Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is a large ski resort in the western United States, located in eastern California along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Inyo National Forest.
Mammoth has over 3,500 acres (1,420 ha) of ski fields, serviced by 28 lifts. This area has 3,100 ft (940 m) vertical, rises to an altitude of 11,059 ft (3,371 m), and enjoys a long ski season. The resort was founded 65 years ago in 1953 by Dave McCoy and, since 2005, has been owned by Starwood Capital Group.
In 2017, Mammoth Resorts announced its sale by Starwood to a partnership of Aspen Skiing Company and KSL Capital Partners, later named Alterra Mountain Company.
Video Mammoth Mountain Ski Area
Description
The ski area is located on the north side of Mammoth Mountain in Long Valley Caldera volcanic. Overnight guests stay in the city of Mammoth Lakes, California and occasionally in neighboring towns such as Bishop and June Lake. The June Lake ski area is also owned by the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. The top of the mountain has a challenging parachute and is prepared as well as running moguls. There are eight unattached terrain parks. Unbound Main, adjacent to Main Lodge, is highly praised by fans of snowboarding and extreme skiing, and is one of the main attractions of the ski resort. Many top sports professionals, including 2006 Winter Olympic gold medalists and 2010 Shaun White, came to practice and compete in the 6.5-foot Super Pipe (5.5 m) and 22-foot Super Duper Pipe (6.7 m).
Mammoth Mountain also has one of the longest ski seasons in North America, which averages from early November to Memorial Day. The resort sometimes enjoys longer seasons, such as in 2016/2017, when on November 8th and is not closed until 6th August. The 1994-95 season is the longest Mammoth Mountain, over ten months, with resorts operating from 8 October to 13 August. The 2016-2017 season is the second recorded snow season, with 618 inches (2010-2011 with 668.5 inches is the resort's record), and it stays open until 6 August 2017. January 2017 is the most snowy month in Mammoth history, with 246 inches.
Mammoth received an average of 400 in (1,020 cm) of snow per season, although during the 2010-11 season the resort recorded a 668.5 record accumulation at (1,698 cm).
Recently in the 1980s, senior citizens were skiing in Mammoth for free. In 2006, people aged at least 80 could ski free.
Field aspect
- North: 65%
- Western: 10%
- East: 22%
- South: 3%
Logistics
Mount Mammoth is located in the Eastern Sierra of California about 100 miles (160 km) south of the state line of Nevada and 50 minutes from the East Gate of Yosemite National Park. While the ski area is located in central California, it is mainly frequented by skiers and snowboarders from southern California. Although it is a five-hour journey from Los Angeles via US 395, it's much closer to Southern California winter sports enthusiasts than the Lake Tahoe area resorts, which are more accessible to the San Francisco Bay Area. Mount Mammoth is a more popular destination than the southern California ski resort of San Bernardino and the San Gabriel Mountains, due to the region's great dependence on snowmaking, coupled with significantly lighter winter rainfall and shorter seasons. Although Mammoth was physically closer to San Francisco and the central valley cities than Los Angeles, most of the mountain passes along the Sierra peak closed after the first major snowfall, and the lack of trans-Sierra travel routes created a very long trip to Mammoth (6 -8 hours) from the Bay Area and most of central California. For example: during the summer, the distance from Fresno to Mammoth Lakes is 189 miles (304 km), whereas in winter it almost doubles to 366 miles (589 km).
Airline service
In recent years, Mammoth has hosted more visitors from outside California and Nevada. Scheduled passenger service, from January 2018, is available to Mammoth Yosemite Airport (MMH) near Mammoth Lakes from Los Angeles (LAX) on an annual basis via Alaska Airlines propjet operated by Horizon Air. Alaska/Horizon also offers seasonal nonstop services from San Diego (SAN). In December 2010, SkyWest Airlines operated as United Express on behalf of United Airlines starting seasonal regional jet flights from San Francisco (SFO) to Mammoth Lakes.
Previously, seasonal nonstop flights also existed between MMH and San Jose, California (SJC), Orange County, CA (SNA) and Denver (DEN), though by January 2018, the route was not operational.
Maps Mammoth Mountain Ski Area
History
Mammoth was founded by Dave McCoy, a hydrographer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Electricity. As a member of the Eastern Sierra Ski Club in the 1930s, McCoy noticed that Mammoth Mountain consistently had more snow than any other mountain. The Ski Club has a portable crane rope. McCoy bought a rope crane from the club in 1941 and usually kept it in Mammoth. In 1953, the US Forest Service granted permission to McCoy to operate the ski area, and the first ski lift was built in 1955.
Incident
As the ski area grew, McCoy faced adverse situations: the 1973 oil crisis, the 1974 avalanche that destroyed the ski lifts, and the prolonged drought that caused layoffs in 1991.
Similar to other ski resorts, Mammoth has a number of related deaths in its history:
- In 1973, the resort bought Sierra Pacific Airlines from a 3-D movie cinematographer, Chris Condon. On March 13, 1974, a film crew for Wolper Productions filmed the history of National Geographic of Australopithecus at the resort was killed when their Convair 440 (N4819C) plane flew into the back 7,000 feet (2,130 m) shortly after the curfew. off from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport in Bishop, killing all 35 on board including 31 Wolper crew members - though not Wolper himself. The filmed segments were found in the ruins and aired on the Primal Man television show. The National Transportation Safety Council can not determine the cause of the accident, and the resort sells airlines. Sierra Pacific previously operates scheduled passenger flights with turboprop aircraft between Mammoth Lakes and Burbank, Fresno, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
- On April 6, 2006, three ski patrol officers in the ski area were killed due to a combination of CO 2 and hydrogen sulphide poisoning (H 2 S). Both of these gases are present in the dangerous fumaroles that are known on the mountain and are more concentrated on that day because the fumaroles have been covered in snow for days. Four patrols, including John "Scott" McAndrews and James Juarez, were raising a fence around fumaroles, which had been buried by heavy snow. Fumarol had melted the cave beneath the snow bridge that collapsed under James and Scott. The male couple fell 21 feet (6.4 m) and was killed in a matter of minutes. Another ski patrol officer, Walt Rosenthal, was killed and seven others wounded for trying to save James and Scott. The oxygen mask used by the Mammoth Mountain ski patrol does not completely seal the outer gas from entering.
Sales to Intrawest
In January 1996, Intrawest Corporation and Mammoth Mountain Ski area announced that Intrawest Corporation has purchased 33% of Mammoth Mountain ski operations and June, as well as all the real estate that can be developed owned by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. In 1998, Intrawest increased their partnership interest to 58%. The development of three new village areas: Villages in Mammoth, Sierra Star, and Juniper Springs, have brought new developments to the resort.
The Village at Mammoth, a European-style complex and pedestrian, is built in a style similar to other Intrawest properties, such as Whistler in British Columbia or Keystone in Colorado. The village opened in 2003 with shops, restaurants, galleries and 166 luxury condos. The 15-passenger Village Gondola, which leaves from the Village, loads skiers and snowboarders directly to the Canyon Lodge base.
Sales to Starwood Capital
On February 23, 2005, Dave McCoy announced the delayed sale of his stake in Mammoth Mountain, after a 68-year-old ski run. On October 5, 2005, Mammoth announced that a majority of the shares would be sold to Starwood Capital Group, a private equity fund specializing in real estate, run by Barry Sternlicht. The selling price is $ 365 million.
Due to the poor economy in California, starting in 2007, many shops and restaurants in The Village were closed. However, in the fall of 2010, with the help of local business owners, the Village has seen the rise of new restaurants and stores.
Changes and redevelopment
Before and during the change of ownership, the ski area underwent major changes. The resort went from 16 seats in the 1980s to 23 today. A newly built gondola that ends at the visitor center at 11,053 feet (3,369 m). The visitor center has telescopes and historical exhibits.
Almost all the old, slow, and double chair lifts were replaced with a high-speed quad, and a six-seat lift, which drove about 1000 feet per minute. For this modernization, the resort is an old customer for the Doppelmayr group. Some of the old elevators were also removed. The Mid-Chalet, which used to have a picnic table on its roof, was completely renovated in the early 2000s, renamed the McCoy Station, and now serves gourmet food and cafeterias. The large vintage photos of McCoy and his family can be found hanging from the ceiling there. The Mill Cafe, a small country bar and snack area was added in the early 2000s.
In 2011, Chair 5 was chosen to be upgraded for the 2011-2012 season. Chair 5 is upgraded from a three-person Yan-fixed chair to Doppelmayr's high speed quad. Travel time is reportedly half length, and capacity is increased from 1800 hours to about 2400 people per hour. In line with tradition, the chair was also given a new name: High Five Express.
Mount Mammoth is also the owner of the ski area of ​​June Mountain in the small town of Mono County, June Lake, California. On June 21, 2012, Mammoth Mountain CEO announced that they closed Mount June for the 2012-2013 season, after more than 50 years of operation. Mountain June reopens for ski season 2013-2014.
Pass Lift RFID
RFID lifting pass is applied for the 2011-2012 season. It's designed to solve two problems: long lines in elevators and long lines in the ticket window. A total of 72 RFID gates are installed over 18 different elevators. The RFID lifting pass has a circuit on the ticket that the sensor to the gate to open when approached.
References
External links
- Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort website
- Mammoth Snowman Snow Report website
- Sierra Survey: User's Guide to Mammoth and Sierra Nevada South
- The Westin Monache Resort, Mammoth
- Blogs that discuss routes to and from Hole in the Wall
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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