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Mammoth Mountain, CA – Chaz Guldemond continued his winning streak by taking first place and $10,000 in the rider-judged West Coast Invitational (WCI) Rail Jam at the Village at Mammoth Mountain on May 3, 2008. This win followed his rider-awarded $5,000 first place win at the Vans Fiesta de la Pipa on May 2, 2008.
May 2 – Fiesta de la Pipa
May 3 – Village Nighttime Rail Jam & concert
Today it really feels like spring on Mammoth Mountain. The snow is soft and it’s that no-gloves kind of weather that just makes skiing so nice. It’s definitely park season with features getting serious and riders congregating for some of the season’s best-looking sunny shots. Here’s Dan on Forest Trail at 2:25pm, Thursday, April 10. The Main Park features (Forest Trail, Discovery, Super Pipe, Super Duper Pipe) will continue to be shaped nightly; South Park is still charging it, but hurry, because it probably has just a few more weeks. Wonderland Park by Canyon Lodge is already closed for the season.
Halfpipe
1. Kelly Clark
2. Torah Bright
3. Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas
4. Laura Manuela Pesko
5. Sarah Conrad
6. Mercedes Nicoll
Slopestyle
1. Jamie Anderson
2. Chanelle Sladics
3. Sina Candrian
4. Spencer O’Brien
5. Meri Peltonen
6. Cheryl Maas
Mascot Contest
1. Woolly Mammoth (USA)
All Roxy Chicken Jam events take place in front of the Main Lodge sundeck, on a special slopestyle course built on Broadway, right next to the Main Park Super Pipe.
Friday, March 28
10am-noon – Slopestyle Qualifier
1-3pm – Super Pipe Qualifier
Saturday, March 29
10am-noon – Super Pipe Main Event Session
2-3pm – Super Pipe Super Finals
3-3:30 – Mascot Super Pipe Contest GO WOOLLY!
7-10pm – FREE Silversun Pickups & Alberta Cross Concert (the Village at Mammoth)
Sunday, March 30
10am-noon – Slopestyle Main Event Session
2-3pm – Slopestyle Super Finals
3:30-4pm – TTR World Champ Presentation
USA Today: Don’t bury your skis in the closet just yet. “Near-record snowfall at ski areas across North America, coupled with Easter’s early spot on the calendar this year, is sparking forecasts for an extended spring ski season…” writes Jayne Clark in USA Today (March 14, 2008). “Spring skiing aficionados enjoy warmer temperatures, lighter crowds and, at many venues, a more relaxed atmosphere…Even with optimal conditions, however, ski resorts are forced to offer incentives to lure skiers whose fancies are turning to warm-weather pursuits. Live music on weekends and offbeat on-slope competitions are among the inducements. So are price breaks.”
Mammoth Mountain Spring Events and Deals
March 15 – Demo Sale begins
March 19 – Sippin’ & Jibbin’
March 23 – Easter Egg Hunt on the Snow
March 26 – Sippin’ & Jibbin’
March 28 – Roxy Chicken Jam Begins
March 29 – Mascot Halfpipe Contest & Roxy Chicken Jam
March 29 – Silversun Pickups live in concert at the Village at Mammoth (free)
March 29 – MVP Early Ups (members only)
March 30 – April deals begin – $129 lift & lodging; $64 advance-purchase lift tickets
April 1 – Season Passes go on sale
April 4 – last day to book $129 lodging deal
April 5 – last Snowcat Dinner of the season
April 6 – Mammoth Marathon at Tamarack
April 13 – last day Snowmobile Adventures
April 16 – last day Tamarack
April 19 – Earth Day at the Village at Mammoth
April 20 – Canyon Lodge Pond Skim
April 20 – last day to get advance-purchase $64 lift ticket deal
April 21 – $64 lift tickets every day, no advance purchase required
April 21 – Spring Fest lodging deal
April 26 – Volcom Peanut Butter & Rail Jam Championships
April 26 – Ski Club Appreciation Day featuring a pirate-themed Dummy Downhill
April 26 – Fishing Season begins
April 30 – Last day to buy a season pass for half off
May 1 – start using your new season pass
May 2-4 – WCI featuring Village Nighttime Rail Jam and Fiesta de la Pipa
May 10 – Midweek Passes valid seven days a week
Photo: In the park on a Wednesday afternoon…Sippin’ and Jibbin’ at the Main Lodge sundeck.
From the U.S. Snowboard Team:
Bretz Grabs First World Cup Win
“Stoneham, Quebec (March 9) – Snowboarding prodigy Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA), who’s so hot he’s been lighting the halfpipe on fire since he landed on the scene, grabbed his first career World Cup win Sunday in Quebec. Bretz threw down a huge run composed of a frontside 900, backside 540, air to fakey, cab 7, frontside 7 to win the pipe competition…”
Read more about Greg’s win at the 2008 Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup on USSnowboard.com. Photo: Associated Press
Building Mammoth’s Terrain Parks
As night falls on Mammoth Mountain the headlights go on and the world closes in on the snow that needs to go from choppy to beautiful. Soon it’s just the cat, a playground of snow, and some really loud music. Mammoth grooms all its parks meticulously every single night, even when it’s snowing a lot. Especially when it’s snowing a lot. Starting at 4:30 in the afternoon the terrain park builder works as the sun sets behind the Minarets on an empty slope. Mammoth’s parks are known for being so great because of consistency. Everyone who operates a cat in the parks was taught by one person — Mike Gerstner, who is so incredibly good at his job — he’s been doing it for as many years as parks have existed (at resorts). On any given night there are a couple of drivers building Main Park, a couple cutting pipes, and there’s still more work to do when their shift ends at midnight. That’s when more builders show up to work the graveyard shift. Before you say, “that sucks,” remember they are the lucky few, along with some other trail groomers and a couple of ski patrol avalanche controllers, who get to watch the sun rise from the top Mammoth Mountain every morning — and welcome in a new day of fresh park riding.
Watch CBS Sports Feb. 23 and 24 when the station airs the John Paul Mitchell Systems halfpipe competition, which took place earlier this month at Squaw Valley. Mammoth riders who competed include Luke Mitrani (3rd place), Tommy Czeschin (5th), Luke Wynen (8th), Greg Bretz (11th), Trevor Jacob (14th) and Molly Aguirre (4th).
The Nikita Chickita all-girls slopestyle contest, held at Mammoth Mountain’s South Park on Saturday, Feb. 9, was fun and sunny – more like a springy spring day than early February. The pro and amateur girls performed well on the quadruple jump line and jib features down below. Boys on the sidelines watched in envy of the girls who got to ride the nearly perfect fresh-built 30-foot kickers under the warm sun. Congrats to Isabelle “Izzy” Lalive who won cash in the pro division with a backside 540 into a cab three, and Mammoth local Alice Gong who stood out among the ams with a half cab indy, back three, method and front 540 to win a one-year Nikita sponsorship. The day was followed by a steamy concert at Lakanuki by the Lovemakers. Thanks to event sponsors Nikita, K2 Snowboards, Active Ride Shop, Fender Guitars and DVS.
1. Izzy Lalive
2. Vera Janssen
3. Jordie Karlinski
1. Alice Gong
2. Indigo Monk
3. Femke Henriques
