Just Like Paradise
This must be just like living in paradise
And I don’t want to go home
"Just Like Paradise"
David Lee Roth
How much is 20-22 feet of snow?
Well, you have to walk DOWN to the gondola. DOWN to the third floor base lodge sundeck. Snow drifts so tall they make Yao Ming look like a midget!
Now we didn’t know it was going to snow 79" over the weekend when we booked this trip. It was just an added bonus. But with this much snow falling from the sky I started to worry, would we be able to GET THERE?
Mammoth Mountain is five or so hours from Los Angeles. Depending on how fast you go. Traffic moves around 80, but the highway patrol will pull you over if they see you moving at this clip. You drive through Lancaster, into Mojave, make a right at the airplane graveyard, and then jet up 395 right next to the Sierras all the way to Mammoth Lakes. You’re in the desert. And towering on the left is the highest point in the continental United States, Mt. Whitney. And just a few dozen miles to the right is the LOWEST point, Death Valley. You drive through the kind of towns you wonder why anybody would live in and then, after ascending a final grade, you sneak into Mammoth Lakes. Where they just broke the ALL TIME snowfall record! How much snow is that? 638" so far. And the winter is not OVER! They just announced they’re keeping the lifts open til JULY 4TH!
Let me put this in perspective. Where I grew up skiing in Vermont, at Bromley, they get 125" a year! And that’s a GOOD YEAR! They limped to a finish last weekend, on the east coast it’s time to hit the links. Whereas you won’t be able to FIND a rock on Mammoth Mountain for MONTHS!
How much snow is there? They delayed opening the upper lifts today because they had to DIG THEM OUT! You’re riding the chairs and you’re mere FEET above the snowpack. Usually unskiable chutes are FULL OF SNOW! It’s a winter wonderland on STEROIDS!
And today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
Now the altitude gets to you. And I was sick for about a month and unable to work out. But I pushed myself all the way till four. Because days like this come every FIVE YEARS!
I’m turning on the double blacks up on Lincoln Mountain, at a steepness UNSEEN in most of the country, and when I plant my pole IT SINKS IN A FOOT! There’s just that much snow.
And on the far side of the hill, the slopes sitting in the sun have corned up and skiing them is like dancing in Dairy Queen! The day’s wearing on, and I’m gaining newfound energy. Swishing over the bumps, skiing the faces under Chair 1. And I’m remembering the old days, when I lived in Mammoth for the month of May. I thought I’d changed, time had moved on, I was too old. But this year I got a new pair of ski boots, they can flex forward with the shaped skis, I have newfound control, I’m back to where I once belonged!
I’m charging down non-stop, again and again, and the David Lee Roth song is playing in my head.
But one night ain’t enough for me
Girl, hang on tight and don’t let go
This must be just like living in paradise
And I don’t want to go home
