{"id":381,"date":"2006-04-06T18:18:36","date_gmt":"2006-04-07T02:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/04\/06\/just-like-paradise\/"},"modified":"2006-04-06T18:18:36","modified_gmt":"2006-04-07T02:18:36","slug":"just-like-paradise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2006\/04\/06\/just-like-paradise\/","title":{"rendered":"Just Like Paradise"},"content":{"rendered":"

This must be just like living in paradise
And I don’t want to go home<\/em><\/p>\n

"Just Like Paradise"
David Lee Roth<\/p>\n

How much is 20-22 feet of snow?<\/p>\n

Well, you have to walk DOWN to the gondola.\u00c2\u00a0 DOWN to the third floor base lodge sundeck.\u00c2\u00a0 Snow drifts so tall they make Yao Ming look like a midget!<\/p>\n

Now we didn’t know it was going to snow 79" over the weekend when we booked this trip.\u00c2\u00a0 It was just an added bonus.\u00c2\u00a0 But with this much snow falling from the sky I started to worry, would we be able to GET THERE?<\/p>\n

Mammoth Mountain is five or so hours from Los Angeles.\u00c2\u00a0 Depending on how fast you go.\u00c2\u00a0 Traffic moves around 80, but the highway patrol will pull you over if they see you moving at this clip.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re in the desert.\u00c2\u00a0 And towering on the left is the highest point in the continental United States, Mt. Whitney.\u00c2\u00a0 And just a few dozen miles to the right is the LOWEST point, Death Valley.\u00c2\u00a0 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.\u00c2\u00a0 Where they just broke the ALL TIME snowfall record!\u00c2\u00a0 How much snow is that?\u00c2\u00a0 638" so far.\u00c2\u00a0 And the winter is not OVER!\u00c2\u00a0 They just announced they’re keeping the lifts open til JULY 4TH!<\/p>\n

Let me put this in perspective.\u00c2\u00a0 Where I grew up skiing in Vermont, at Bromley, they get 125" a year!\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s a GOOD YEAR!\u00c2\u00a0 They limped to a finish last weekend, on the east coast it’s time to hit the links.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas you won’t be able to FIND a rock on Mammoth Mountain for MONTHS!<\/p>\n

How much snow is there?\u00c2\u00a0 They delayed opening the upper lifts today because they had to DIG THEM OUT!\u00c2\u00a0 You’re riding the chairs and you’re mere FEET above the snowpack.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually unskiable chutes are FULL OF SNOW!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a winter wonderland on STEROIDS!<\/p>\n

And today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.<\/p>\n

Now the altitude gets to you.\u00c2\u00a0 And I was sick for about a month and unable to work out.\u00c2\u00a0 But I pushed myself all the way till four.\u00c2\u00a0 Because days like this come every FIVE YEARS!<\/p>\n

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!\u00c2\u00a0 There’s just that much snow.<\/p>\n

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!\u00c2\u00a0 The day’s wearing on, and I’m gaining newfound energy.\u00c2\u00a0 Swishing over the bumps, skiing the faces under Chair 1.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m remembering the old days, when I lived in Mammoth for the month of May.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought I’d changed, time had moved on, I was too old.\u00c2\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n

I’m charging down non-stop, again and again, and the David Lee Roth song is playing in my head.<\/p>\n

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<\/em><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.mammothmountain.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This must be just like living in paradiseAnd 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.\u00c2\u00a0 DOWN to the third floor base lodge sundeck.\u00c2\u00a0 Snow drifts so tall they make Yao Ming look like a midget! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-69","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}