall Meadows’ Tom Wallace broke his foot in a bike crash. One week later, his foot swollen and in a boot cast, he did the 129-mile Death Ride in Markleeville. … Good to see that cyclist and skier extraordinaire...

A Windfall In Tax Revenue For Mammoth

August 20, 2005

    Revenue from Mammoth’s transient occupancy tax jumped a remarkable 14.7 percent over a year ago, thanks mostly to a prodigious and record-setting October snowfall that caused an early start to the ski season.    The town raked in...

Snowcreek IV Homeowners In A Tizzy

August 19, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The Snowcreek IV Homeowners Association is up in arms over the loss of mountain views caused by new construction by Mammoth Lakes Housing, Inc. along Old Mammoth Road, according to a complaint filed...

Sales Tax Hike Proposed (Again)

August 18, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Mammoth town council member Kirk Stapp, freaked out over requests for public dough and with the town having nowhere close to enough money to match them, last night again proposed to take a...

We're 70 Percent Full This Weekend

August 18, 2005

    Laurie Medov of the town's Tourism and Recreation Department, released figures today showing that Mammoth will be comfortably full this weekend.    Her figures, released weekly, show:     Friday night 8/19/05 - Saturday night 8/20/05 = 70% ...

10 Weeks Of Nightmare At Vons

August 17, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The mayhem has begun at Vons, Mammoth's only supermarket.    Over the next 10 weeks the store will be remodeled, according to store employees, who say the schedule—it is the height of the...

More Moolah For Mammoth Housing

August 16, 2005

By George ShirkEditor, Mammoth Monthly     Andrea Clark’s housing juggernaut continues on its awesome roll.    Earlier this month, the director of  Mammoth Lakes Housing, Inc. told the Town Council that her group was given $238,000 from the state...

Barrett: 11 Sex Offenders Living In Mammoth

August 15, 2005

By George ShirkEditor, Mammoth Monthly    There are 11 registered sex offenders currently living in Mammoth Lakes, Town Council member Tony Barrett said last week at a council meeting.    Speaking during that part of the meeting reserved for council...

New Monthlies On Street Today

August 15, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Hey the new Mammoth Monthlies are going to start appearing on the racks around town today so be on the lookout.    On the cover is none other than Brian Knox, riding his...

Why Mammoth Is So Weird

August 14, 2005

From Mammoth Monthly MagazineAugust 2005 Issue     We’re now convinced that the adoption of a General Plan for Mammoth will not create consensus in our little town; it will merely mean that we have a plan on paper that...

A Day At Mammoth's Ancient Lake

August 13, 2005

By George ShirkEditor, Mammoth Monthly                   We were standing on the shore of the old Long Valley Lake and trying to imagine a large body of water extending from the town of Crowley Lake all...

Pitching 'Shoes With Bob Sollima

August 12, 2005

    Bob Sollima’s time-honored horseshoe tournament is back, and for horseshoe pitchers like Big Rich and Linda Lockwood, that’s just about the best news they’ve had in a while.    “It’s informal, but it’s the funnest tournament there is,”...

Loading Up On Tourists

August 11, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     By now everyone is familiar with Laurie Medov, from the town's tourism and recreation wing. Every week, like clockwork, she checks in with her media pals to tell us just how many tourists...

Getting It Done At Sherwin's Folly

August 11, 2005

    Jill Orozco, who with her husband Ron are the brains and brawn behind Sherwin’s Folly, isn’t the type of person to sit around and complain that Mammoth can’t draw big-time rock and pop music artists just because we...

What's What At The Millpond Festival

August 4, 2005

    It was barely summer and we were already talking about the fall, which was OK if the fall includes the Millpond Music Festival in Bishop.         Last fall, the three-day festival, which this year goes...

Andrea Lawrence's Big Dream

July 21, 2005

    Andrea Mead Lawrence doesn’t do things halfway. The Olympic gold medalist’s Andrea Lawrence Institute for Mountains and Rivers (ALIMAR, www.alimar.org), founded in 2003, aims for a cohesive vision for the Eastern Sierra that integrates environmental values with economic...

Road Cyclists of Mammoth, Rejoice!

July 14, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Road cyclists of Mammoth, give thanks!    Starting July 18, and continuing for approximately two months, an engineering road survey crew will be working along the Mammoth Scenic (Escape) Road, between State Highway...

New Skate Park Nearly Doubles In Size

July 13, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The Volcom Brothers Skate Park, currently under construction in the Trails neighborhood of Mammoth, has grown from a 22,000 sq. ft, single-bowl skate park into a 42,000-sq. ft., double-bowl facility, Park director Jane...

Inyo National Forest Axes 42 Jobs Here

July 11, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     A river of blood is running through the Inyo National Forest as the feds brought down the axe on 42 positions last week.    In a move called a “reorganization,” the Inyo National...

Mammoth Housing Is Mod, Man

July 11, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The pieces that will determine much of the future look of Mammoth’s housing arrived on flatbed trucks in early July.     The trucks were headed for Old Mammoth Road near the Snowcreek...

25 Of 80 Miles Open At Bike Park

July 8, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Here is a picture of the face of the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park, and you don’t have to feel like a dumbkopf for asking the question:    That’s a bike park? ---------------------->   ...

We're At 41 Percent. All Week. 65 Percent for Jazz Jubilee.

July 7, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     How often, statistically speaking, do you suppose that the weekend visitor occupancy rate is exactly the same as the projected weekday occpancy rate?    I'm saying it happens precisely once in a blue...

Tough Summer For the Critters

July 7, 2005

    Our pal and colleague Andy Selters happened to be up along Rock Creek near the pack station on the day of the last really big snow of the season. That was May 9—the day that Mammoth Mountain Ski...

For Mammoth's Airport, It's About Las Vegas

July 6, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     For some time, all we ever heard was that Mammoth Mountain Ski Area wanted air service that would bring midweek skiers traveling from hub cities Chicago and Dalla    Insiders at the ski...

It's Goddam Buggy Up Here

July 5, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     People bump into me on the streets, and they want to know what it's like up in the high country these  days, coming off the epic winter and all that.    Here's what...

About That Village Ghost

June 27, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    Suddenly, we have an urban legend at the Village, which at just two years of age is almost too young to have one.    It has come to be known as “The Village Ghost,”...

The Mammoth Mountain Sale

June 26, 2005

Bump DiamondMan About Town     If all goes according to plan, the buyer of ski area founder Dave McCoy’s share of Mammoth Mountain will be announced soon, and the deal will be done by late August.   Last week, Rusty...

Flower Power

June 24, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     One of the many things Mammothists and other Eastsiders do is try to predict when and where the summer wildflowers will be in the high mountains.  Heaven knows it’s a short window, particularly...

Bike Park Open Saturday, June 25

June 23, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The Mammoth Mountain Bike Park is going to open Saturday, although it ain't going to exactly test the high-altitude set.    In fact, anybody riding up on the hill Saturday is likely to...

Tioga Pass To Open Friday, But It's A Mess

June 22, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Tioga Pass will open Friday at 8 a.m., Yosemite National Park officials said today, but five high-country camps will remain closed all season because of the winter snows.    Other campgrounds along the...

Vons Is Paved Over, Creating Agitation

June 22, 2005

By Lyin' Judy Bridger     Now this is what we call a crisis day.    Black Gold Asphalt showed up at Vons yesterday and bollixed up the whole neighborhood, and that ain’t no lie. It's likely to happen again...

We're For The Birds

June 20, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Hey there sure are a lot of bird-brains around here. And there are a lot of birds, too.    Fifty-two members of the Eastern Sierra  Audubon Society counted 209 species in Inyo County...

Free Ride Over At Reds Meadow, Devils Postpile

June 19, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    We know that smug look.     It’s the look of people who last year used a variety of different passes to get to Reds Meadow and Devils Postpile National Monument without having to...

June 29 for Reds Meadow

June 18, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     It ain’t just Tioga Pass that we’re pondering.    The road to Reds Meadow looked to be packed in with snow as late as this afternoon. Looking up from the Main Lodge, it’s...

Waitin’ In Line at Roberto’s

June 18, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    It is no longer possible to make left turns while blindfolded around here, and the line at Roberto's is getting longer all the time.    Apparently spurred on by the Mammoth Motocross, coupled with...

A Mighty Wind On The Mammoth Trolley

June 17, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Jimmy Kellett from the Visitors Bureau said, over and over, "It could have been worse!" and he's probably right: it could have snowed on the unveiling ceremony for the Mammoth town trolley, or...

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...

In Lone Pine, Rutabaga's Food For Friends

June 15, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     There’s something about a place that offers toast with peanut butter and jelly—for a buck—that automatically appeals to my gourmet sensibilities.    This is Rutabaga’s “Food For Friends” Bakery in Lone Pine, which...

New Mammoth Monthly On Racks Tomorrow

June 15, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     The July issue of Mammoth Monthly magazine is going to hit the streets tomorrow (Thursday) morning, and will appear on racks throughout the day—as fast as Bump-the-Paperboy can get them out.    This...

Whitney Portal Kicks Ass

June 14, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Made it up to Whitney Portal over the weekend. It was a little on the chilly side here in Mammoth, so we threw a camp up above Lone Pine, hiked the Alabama Hills,...

Town Cleans Up Its Streets and Web Site

June 13, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     That was a good effort, we figure, by Paul Oster and his cleanup crews Saturday.     The town got really trashed this past winter on account of the near-record snows, and today...

Mammoth Lakes Crashes

June 12, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     People in Mammoth are so freaked out about the oh-poor-me  “shoulder seasons” that it must be pointed out that the Town isn’t exactly helping matters in cyberspace.    It was kinda obvious that...

Z-z-z-z-z-z

June 11, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     I know that’s not a real snappy headline, but what the heck?    The thing is, I woke up this morning with tourists on my mind, figuring that I'd maybe see tourists gawking...

Tioga Pass Opening Is Still Two Weeks Away

June 10, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     While all the walkers, stalkers, Tuolumne trekkers and Cathedral climbers wait for snow to clear on Yosemite National Park’s trails, the motoized set—the drivers, motorbikers and RVers—got more bad news today regarding the...

Subdudes to Headline Millpond

June 7, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     It’s barely summer and we’re already talking about the fall, but that’s OK if the fall includes the Millpond Music Festival in Bishop.    The subdudes, the Colorado-based country rock band that has...

Breakthrough On Tioga Pass

June 6, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     A lane has been cleared on Yosemite National Park's Tioga Road, and an eyewitness says it may not take until mid-July to open Tioga Pass, after all.    D.J. Slalom, bless his heart,...

Sollima's Masterpiece

June 3, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Anybody who knows everybody in Mammoth knows Bob Sollima.    Bob's the guy who does stonework like nobody else, and he's here to say that he's created a masterpiece in the home of...

Memorial Day Hangover

June 2, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    Well, well, well, that was a fine old time we all had last weekend up here, with loads of visitors making their weird left turns, car alarms blaring and the like.  Everybody seemed to...

Tioga Pass: Mid-July?

June 2, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    So some people were bummed about a July 4 opening of Tioga Pass. Given the new word from on high, they'll really be bummin' now.    Try thinkin' mid -July, Bay Areans.   ...

Hey There! Welcome Back, Everybody

May 26, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town      All we’ve been hearing lately is when is this going to open and when is that going to open.    And we’re not just talking the passes (Sonoroa, Monitor open; Tioga still snowed...

Skiing Is Still Wowing the Locals

May 26, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    Just ran into skier extraordinaire Joe Vasta down at the Stellar Brew coffee house, and we got to discussing how decent the skiing has been up on the hill lately.    We were talking...

Get Yer Firewood, Starting Today

May 21, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    All right, all you wooders, wannabe wooders and occasional woodies:             Ready, set, go, go, go.    The fuelwood season opens today in the Inyo National Forest. If the day continues...

A New Earthquake Prediction Tool by USGS

May 19, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    A new earthquake probability tool that asseses potential follow-on temblors debuted on the Web yesterday, and the USGS gizmo caused quite a stir around California, judging by the mainline press.    The San Jose...

Spring (Visitor) Runoff

May 19, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Everybody up here is talking up the spring runoff, but it ain't just about the snowmelt.    With bouts of rain and the occasional snow shower, and with mountain hiking season still more...

Ski and Snowboard Chief: "The Time is Now."

May 16, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Yeah, it was a little corny and it had the feel of a college pep rally the night before the Notre Dame game, but what was Bill Marolt to do about it?   ...

PCT Hikers Beware

May 15, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    I gotta admit to being a leetle bit bummed about the reports from the High Country.    The report from the L.A. Times' Leslie Carlson (a fine American) is sobering for the through-hikers on...

A Prayer for R.J. Secor

May 14, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     I am writing this on a lovely spring evening in the Mammoth high country.    From my window I can see Mammoth Mountain, and around the bend, the Sherwin Range, and I’m thinking...

Hey! Who Turned Out the Lights?

May 13, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     It's not only that the tourists aren't here. Practically nobody else is, either.    This isn't just a shoulder season; this is a full-fledged cold-shoulder season, ha ha.    The locals, following a...

“Magic Mountain” About To Do It Again
Blasting through snow at the Bike Park

May 13, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    For ages, the poohbahs at Mammoth Mountain configure the mountain in such trying circumstances that it kind of defies belief.    Last month, for example, when the National Ski Championships were going on, Mammoth...

A Fourple!
Ski, play golf, hike and bike in one day

May 12, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    The weirdly hedonistic idea of skiing, then playing a little golf, doing a little mountain biking and hiking at the same place on the same day isn’t so abstract any more, although doing the...

FilmFest for Mammoth?
"The Method Fest" in June 2006. Maybe.

May 11, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    Hang around your inbox for a day that you otherwise should have been outside, and look what shows up.    This is from Stephanie Summers over at Century 21, announcing a film festival for...

Busting Through
Mammoth tops 600 inches

May 9, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town    Remember about a month or so ago, when Rusty Gregory walked into a meeting of the Mono County Collaborative Planning team? Making small talk before things got going, the affable CEO of the Mammoth...

This June: The Inner Lives of Plants
Valerie Cohen’s exhibit at Edisto Gallery

May 7, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Edisto Gallery owner Mary Siceloff said this week that she is bringing the works of waterclorist Vallerie Cohen to Mammoth this June in what promises to be an exciting, five-week exhibit.    Cohen,...

We're Lonesome!

May 5, 2005

    If you wanted, you could probably shoot a cannonball down Main Street this week and not hit anyone.    Probably because it's snowing on the second weekend of the fishing season, and probably because there isn't any good...

Corn Snow Season in Disarray
Too much friggin’ snow

May 5, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     What does it take to get a decent corn snow season around here, anyway?    This past week or so, the spring skiers in Mammoth have been busy reassessing just what the heck...

Grand slamming on the San Joaquin
A brookie, rainbow, brown and golden, all in one day

May 2, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     David Moss, the longtime flyfisherman and guide from Mammoth, says it used to be a little easier to pull off fishing’s so-called “grand slam” along the San Joaquin River. And he ought to...

Las Vegas-to-Mammoth Air Service
America West would be the carrier

April 30, 2005

By Lyin’ Judy BridgerPretty Funny … Lookin’      You can call me a liar all you want, and right you are, too.    I’ve spun some honkers, but this is the straight-arrow truth:    Mammoth will have commercial air...

Airport To Get A “Control Tower”
New design scheme goes to FAA

April 27, 2005

      The Mammoth Yosemite Airport would get a control tower as part of new design elements submitted to the federal government on Wednesday.    The tower would manage ground traffic when commercial airlines are operating, according to Robert...

Fishmas Day Is Almost Here
10,000 anglers possible at Crowley

April 27, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     With snow levels still at 7,500 feet, it looks as if Crowley Lake is about to get crushed on Opening Day of the High Sierra fishing season Saturday.    “Expect the crowds to...

SNARL Lectures Begin May 12

April 26, 2005

     Lake Tahoe is just up the road and to the north, but in Mammoth—particularly a snowbound Mammoth—sometimes it feels as if Tahoe’s a million miles away.    That changes on May 12, when the director of the Tahoe...

Smallish Tourism This Weekend, Next Week

April 21, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     Hey! Where did everybody go?    All we know up here in Mammoth is that they are going to go Somewhere Else.    The projected average resort occupancy, from the town’s Departrment of...

Heavy Snow Delays Town Cleanup

April 21, 2005

    Town official Mike Grossblatt said on April 20 that heavy snows will prevent the town from conducting its May 21 “Town Cleanup.”    He said lots of trash, garbage and other debris from this past winter will still...

Parking Meters? In Mammoth?

April 21, 2005

    Planning Commissioner Neil McCarroll said April 20 that parking meters for Mammoth are inevitable, but not anytime soon.    Speaking at an informal joint workshop on parking between the Planning Commission and the Town Council, McCarroll, a local...

McCartney in Mammoth

April 20, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town     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...

Officials Skirmish Over Mammoth Airport Expansion

April 19, 2005

    Mammoth Town Councilman Skip Harvey and the town’s newly-formed airport commission this week engaged in a contentious public dispute over safety issues.    Harvey, a first-year councilman, alleged in an April 7 letter to the Federal Aviation Administration...

Smoke On The Way

April 18, 2005

    If you notice an unusual amount of smoke emanating from the Casa Diablo area southeast of Mammoth, there is no need to freak out.    With snowbanks still as high as houses in town, it's not exactly the...

July 4 for Tioga Pass?

April 17, 2005

Tioga Pass, the eastern gateway to Yosemite Park, may not open until July 4 because of heavy snows, a Caltrans official said. Normally. the pass is open on or near Memorial Day. Ryan Dermody, representing Caltrans at the Mono County...

Building Eagle Lodge: 2006?

April 17, 2005

    If things go as planned, Mammoth Mountain Ski Area would begin construction of a 50,000 square-foot base lodge at Eagle Express/Chair 15 in the summer of 2006, CEO Rusty Gregory said.     While awaiting environmental review and...

Lacey, the Hitchhiking Hound

April 16, 2005

By Bump DiamondMan About Town Just about everybody around here knows about Lacey, the hitchhiking hound.    Lacey, a handsome Samoyed, lives with Bea Ladinig down near Crowley Lake, and when spring is in the air, Lacey gets going.   ...

Cunningham Can Get His Land Back

April 16, 2005

     Bill Cunningham, who sold his controversial Mono Lake parcel to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area for $3 million in early March, can regain control of the land within two years under a complicated real estate scheme, Mammoth Mountain CEO...

Amid The Snow, A Butterfly Migration

April 15, 2005

     Thousands—perhaps millions—of Painted Lady butterflies are moving through the Mammoth high country in spite of one of the biggest winters in recent history.     Paul McFarland, executive director of the Friends of the Inyo, said today that...

Yosemite: An Editorial

April 15, 2005

From the May/June issue of Mammoth Monthly on newsracks now. YOSEMITE    It’s spring up here in the Eastern Sierra—finally—which means that our strange, summertime affair with Yosemite National Park is about to be rekindled.    If you live in...

Dave McCoy's Exit

April 14, 2005

From the May/June Mammoth Monthly     Mammothists are used to the ground moving under their feet, but usually the tectonic shifts are geologic and sudden.    With Dave McCoy’s announcement that he is selling his interests in the ski...

May/June Mammoth Monthly On Racks

April 14, 2005

     Mammoth Monthly began distributing its May/June 2005 issue tonight.      Distribution on Mammoth Monthly newsracks and outlets will continue throughout tomorrow and the upcoming weekend.     This month, the Monthly gets into mules, with a Mule...

3-Dot News: May/June

April 14, 2005

From the May/June Edition of Mammoth Monthly    Mammoth is turning into a golf town, in case you’ve been on Mars or too busy skiing spring snow in the Negatives. After only 15 years of give-and-take and on-and-off, Snowcreek Resort...

Mono Basin Visitor Center Open

April 14, 2005

Having been shuttered for the winter, the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center, just north of Lee Vining off U.S. Hwy. 395, is open again. However, the center will be open only Thursdays through Mondays, at least for now,...

Slowdown in Mammoth

April 14, 2005

It's officially the spring shoulder season in Mammoth, according to projections by the town's Department of Tourism and Recreation. The projected resort occupancy for this weekend and next week is as follows:   Friday night 4/15/05 - Saturday night...

Westin Monache Sells Out In Four Hours

April 14, 2005

Investors jumped at the chance to purchase hotel room condominiums in a new development in Mammoth Lakes, buying all 141 units for sale at the Westin Monache in less than four hours Saturday, the developers said. The Los Angeles Times...

Eastside Velo Announces Ride Schedule

April 12, 2005

By Bump Diamond     The Eastside Velo Club, Mammoth's road cycling club, announced its season schedule today, opening with a May 1 ride at Millpond and ending with the Sept. 10 Fall Century.    In between, the club announced...

Slow Start Projected

April 3, 2005

The Sierra Drifters this month projected a slow start to the fishing season. In an email sent to the outfit's subscribers, the Drifters referred to current conditions simply as a "Bummer," owing to high snow and ice conditions, in addtion...

Mammoth Monthly Nominated For MAGGIE

March 15, 2005

Mammoth Monthly magazine was nominated in March for a MAGGIE Award by the Western Publications Association (WPA), for Best Fiction in a magazine published west of the Mississippi River. Buck Meadows’ supernatural ski town adventure, “Ookpik,” is a five-part...

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